A Long Way Gone- Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

This book made me think about the source of Sierra Leone's problems and the evil that has wrecked the nation for the past decades. Once again, it was a very useful micro-history that helped me learn first hand the history of a nation through the story of one boy. As I read the last book on blood diamonds and the issues behind the civil war, I laid the blame squarely on the RUF, the corrupt government, the greed of the people, and most of all the individual soldiers who would violently destroy the lives of their countrymen. Ishamel Beah's book however, gave me a unique insight into the lives of the people involved in this war.

The reader saw from the first two-thirds of the book that Ishmael was really a very gentle and good boy. I followed his story as he naturally ran from disaster to disaster looking for protection and when he found it in the hands of the army that offered him respect, responsibility, and a cohesive nature, it was obvious why he would join. But I was soon reminded that it was not only the RUF that committed heinous acts against the Sierra Leoneans but also the government army with which Ishmael had joined. They attacked out of need for more supplies, but I was sickened how dependent they were on their drugs and violence to continue their cycle. I knew that the junior lieutenant that he became was a wholly different person from the boy who had journeyed away from the war when I read how he would relish the loss of hope in people's eyes as he murdered them.

Stories like that were rampant in Campbell's book and I felt nothing but hatred for those who committed those crimes. Here, I found myself longing for the innocent little boy to return and I could still see him behind the mask that the army had put on him. I was proven right when months after being turned into a rehabilitation facility, Ishmael comes around and finds himself renouncing his deeds and his life in the army and embracing peace and love for one's neighbors. This complete turnaround in eight short months shows that such things are possible not only for child soldiers, but even for the commanders and political leaders higher up in the conflict. Esther, the nurse at the rehab center who showed Ishmael incredible love, was an inspiration to me as I realized that my job would soon be hers, only on a different level. Instead of seeing the pain in the country and speaking badly of those who had caused it, I must follow the hard path that Esther took and recognize that even the most evil men are still worthy of love and worthy of our willingness to forgive.

As I work with the people of Freetown, people whose families may have been killed by Ishmael or child soldiers like him, I can help them see what I have seen in this book: that the ones who hurt them are people like them who were driven to their circumstances and while they may be faulted for giving into temptation (are we not all?) we must still have the capacity to forgive them so that they may begin to grow that capacity to forgive themselves. There is still a great deal of hurt in Sierra Leone. I will meet people who have lost limbs to men with machetes who deep down, also have a story like Ishmael's that recounts lost love and innocence and maintain a deep seated desire to return to that, but the amputees may harbor little but hate for their mutilators. Knowing Ishmael's story will help me to humanize even the “bad guys” of the story that I will find myself in this fall.

Moneys!

Let me just say that you all are great. I know it's been a while since I last told you how much had been raised, but that's because WMF hadn't told me yet either! Anyway, the latest came in today and...

drumroll...

$4595! Only 900ish to go.

Thank you so much... you are amazing.

Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell

This ranks among the most terrifying books I've ever read. Not only is it graphically violent, really depressing, and very lacking in hope (things I'm accustomed to reading), but it's describing the place I'll be living this fall. I was sickened by the accounts of amputations and killings by ten year olds with AK-47s and it was even more chilling to know that I would be meeting people who had lost their hands to RUF machetes and perhaps the teen or twenty-something versions of those child soldiers. But it is for that very reason why it was very useful for me to read. As a history major and missions minor, I learned the importance of saturating oneself with the history of a nation or people before interacting with them. Much like small talk topics amongst acquaintances, this helps newcomers understand where someone is coming from by knowing what they have dealt with and the motives for their current actions. I was largely unfamiliar with the recent history of Sierra Leone and this book over turned some rocks that much of the world wishes had just been left undisturbed. But the people I will be working with have been more than disturbed by the events that have taken place over the past couple of decades and it will affect them and my interactions with them in the future.

Much of the time, I was overwhelmed by the large scale injustices taking place and I found myself wanting to find solutions for the whole problem of the corrupt government, illicit diamond trade, and other grand problems of Sierra Leone. But as I read (longing for the cozy books about the character of Christ), I thought to myself, "How would this situation be encountered by Christ?" And as I read, I found lots of overarching comparisons between first century Israel and Sierra Leone. A backwater and forgotten country, exploited by powers too large for the locals to handle, greed is rife among the puppets of the powerful regime, and conflict is tearing the people to pieces. What could be better than a champion Messiah (or well to do missionary with a big head?) Catching myself from falling into the trap of Jesus-driving-out-the-Romans type of salvation, I realized that as upset as I may get with the reasons for the situation, it is not my part to fix it all. Jesus was upset with the situation in His land too: He wept for Jerusalem. He simply worked with and loved the people He came in contact with while preaching the truth of God's love.

Just as Christ refused to drive out the Romans and restore Solomon's glory to Israel, I know that missionaries and aid workers must not go to Sierra Leone to fix the system and change the face of government and economy. As members of the aptly named Word Made Flesh, we must simply be Jesus in this modern broken land and do exactly what He did: work with and love the people we come in contact with while preaching the truth of God's love. It's by little efforts like that that the Church drove on through the ages while the Roman Empire crumbled and that the people of Sierra Leone will restore themselves to health and economic independence while the corrupt officials and smuggling that fueled the conflict die away.

