1. We need to understand the difference between mercy and justice (see Micah 6:8). Mercy means relieving the suffering of people who are victims of injustice. Justice means addressing the systemic abuses of power that plunge people into suffering.

2. Both are important. But if we only do mercy, we end up assisting those who perpetrate injustice by “cleaning up the mess” that they create.

3. For Americans (and other Westerners), we can do mercy by giving money, etc. Justice is often more costly for us, but it is often the place where we can have the most impact.

4. Many of the systemic injustices that plunge Africans into suffering arise in the West. For example,
a) Unjust trade policies in the West keep Africans from being able to compete in world economic markets. Bread for the World has excellent information on this kind of injustice - especially relating to the U.S. Farm Bill, which subsidizes US farmers (of cotton, for example) in ways that hurt African farmers.

b) When the US government supports dictators (in “the war on terror” for example), it hurts Africans who suffer under their regimes.

c) When the West ignores Africa - as it did in Rwanda in 1994 and is still doing in Sudan and Congo today - it aids and abets those doing injustice.

d) When the West elects candidates without vetting them for their commitment to Africa, it perpetuates an elitism that hurts Africans.

5. One of the ways Westerners can make a big difference is through fair trade. This involves seeing every dollar we spend as a vote for a “candidate company.” When we spend money on careless companies, we vote for injustice. When we spend money with companies who deal fairly with Africans, we vote for justice.

6. One of the most important things we can do is educate ourselves for sustained action over the long term. If people want to learn more about these issues, my book Everything Must Change could be of help, along with everythingmustchange.org.

7. We in the amahoro community need to develop a list of key organizations that are doing holistic ministry in Africa - And my guess is that new ministries need to be started - addressing issues like national debt, weapons dealing, free press and just journalism, land reform and land ownership for landless people, improving access to international markets, etc.

Seeking justice has been very much a part of our lives in South Africa - both during Apartheid and currently in our ‘New South Africa’ as well.  Compared to many of my friends, and countless people whom I do not know, but know about, I have experienced the cost of working for justice only in a very small way. This does not mean that I experienced it as ’small’ - but mentally I knew and know that it was and is absolutely insignificant in comparison with that others had to bear.

I believe it is true that, when good and evil clash, someone gets crushed in-between. And someone who must have known, said that those working for justice, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace, are the “in-between-people”. Inevitably they are the ones who get crushed - as Jesus got crushed between the ultimate Good and Evil…. The difference is that he was forsaken so that we, whatever we have to suffer for justice or for our witness, would never be forsaken (again).

And this suffering (as we learnt in South Africa) can take any imaginable form — it can be gross, undeserved and unbearable physical abuse, murder, arranged traffic accidents, the disappearance of family members, imprisonment, solitary confinement, detention without trial, banning, home arrest, the burning down of property, the curtailing our freedom of movement, of association or of any other kind of freedom, discrimination on any level, exclusion from the group you belong to or want to belong to, isolation and being pushed to the periphery, or simply being ignored, humiliation, economic injustice, name-calling, giving your words a content you never tried to express or even thought of, purposely quoting you wrongly, using pictures of you in the press and on TV, which will give those who see them the wrong idea about you  — the list is endless….  Each one of these will leave their mark. Each one can lead to bitterness and to the seeking of revenge… We are, however, reminded that the revenge is God’s - and bitterness is the poison we swallow in the hope that those who made us suffer, will die. This kind of reaction can only lead to more violence, more anger and more injustice — because violence ALWAYS begets violence. Only God can liberate us through his love and forgiveness and give us the grace to forgive in our turn.

Sometimes we think it is too difficult to forgive - but lets consider this again.  When David officiated at the wedding of our only daughter, he said about marriage, that there would inevitably be differences and misunderstandings between husband and wife. When this happens they may hurt each other - so they would have to learn to repent and ask for forgiveness - but, being forgiven, he said, was the most difficult thing we can ever experience, the most humbling thing. This is because if someone forgives you, it implies that there is absolutely nothing you can say or do which can ever change the pain you have caused or the harm you have done. The only possibility of restoring the relationship is if I say: “I forgive you!” and mean it. What holds true for husband and wife also does so for any other relationship.

So, forgive, we must — and to be forgiven we sorely need. In some way, however, being forgiven is at the same time liberating AND binding…. We will forever be bound to those who have forgiven us. What a beautiful bond that is! And that bond is part and parcel of living for and seeking for justice.

