The Reconciliation Of Luket Ministries With Uganda Matters

A controversy is raging on social media with the Uganda community and Luket Ministries, a missionary organization from Oklahoma serving in Jinja, Uganda.    The first time I heard of the controversy was when I read about it in http://www.chimpreports.com/mzungu-in-gomesi-video-sparks-social-media-outrage/ with the headline, “Muzungu in Gomesi Video Sparks Social Media Outrage.”     I did a Facebook search to see what my friends were saying.   Those who were aware were offended.   The most quoted Facebook post came from Arao Ameny at https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10100253194638128&id=41702334.     I took a look at the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hJt-4_kzY0.


                My heart sank in mercy for Luket Ministries as I saw the social media commentaries.    (For some good columns see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/14/dancing-missionaries-white-girls-offensive-to-africans and http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/10/21/498840456/why-many-ugandans-are-offended-by-music-video-made-by-u-s-missionaries.)

 You see I too have sinned as Luket Ministries has.    I’ve sat with Americans (missionaries, businessmen, diplomats, scholars, and development workers) who have used humor to process culture.   Then as time went on I realized how deep our humor offended.  

As many years of missionary service passed my family reached a point where our culture was as African as American.    New Americans in Africa sometimes told us, “You are too African.”  I took it as a compliment.    However, my family was now the butt of Americans processing Africa jokes.

 Then we transitioned to a new missionary posting in Chicagoland.    My better friends here are African Diaspora.   On occasion we make jokes about the American experience.    I’m sure our jokes would unduly offend native-born Americans at times.   Thus I could see both many of my friends and I wounding others as Luket Ministries have done. 

Humor can heal.  It also can deeply wound.    Only the wise find how to balance it well.   As one who had both wounded others and been wounded by poor humor my mercy swelled for Luket Ministries.   I hoped they could reconcile with the Ugandan community.  

Then in the social media conversations I saw a matter that I couldn’t ignore on Arao Ameny’s Facebook in a screenshot.   The Lord’s name was taken in vain.   Natasha Perryman, the creative director of Luket Ministries wrote on her Facebook, “Our dance video came in a dream from God.   He is so clever and fun.  …the video pleased God and he knows the value in it and the intentions behind it and therefore we have peace.”   

God’s name was being used to escape accountability.   His name was being used to make light of those who were wounded.     If one reads the Old Testament one finds that God on occasion calls prophets to speak against nations’ sins.   Those prophetic speeches wound.   Yet, there is a caution to the prophet.  He must not speak words that only come from his own creative impulses.   To wound without exposing sin is to presume and misuse the name of God (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 18:20-22.)    I’ve rarely seen a clearer example of misusing the name of the Lord than Luket Ministries’ explanation of their offensive video.

While I can feel great mercy for Luket Ministries I also saw deeply troubling patterns that went beyond the insensitivity of poor humor creating unnecessary wounds.    Reconciliation for Luket Ministries with the Ugandan community mattered.  It matters to the offended.    However, most of all it matters to God.   He sent His son with the message of reconciliation.   Surely, Luket Ministries would seek reconciliation.

Arao suggested I write a letter to Luket.  I did.   It was probably not a great letter.   I assumed they’d have no idea who I was so I told a bit about myself.   I tried to be merciful.   I waited for a response in hope.  

I got a brief email response from Adam Perryman, the Executive Director of Luket Ministries and then a public apology was made.   It was less than I had hoped, but it seemed to be a starting point for what I hoped would be a conversation that would lead to reconciliation.    The apology read,

“It is our absolute joy to serve throughout the world. We respect and honor all cultures within our ministry and family. We apologize to all for promoting any view that would show otherwise. We specifically apologize to any Ugandan that was offended by our ministry dance video.

Thank you,

Adam and Natasha Perryman”

Most who teach about reconciliation note that apologies should be specific and responsible.   They should draw out dialogue.   They should lead to changed behavior.    In fact, many times they should lead to restoring what the flawed behavior destroyed.    In the end they should draw the offended one into forgiveness as the offender changes not only their behavior but their own character.   I didn’t see those types of actions in the Luket apology.