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey

We must get to know the real Jesus if we want to be His hands and His feet. Yancey's books reminds us that Jesus is not some austere figure in a stained glass window, nor is he simply a cuddly lover of puppies and bunnies. He takes us through an honest look at Jesus' life an paints a picture of an Incarnation of God who is actually very human, not the aloof spiritualist we see portrayed in movies. The Jesus we never knew is a man we may not have met in the tame versions of Sunday School, but is the explosively scandalous manifestation of the Creator in the form of the created. He's like Mr. Beaver says of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: "Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."
However, the most stunning idea proposed in this book is not that Jesus was more human than we sometimes imagine Him, it is that with the Ascension, we (the Church as the Body of Christ) take over His work in being human ambassadors of heaven on earth. Therefore, it is important to learn about the true nature of Christ so that we can best represent Him. If we are like the shadows in Plato's allegorical cave that the world sees, as Yancey proposes and Christ is the light that is beyond the world's direct vision, we must not concern ourselves overmuch with casting the right shadow (that is beging the correct shape and size; doctrine and theology) but we must concern ourselves with becoming more transparent. It is imperative that we remove ourseleves and let others see Christ in us. St. Patrick captures this sentiment well in his famous Breastplate Prayer:

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ every ear that hears me.

In learning more about this honest look at the man Jesus was, the reader can become more self-forgetful and increasingly preoccupied with the person of Christ- His characteristics, His personality, His style, and His love. Setting aside these attributes of our own is difficult; we are taught from a young age that we are important and that our personality makes a difference. And certainly, we are not worthless (God considered us worth the death of His Son) but we are not so great that we have any reason to cloud the limelight of Christ Himself. The very word "Christian" means "little Christ" and therefore we must be imitators of Him. This begins by knowing truly who our subject of imitation was and is, without the cloud and fog of twenty centuries of fallen meddling. To go even deeper than Yancey's book, we do not stop at studying the historical man, but speak with and interview our subject- the Risen Christ we pray to each day. The more time we spend with Him and in His Word, the more we will become saturated with His character and peel away more of our broken layers so that He may be revealed.

In my preparation for my trip to Sierra Leone, I need to put this into real practice so that I can truthfully be called a part of "Word Made Flesh" that seeks to represent the Word (Christ) in the flesh. Yancey's book has helped me greatly in realizing this as well as starting me on a path to understand the full truth of Jesus as a human. My prayer life and continuation and growth in that area will increase my ability to reveal Christ in me more as I delve into Him and forget myself.

Compassion by Henri Nouwen

In reading Henri Nouwen and others' thoughts on compassion, I began to understand more and more what is meant by Word Made Flesh's commitment to incarnational ministry. The idea of intimate solidarity as a way of showing love reminded me that we are called to follow Christ and ask other people to follow us as we do Him. When Christians recall that Christ stepped down from His kingly glory and became a humble man who was subject to death on a cross, we quickly realize that following Him means for us to also join others in suffering for love's sake. His radical move to separate Himself from heaven and all the majesty accorded to Him to become a weak little baby in first century Palestine spurs us on to movement that is far less grand in scope or magnitude. But even then, our motions to take part in suffering reflect the will of the Master.
Nouwen et. al. paint a picture of the biblical God that is like an obedient servant. At first, this idea rubs raw against our understanding of the omnipotent Lord, but when we consider His love and the fact that He is still the king who is a servant (but not a subject), we can only love Him more. In joining us in our weakness and suffering, we are capable of joining Him in His power and love. The only proper response to this great gift is to turn immediately around and to give it to others. Nouwen describes this through the principles of community, displacement and togetherness which collectively allow us to engage our whole lives in the practice of compassion.
I hope to see this taking place in my life before, during and after my trip to Sierra Leone in the fall. As I consider why I am going and what role I may be playing in the trip, this book has helped me to realize that I am not going to West Africa as a rich, white, college graduate with some extra time on his hands and a desire to pull the lower people out of their squalor. But rather I will go as a member of a hurting family who can enter into the hurt not by simply lowering a rope down to people and raising them up to where I am, but getting down to the hurt and joining hands and walking out together. Just as in Psalm 40:2, God, through Christ, gets down into the mud, mire and slime of our sin to set us upon the rock, so I must not stand aloof of the suffering I see in my friends.
How specifically this will play out is yet to be seen, but to prepare myself to fully engage in intimate solidarity in suffering I must pray that I will be willing to do the Lord's will. I must now begin taking action to do what I plan to do then. When I see hurt, I will not pass it by but I will get to know the person, hear their story, hop on to their journey and go where they are going. I must also be willing to share my own suffering and have the humility to allow others to join me in it. I must have the patience to allow God's hand to work through me and to realize that I am unable to bring about change on my own. I must rely on my team (who joins me in my own hardships) and on those with whom I build relationships as I welcome them into my journey and ask to be a part of theirs. This is the essence of compassion and the heart of the ministry of the Church that has been passed down to us from the apostles.

Book Reflections

As part of my preparation for the trip, Word Made Flesh has selected four books for me to read and write short reflections on before I go. As I read these books and they help me understand more of what I will be doing, I realize that this all is very helpful to you, my partners in this mission.

Therefore, as I write and turn in each reflection, I will post a copy of what I wrote here so that you can begin to join with me in figuring out how exactly God will be working through you and I during this process.


The books are as follows:

Compassion by Henri Nouwen
The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
Blood Diamonds by Greg Campbell
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

This is Kroo Bay

I found this website earlier today and thought you would be interested in it. The website is that of an organization that is not WMF (and not what I'm involved in) but they have an interactive portion that introduces you to the kids of the Kroo Bay slum, an area where I will be working a lot. So if you want to see what things will be like where I am, check it out here.