"It's Not Fair"

We went to an event sponsored by the International Club at Mclean Bible Church last weekend during which there were several speakers whose purpose it was to share about how God was at work in Rwanda.  An American man working for an NGO spoke of the work his organization is doing to give churches across Rwanda information and education to be give their communities on AIDS prevention, among other things.  Another man, a Rwandese, now in the US finishing his undergrad at Georgetown before moving on to get his Master's at Harvard, gave us great information about the country, including its population density, landscape, natural resources, and a bit of history.  After that, he spoke briefly about the orphanage run by his family.  Finally, we heard from a 21-year-old woman, who was 6 at the time of the genocide, when she watched her father and brothers be killed in front of her.  She escaped death, but was subsequently taken in by a family who treated her as their slave.  Remarkably, she was reunited with her mother at some point and able to move to the US, where she is also pursuing a degree at Georgetown.  The part of her story most impactful to me was when she said, "It's not fair."  She spoke of how it was her simple life circumstances...where she happened to be born, that created her fate...and that it was not fair that she had to endure so much physical and emotional pain.  While she could have stayed on that truthful message, she went on to discuss how incredibly grateful she is for the miracle of survival, the sacrificial love of her mother, and the opportunity to learn sociology and psychology here so that she can go back to make a difference in Rwanda.  She spoke of her perception of the lack of gratitude of many of the people with whom she attends class...how often they speak of rifts in their family or how they are consumed with acquiring the next hot electronic device or designer jeans.  It was her hope that her message would inspire hearts of gratitude in her audience....for the simplicity of where we are born to the gift of our parents' love to the opportunities we are given to the miracles we witness...she said, "Be grateful."

And then we ate some tasty food, all homemade by the Rwandese people there, and had the opportunity to meet new people.  Good stuff all around.