 

Yet I waited and watched.    A pattern developed.    Those in America who knew the Luket Ministries founders expressed support.   Many Ugandans and their friends expressed concern.   Name calling and insults were then directed at those expressing concern.    Then there was push back to the name calling.   Then posts expressing concern were deleted.   I engaged at one point when John McHale called those expressing concern “fools,” impugned their motives, lectured Ugandans on what was best for their home, and raised the issue of race.     Then our dialogue was deleted.   A few days later Arao Ameny wrote “Here’s What’s Wrong with the Dancing Missionaries Video and Their Half-assed Apology” (http://www.okayafrica.com/op-ed-2/whats-wrong-dancing-missionaries-video-half-assed-apology/)   and summarized many of our thoughts.  

Next came a new addition to the apology, 

“*Disclaimer: We desire peace between all parties involved. We have listened, understand and have sought professional counsel. We have issued an apology for the video and we hope for the apology to be accepted. All comments will be deleted due to cyberbullying that has exceeded far past the video (harassment, intimidation, threats) directed towards us personally and our ministry. We pray all can move forward in peace. 

Anyone who is sharing/posting/promoting the video publicly is doing so without our permission.” 

(See https://www.facebook.com/luketministries/?hc_ref=SEARCH&fref=nf.) 

In a nutshell I perceive an apology that only desires for the conflict to go away.   It seems to have little desire for reconciliation.    Luket Ministries has yet to be accountable to the people who have been offended.   Though Luket Ministries writes that they are taking counsel I don’t see evidence that they are taking counsel from those who could lead them to reconciliation.    

Yes, when I read the comments and concerns expressed towards Luket Ministries many are vulgar.   Yet, I’ve also seen comments by those who appear to support Luket Ministries that come across as racist.    

A trait that happens to missionaries as they adapt to their host culture is that they embrace the good in it.    For those that serve in Africa they pick up African habits.    They joke in local proverbs and worship most thoroughly in local languages.    Their home is always full of visitors.   They only consider real food to be something cooked over charcoal.   There is always tea to be served.    They use the pronoun “we” much more than “I.”   They will drop everything if there is a crisis in the community.    They are always at funerals and weddings.  They know the pitfalls of both their host culture and passport culture, and wrestle everyday with the best ways to bring Jesus’ light to darkness.  Lastly, when their community dignity is threatened they come to the community’s defense by reminding the world how this is a people made in God’s image who reflect His wonder.  

I have yet to see Luket Ministries speak of Uganda’s dignity, wonder, and awe.

I’d like to believe that this is just a lapse in cultural adaptation, but a friend suggested I take a look at Luket’s Instagram.    I did.   Here’s what I saw

Friends, this is not a temporary lapse in judgment as one processes culture.    This is a way of viewing Ugandan culture that has been going on for some time.    When it has been going on for such a long time a thorough reconciliation really does matter.

How does Luket Ministries intend to seek reconciliation with their last statement in the apology?   Is the professional counsel a psychologist, pastor, seasoned missionary, anthropologist, or a lawyer?    What consequences does Luket Ministries intend for those who share the video without their permission?

I’m just stunned.    

Here’s one of my missionary habits.    I try to leave written records behind me.    They can be newsletters, proposals, correspondence, sermons, teaching, and columns.   To be brutally honest some of what I’ve written sucks.   It makes bad judgements.   It unduly wounds.    Then I change my mind even about theological matters and I have to do re-writes and apologies.    It’s tempting when I’ve really screwed up to try to wash away my stupidity.     Yet, here’s the biggest reason that I’m a missionary.   I’ve been forgiven.   God’s grace is amazing.    If He can work with a knucklehead like me He can work with anyone.    I have to leave a trail not only of God’s wonder in my life, but of God’s grace when I’m failing.    Then God easily is the Hero of my story.   It’s His story and I just share the journey for a short time on earth as we wait for His Return.