To my mind, the kind of justice God wants us to work for is love made visible. His justice is not like the justice of the world - it is not primarily (or maybe not at all) retribution or punishment on those who are unjust.  But justice is overcoming evil with love - which is not a sentimental feeling, but which involves strong and unequivocal non-violent action.  This kind of resistance and witness against evil inevitably leads to some kind of suffering. Both those who suffer directly as a result of an unjust system or in any imaginable way, through the cruelty of people, as well as those who suffer because they call for justice.  All need to be comforted and healed.  But not only these two categories need healing. Perhaps those needing healing most, are the perpetrators of injustice.

Immediately after the first free and fair election in South Africa at the end of April 1994, Desmond Tutu, repeatedly called out “We are FREE! We are FREE! White and Black, we are free!”, arms thrown wide into the air.  And to the multitude in Soweto where I was privileged to be, he stressed the fact that also the perpetrators of injustice needed healing. We all know there is no power on earth or in heaven that can overcome evil, nothing that can heal us, excepting love. If you, in any way, have committed injustice, you are a broken, guilty and needy person. You need to be healed as much as, or more than those whom you harmed.

Here in South Africa, the first free and democratic election ever, which ended formal Apartheid as policy, was followed by the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which demonstrated something of this other-worldly justice - a justice which could and did bring some healing. Only by forgiving can we be healed. And only by telling the truth about the unjust actions and words could a person be given amnesty by the TRC. Amnesty, however, is not enough.  Some who were given amnesty still suffer(ed) much because of reliving over and over again, what they had done… even if those they had ill-treated had truly forgiven them. Ultimately they can only be liberated from the torture of their guilty conscience by whole-heartedly accepting the forgiveness that God offers.

We must be patient with ourselves, for all this implies a long process - both when we try to forgive or try to accept forgiveness. We must give ourselves time. Waiting with open arms and hands, hearts and minds for the Holy Spirit to heal us, is the only way we can become whole again. And if we are whole, even during the process of being healed, we should strive to work for peace.

I believe that the most important peace-brokering happens when grass-roots people, and those who rub shoulders with us from day to day, observe the way we live and how we treat people with respect and humility - especially those who differ from us in every possible way. This, I believe, is and has all along been, my calling. I pray that God will use me where and how He knows best.

After my 10 days in Rwanda, going from one Genocide Memorial Site to another, from Museum to Church - meeting people from the Hutu, Tutsi and Twa and listening to their stories of horror and suffering, starving and brutal killings — but also about the enormous effort the Churches (and the Government) are now making to promote mutual acceptance, repentance, forgiveness, healing, unity and peace - which was deeply disturbing and moving  - I was and am heartbroken about the horror of what is now happening here! Here, where the miracle of 1994 had been an example for all the world!

It will take me a long time to process all the info from Rwanda — and some-how I am deeply concerned that this “forced” forgiveness and unity is much too soon and “too easy” and there-fore - even if they are absolutely serious about it and use all the best methods at their disposal - that it is more like papering over differences, shallow — in stead of doing a thorough surgical procedure, cleaning the wound and letting it drain and slowly heal from the inside…

And OUR wounds? So many of them, originating in the previous era of Apartheid, are still open and bleeding - and others are deliberately opened again and again.  Those that ARE healing have only JUST started to close from the inside out.  Now, once again, new injustice, new wounds, new pain — and new hatreds are born — partially because the old hatreds have not been addressed properly.  Now, a new group of people will want revenge…

In spite of the wonderful work which the TRC did, those who were either victims or perpetrators during the previous regime in SA have not been sufficiently counseled and accompanied on their way of processing that which had happened to them, their parents and grandparents. The result is that many young people amongst those who were previously dis-empowered and discriminated against today have this attitude of entitlement, coupled with the wrong perception of what democracy is all about. They feel they have a right to those things other people have to work for - and that democracy means: ‘I can do, or refuse to do, whatever I like without taking responsibility for myself, my family, my country….

