Posts tagged jewish

We have seen the women, and we have heard their stories.  At times it has been enough to simply feel the depth of pain in their eyes, and as I share these moments with them, I wonder – “ Who are these men who have so little regard for the life of a woman?  For the life of  a child? What would I feel if I were to look into their eyes, and what would I see…? These questions were frightening to me until the moment when my answers came…

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It is 8AM as we enter the men’s prison in Goma, a massive concrete 
structure towering over the stone and cardboard huts that make up the 
city. The stench is overpowering as we cross the threshold. We are 
ushered into the courtyard and led to a row of seats in the middle of 
1200 prisoners. The scene is virtually indescribable. We are surrounded 
by men, many of whom perpetrate the sexual violence about which we have heard so much.

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During a discussion when we first met, my beloved girlfriend referred to me as  “cross-armed kangaroo”, her way of describing a habit I’ve harbored of closing myself off to certain ideas and potential truths. 

Each time I arrive in Africa, I’m forced to wrestle with the fact that humanity here feels different from what I know of it. The kinks of being, at first seem more apparent here.  

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It is Shabbat in Goma.  A Shabbat like no other…

Today we visited the rape ward at Heal Africa.  As we entered, we saw 20 women and girls—14 to 60 years old—laying flat on their backs attached to buckets at the base of their beds by a rubber tube.  The stench of the fluids leaving their bodies was potent.  As we entered, the mood was profoundly  somber.  

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