Luket Ministries appears to be scrubbing away failings.    Arao Ameny thought it was important the world see the video that has left so many so concerned.    It was taken down today.  Here’s the link and explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DV0kXg0_P8.

Luket ministries reconciliation with Uganda matters for the sake of the missionary enterprise.

There are good missionaries in Uganda.  They know the history, language, and culture.    A few are people of great influence and almost all know their names.    Most are quite humble and could easily be lost in the shuffle.     There are real issues in Uganda that need addressing by an outside perspective.    When those such as Luket Ministries become the missionary story associated with Uganda good missionaries in Uganda unduly suffer.  Luket Ministries are hurting the missionary enterprise in Uganda.     Yet, there is a bigger issue in global Christianity than the missionary enterprise in Uganda.    

For those who don’t know Uganda’s missionary story let me give a brief history.   It was born in blood and martyrdom.   An Anglican missionary James Hannington was killed as he journeyed into Uganda for his faith in 1885.   His death was but a whisper of what would come to the first Ugandan Christians.   At least 40 Ugandan Christians were martyred between 1885 and 1887.     

Joe Church, William Nagenda, Festo Kivengere, Claire Lis De Benoit

There is also a movement in East Africa called the East African Revival (most followers are called Balokole / Born Again / Evangelical) It was born in Uganda and Rwanda in the 1930’s and 40’s when missionaries such as Joe Church began confessing the sins of missionaries in matters of race.    Joe Church paid a price for his commitment to Revival, but Ugandans such as Kosiya Kyamuhangire, William Nagenda and Simeon Nsibambi paid more.     Uganda’s Christian history is one of the richest in the world.   I’m thankful that I can call it part of my own history.   Yet, I can’t in good conscience lecture Ugandans about what real Christianity should be.    During events of my own short life, Uganda Christians such as Bishop Janani Luwum were martyred in Idi Amin’s regime (1971-1979.)    As you follow the Christian history of Uganda it is a missionary one.     You’ll find that Ugandan missionaries went to other African nations like Tanzania and Congo, started churches and schools, and shaped a region for faith.    The world should listen to Ugandans who speak to missionaries because many of those Ugandans are missionaries.

They don’t often get to use the title missionary as they journey to the West but something like our grandparents faith is stirring.    Friends serving as missionaries from America in Europe tell me that the most rapidly growing churches in Europe are multi-cultural and led by African church planting missionary pastors.   They’ve encouraged me to be open to that Spirit moving in America.    When I do missionary math I can’t find a viable missionary force to address the complications of Post-Christian America without East African missionaries in our midst.  

 In fact, while East Africa has a growing middle class in America economic class divisions are getting more pronounced.    While we joke in East Africa by calling Nairobi NaiROBBERY the crime rate in Chicago is many times worse.    If we’re looking for vulnerable kids there are actually more kids without family taking care of them in Illinois than there are in Rwanda.    The story Luket Ministries tells about Ugandan poverty is true, but it is only part of the story.    The American need for missionaries is actually more shocking.   We, American Christians do these missionaries from Uganda a great disservice when we don’t tell their story of thriving church movements, a growing economy, and prophetic Ugandan voices of social justice.   

One of my saddest memories as our family closed our season in Africa and came to our missionary posting in America was listening to one of my brightest students tell me, “We feel too inferior to consider ourselves missionaries.”     How did we American missionaries create such a wound?

I think one way was when in our quiet times with just others from our own culture making jokes about Africa.    Our misplaced American humor merits authentic repentance and reconciliation for the sake of the missionary endeavor.   

Now I see my African Diaspora friends gathering to pray for new church plants in America’s global cities.     In their humble missionary ways they come as university students and then become the brightest ones in their classes.   They bite their tongues at times, but they are the ones who reshape secular conversations to ones of faith.   Others stumble right into America’s almost extinct extended family structure, and care for the elderly.   Some have great success as doctors, business people, and university lecturers.    They may have a secular job but they bathe it all in pray.    They are missionaries much like the Apostle Paul and America needs their spiritual influence greatly.   

If you follow the conflict with Luket Ministries among the Ugandan community you’ll notice that much of the conversation is being generated by Uganda’s Diaspora.    I see them as my fellow missionaries as well as those Western missionaries in Uganda.

Both the Diaspora missionaries to America and the Western missionaries to Africa are discredited in many people’s eyes when there is not reconciliation with Luket and the Ugandan community.    

Why does the reconciliation of Luket Ministries with Uganda matter?   

Lastly, because our Lord said, 

 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23. New International Version.)”

UGANDA MARTYR'S DAY REFLECTIONS ON BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOR TO SAM KUTESA

Three of my five children - Ruth, Timothy, and Ethan

Last night I was homesick.   I spent the evening reading newspapers from East Africa and drinking chai (tea.)    My spirits healed a bit.

I also remembered that today is Marty's Day in Uganda.   I've decided to keep my Ugandan children home from their American school day.    My children need to know being a Ugandan means one has a dignified place in the history of Christianity.     There are many historic events for which Uganda is remembered for, but I want my children to never forget two.   First, Christianity in Uganda began with martyrdom.   Two, Uganda was a catalyst in the East African Revival.   All Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa must include Uganda in their history.   

As I read news last night I discovered that Uganda's Minister of Foreign Affairs Honorable Sam Kutesa has been nominated to become the president of United Nations General Assembly.   He has been endorsed by both the African Union http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/643128-au-endorses-kutesa-for-un-presidency.html and the Non-Aligned Movement http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/656153-sam-kutesa-heads-for-un-top-job.html.

Honorable Uganda Minister Sam Kutesa

Yet, Honorable Kutesa's nomination has controversy.    Social media is rapidly promoting a petition for United States Secretary of State John Kerry to deny Honorable Kutesa a visa to enter the United States and for United Nations member states to vote against Honorable Kutesa's presidency http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/stop-sam-kutesa-from-becoming-president-un-gen-assembly?recruiter=45859428&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=share_twitter_mobile.

Honorable Kutesa has a controversial past http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Push-to-block-Kutesa-UN-job-gathers-pace/-/688334/2334132/-/item/0/-/jc2fg5/-/index.html.   The Western media is reporting on Honorable Kutesa's past and focusing on the Anti-Gay bill recently signed by His Excellency President Yoweri Museveni http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/01/uganda-anti-gay-minister-human-rights-kutesa,  http://blogs.montrealgazette.com/2014/06/01/ugandas-sam-kutesa-at-the-un-bring-him-on/, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/03/the-u-n-s-next-president-is-a-gay-hating-friend-of-uganda-s-corrupt-dictator.html,and http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/06/01/3443560/sam-kutesa-un-general-assembly/. 

I have never met Honorable Kutesa.  However, our lives are intertwined as neighbors.  His daughter

was my neighbor in Uganda.   Though she came from a very influential family and married into another still she greeted us, stopped by our home to drink chai, and always extended neighborly kindness.    I can't help but believe the Spirit of the Lord moves in the Kutesa family.    Without the Lord's movement in one's heart how else would such humble hospitality thrive?

I am also friends with Honorable Kutesa's sister-in-law.    Her husband is one of my better non-believing friends and advisers.    Our families attend movies together and share meals. I always come away wiser.   My friend has as many failings as I.   We've both married well to gracious women who love us and accept our failings.    I can't deny that gift of the Lord.

Lastly as a Mulokole (Born Again / Saved / Evangelical) I inherited the legacy of the East African Revival.    Sam Kutesa's father, Kosiya Kyamuhangire was one of the early leaders of the East African Revival.    Mzee Kyamuhangire was a true visionary who died on a mission in Gahini, Rwanda.   His death seemed inconsequential at the time.  His grave was unmarked.    Yet, he was a true visionary who saw the colonial borders separating East Africa as irrelevant.   He left a legacy of a dream for a united faith and people.   His ideals saw the family of God rise above artificial divisions such as race, nationality, denomination, and ethnicity.    I cannot count the number of times this legacy marked both the readings of East African history and ordinary conversations in churches, schools, government, business, and social settings (http://www.newvision.co.ug/mobile/Detail.aspx?NewsID=632330&CatID=1, http://en.igihe.com/news/president-kagame-pays-tribute-to-kosiya, http://allafrica.com/stories/201206250097.html?viewall=1, http://www.chimpreports.com/index.php/mobile/news/4848-kagame-pays-glowing-tribute-to-kutesa%E2%80%99s-fallen-dad.html.)

Honorable Kutesa is my neighbor.   My Boss instructed me to love my neighbor as myself (Leviticus 19:18,  Matthew 5:43,  Mark 12:31, Mark 12:33,  Luke 10:27, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8.)  How do I practically do that?  With today being Martyr's Day it seems especially relevant to reflect on the art of neighboring a controversial neighbor.   

The instructions of my Boss in Leviticus 19 is a hodgepodge of rules for neighborly living thousands of years ago.   Some seem rather silly in today's context such as not planting two kinds of seed in a field or using two types of material in a garment (Leviticus 19:19.)    However, when compared to the documents of their day these rules have many enduring principles such as truth, justice, and the protecting of life.    This instruction of loving one's neighbor as one's self has a unique interpretation, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord, (Leviticus 19:18. New International Version.)"   Loving one's neighbor means we know when our neighbors have done wrong.   Yet, we don't nurture a wound and seek an opportunity for revenge.    Instead we forgive and seek to build unity.

So much of the news from social media and Western news on Uganda focuses on the recently signed Anti-Gay bill.    Yet, the whole story is not told.  

There is historical evidence that homosexuality exited in pre-colonial Africa.   Yet most historians conclude the Baganda (largest numeric ethnic group in the nation-state of Uganda) found the practice of homosexuality abhorrent.  Buganda faced competing interests between Muslim Arab traders, French Catholic missionaries, and Protestant missionaries from the United Kingdom in the early 1880’s. Many believe that Buganda Kabaka (King) Mwanga was influenced to become a homosexual practitioner by Arab Muslims. When his pages resisted his homosexual advances it led to their martyrdom on June 3, 1886. It is little wonder why the discussion on homosexuality so rapidly stirs such deep emotions.    Uganda does have deep historical wounds related to homosexuality and violence.   I cannot imagine that these old stories do not impact today’s perceptions.   Uganda’s history of homosexuality is perceived as one of outside influence and violence.

These old wounds also recycle themselves in contemporary times.     With Uganda's culture of same gender affection and many still living in economic poverty, Uganda youth can be particularly vulnerable to exploitation by those from outside Uganda.   (For more pastoral reflections see http://www.hekimagreatlakesmessenger.blogspot.com/2014/03/can-we-heal-wounds-faith-and-ugandas.html.

With so many wounds of the past and present it is tempting to neglect the mercy and justice of Godly love.    My boss however makes it clear - Revenge is bad manners for neighbors.    Mob justice directed against homosexuals is wrong.    Mob justice on social media directed against my neighbor Kutesa is also wrong.    Our neighborly task is redemption.  

 The dictionary defines redemption as “atoning for a fault or mistake” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/redemption,) “to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable, to free from what distresses or harms,  to free from captivity by payment of ransom, to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental,  to release from blame or debt,  to free from the consequences of sin” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/redeem.)    Both extremists in this debate seem to have lost sight of the possibility of redemption.

Redemption goes against our depraved human nature (Genesis 3.)   It calls us back to the human dignity of being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27.)    How do we practically return to God given dignity?   

My Boss instructed us that when religious manipulators stir us to hate we choose to pray blessings upon those who choose to be our enemies.   He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:43, 44.)"

As we pray we are changed.   We no longer count score of rights and wrongs.     My Boss said, "To love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:33. NIV.)”   After all as we count score we find that we too have our failings.  

We may try to define neighbor as someone just like ourselves.   The easiest ways to see our neighbor may be through lenses such as nationality, race, denomination, political party, ethnicity, and economic standards.     

However, what if it comes down to affections and affiliations nurtured by shared fears and wounds?  

My Boss told a story to address the misconception that my neighbor means someone just like me.    Old theologians call it the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37.)   We could translate Samaritan to any cluster of people our wounds make us easily despise.  (For instance - http://hekimagreatlakesmessenger.blogspot.com/2013/10/somali-transporter-rescues-mbale-trader.html.)
  
All are worthy of love.   No one should be the victim of mob justice.   

As the Uganda Martyr's went to their death they did what Jesus' followers through out time did when faced with injustice.    They prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them. (Acts 7:60. NIV.)”

Thus on Martyr's Day as the mobs debate and posture the Martyrs call us to another way.   We cannot deny either the historic or contemporary wounds.    Yet, redemption is possible.    We pray for those who choose to be our enemies and act with kindness, grace, and love to all.   My neighbors include the Kutesa family as well as the victims and perpetrators of contemporary mob justice. 

MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE NATION OF RWANDA

Antoinette Kanyabutembo and me

Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak at the Rwanda National Prayer Banquet in Silver Springs,  Maryland.    Antoinette Kanyabutembo asked for me to speak on, “My experience with the nation of Rwanda.”
 

            The Lord gave me the privilege to pastor in Rwanda.   With that came the experience of sharing in the rituals of life – birth, marriage, sickness, and death.   One great privilege was listening to the bzee (elders) of Rwanda.    We live in a season of history in which those who experienced the East African Revival will soon be gone from this created earth.   Now we have the opportunity to listen to their voices.   Frequently this is at family gatherings and even hospitals.

          

Prayers at the Banquet

  The bzee of the East African Revival had the original vision for the East African Community.   They began in an isolated village of Gahini, Rwanda.   Yet, all who consider themselves Balokole (Born Again, Saved, or Evangelical) in Sub-Saharan Africa will trace their history back to Gahini.   The Revival started with prayer.   It concluded that unity was no respecter of divisions of nation, race, ethnicity, nor denomination.    The Revival spoke a simple word of our Lord, “Go.”  It went to locations like Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.   Those who went planted churches.   They started schools.   They preached, “Man is made in the image of God.”   They began the intellectual seeds that broke colonialism and called for independence.   

East Africa Revival Leaders

            Some of those who went, “disappeared.”   Factors like poor communication systems, distance, and political instability resulted in their extended family being unaware of the outcome of the “going” for generations.    They lived out the words of our Lord, 

^“And everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. (Matthew 19:29.  New Living Translation.)”

Jesus' Great Commission

One of the privileges I had with the nation of Rwanda was being with extended families when those who had left during the Revival grandchildren returned.   It was a privilege to see bzee meet their nieces and nephews of departed brothers and sisters.   The Lord’s words were true.    They had received a hundred times return plus eternal life.   Some of those simple Rwandan missionaries of old were buried in unmarked graves.   They had little power of earth.   Yet, few have their enduring influence.

Another part of my experience with the nation of Rwanda is in my wife, Jana’s childhood in Kenya (1968-89) and our young adult years in Uganda in the 1990’s.    Though some may argue that Rwanda was peaceful in the 1970’s and 80’s not all Rwandans lived in peace.   Political nonsense created refugee living.  

Yet, our experience watched as agaciro (dignity) refused to accept the fate of destitution.

Joseph receive his brothers

  Like Joseph of old, Rwandans excelled.   They were good students.   Farms and businesses that employed Rwandans thrived.

As we were “foreigners” and out of place it was frequently these Rwandan refugees who gave us compassion and wisdom.    They gave key advice came at just the right moment as we pondered new understandings and undertakings.  

Our family was next door in Uganda when the Genocide began.   We initially thought, “Surely not.   This must be an exaggeration.”   Then the bodies began drifting into Lake Victoria.   We did nothing.  My repentance has been a resolve to engage.

From 2005 to 2012 we had the privilege to serve in Rwanda.   We lived during a season that was much like the stories of Judah’s return from Babylonian exile.   

Rwanda Presidential Scholars Graduation 2010

As Ezra taught the law we saw the building of educational institutions.   University attendance boomed to over 72,000 students.    New schools were built.   Scholarship programs thrived.    

With this came a compelling vision and new policy framework.   President Kagame told us, “Others can walk.   We must run.”

Like Nehemiah building the wall of Jerusalem our security in Kigali was excellent.   My beautiful daughters were safe to walk at night.  Roads, infra-structure, schools, churches, hospitals, and businesses were being rapidly built.   

It was a privilege to serve in such a season of hope.

As my family prepared to go into exile as missionaries to America it was the bzee of

Mzee William Rugege

Rwanda who blessed us.    I had the privilege to serve Mzee William Rugege Holy Communion my last Sunday in Rwanda.   As I walked him back to his seat he held me close and whispered God’s blessings in my ear.

As our family has returned to America after 19 years of service in Africa the transition has been overwhelming.   It is the Diaspora who nurtured us.   They have called and asked those simple questions, “How are you?   What can we pray for?”   When we feel at loss we remember we were blessed by Rwandan bzee.   The best advice comes from them.   They tell us heaven is home.   Everything else is temporary.   Yet, while on this earth we must make it as much like heaven as possible.

As many of us at this Prayer Banquet are in exile what should we conclude about our temporary stay?

Have you seen today’s USA Today headline, “Hope Dims for Immigration Bill”? (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/02/06/boehner-immigration-prospects-dim/5257015/) 

Can you imagine such a headline in New Times?   Can you imagine a Rwanda headline of dimming hope?   Can you imagine a Rwanda that is unable to empathize with those living in exile?  Can you imagine a Rwanda whose leaders don’t open a Bible to see that all who follow Christ are described in terms like “foreigner, alien, and refugee.”?

Our temporary stay in exile is about being missionaries to America.    You see America needs Rwandan missionaries in her midst to become all God intends.   I can quickly find five areas where Rwandan Diaspora must speak to America as missionaries.

Boy Jesus at Temple with Bzee

First, America’s bzee (elders) are lonely.   Few listen to their wisdom.   One joy I have repeatedly seen is Rwanda youth taking the time to listen to American bzee.   Few others do.

Second, in a fast paced America with many To Do lists Rwanda teaches America that children are a blessing.   We have time to be with them.   Their cries in our solemn assemblies are actually the whispers of God that our community is alive.     

Doreen Rwigambo

Third, I believe when we get to heaven we’ll see a Bible where the Lord chooses which language best describes His intent.    When God’s word says, “Made in the image of God,” and English translates the concept as “dignity” God’s full intent will best be said with the Kinyarwanda word, “Agaciro.”    Humanity in creation is full of dignity.   All life is infinitely valuable.    Our human creativity and labor reflect God’s intent from Creation.

Fourth, is Umuganda (community work.)     I live in Chicago.   We’ve had lots of snow.   I can’t believe as I watch elders, widows, and single moms try to shovel out of snow alone.    Umuganda tells me that when our community has a little hiccup of life all of us with some measure of physical strength go outside, pick up a tool, and labor together.    America needs Umuganda.

Kinyarwanda dancing at Prayer Banquet

Lastly, when I was a child in America I remember being told that the nuclear family is the basic social building block of society.     When I arrived in Africa I had a startling realization.   Africa sees the basic social building block to be the extended family.   When I read my Bible I realized Africa was right.   Why do we have all these genealogies if extended family is not how we build society?

In the America I returned to I believe most Americans now see the most basic social building block to be the individual.   In the process America has become a lonely polarized nation.     America needs Rwandan missionaries to teach America about community.

Honorable Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana

Thank you very much for this opportunity to share my experiences with the fine people of Rwanda.