Expatriates, on the other hand, even though they had to suffer many things, have come to SA to make a new beginning. They are willing to work very hard for little money.  Of course there are, as in every nation, some criminals, but, on the whole, they are honest people who have been trained in different skills. The forte many of them have is private enterprise. Others are professionals who bring their side in the companies where they have been appointed…

Shared by Annemie in an email after the The Gathering hosted by Amahoro Africa in Rwanda.  The processing continues as we each return to our home countries, our local contexts and we see afresh the need for deep reconciliation. K. Johnson

Reflections on Amahoro-Africa
Rwanda and Burundi
by Wesley White, 3 June, 2008, Glasgow, Scotland)

We are on a bus together heading from Rwanda into Burundi where we will soon meet an amazing variety of people who humble us with their habits of concretely demonstrating the compassion, care and justice of Jesus in the aftermath of genocide and in the midst of ongoing warfare.  The land passing by through the window is green, lush, beckoning, and in stark contrast with the poverty that seems to stab the serenity like a murderous blade, already too familiar in the Tutsi and Hutu experience.  After crossing the border, I am joined in my seat by a young African leader who keeps me engrossed for two hours or more with his story of survival, forgiveness and his efforts at reconciliation that are more about tangible love than forensic words.  Orphaned children depend on him.  They are housed and fed by him.  They are loved by him.  But he sees way beyond their immediate need to the roles they will assume in a new generation of leaders who will live justice in this land.  His vision is internationally transformative in scope.  As his story unfolds, I shake my head, I gulp, my eyes swim.  I laugh with him for joy.  I laugh in hope.

And suddenly in the crowded space of the bus, I need to be alone.  I retreat to a back seat by myself and open my Bible for some personal time with God.  A single sheet of paper slips out from the flyleaf containing notes I have recently taken during a seminar discussion at the University of Glasgow where I teach.  My colleague Christopher Seitz from nearby St. Andrews University was our guest lecturer, and he had been urging us to consider the common Hebraic pedagogic ideal as seen, for example, in Psalm 111:1-8.  Verse 2 says, “Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them.”  Seitz reminded us that behind a term like “study” lies a Hebraic pedagogic chiasm that goes something like this: Knowledge validated in Practise; Practise humbly seeking more Knowledge.  There is an interplay, in other words, between learning as study and learning as practise, and in the Hebrew mind they freely interchange.  In this case, therefore, the knowledge gained through rigorous study is only validated through the practise of it, and healthy practice is humbly hungry for more knowledge.

The pedagogy intoned in this Psalm is concerned with the great works of the Lord.  What great works, in particular, does this poet have in mind?  Verses 3-6 describe them for us, but only when we come to Verse 7 are we specifically told what they are.  “The works of His hands are truth and justice.”  And then Verse 8 shows us how good Hebrew study habits cannot help but emerge in practice.  “They are performed in truth and uprightness.”  Truth performed is where this pedagogy has taken us.  Truth performed in the interest of justice.

I am reviewing all this in my solitary bus seat.  It has become holy space.  I feel vulnerable in this crowded, yet transcendent moment.  And so I turn my head once more so as to stare out the window—and pray.  I pray for this young African leader whose story, whose life, has made me laugh and cry.  And I pray for the many young Africans like him whom I have met over the past few days.  And then I realize why awe has risen as a lump in my throat in this land so easily swamped with despair.  These new black friends are adept at performing truth when it so rare in the world at large.  They are, in the best sense of the word, studying the great works of the Lord.  They are Hebraic scholars of the highest sort.  And they stoop to include me in the stories of their lives.

Visiting Genocide Memorial Sites: Never again or Remember?
Visiting two Genocide Memorial Sites (5,000 and 20,000 massacred) was extremely depressing and shocking. The first day visiting the memorial sites churches in which the crime of genocide executed was depressing that shows the universal ugliness of sin. But I took a lesson out of it since it is a humbling experience. It is a reminder that the rest of the world left Rwanda alone during the genocide in 1994. Without loving the other all of us have the potential to act badly. My legs were trembling. We saw the most inhuman act done in the church even upon small kids as you can tell from the skull and bones. Weapons used to kill people like machete and knives left too. We even saw knife pierced on a skull (probably a boy or a girl). I felt bad and agonized. We were not able to attend the evening session fully because we were too tired and too depressed. Like others we wept at the loss of humanity.
Why memorials? To remember the dead, to say NEVER AGAIN (as we read the slogan in the memorial sites), to warn the whole world… but I was afraid what about if this is a reminder to revenge, to REMEMBER wrongly not truthfully and redemptively. The evil done reminds me the misery the Tutsi suffered. I felt solidarity in two ways. First, they were murdered and since many Hutu believe they don’t belong there and should thrown away on Nile River so that they could go to their original place, Ethiopia. I identified with innocent victims and their suffering. But it is surprising I also identified myself with perpetrators who hate and killed. Indifference to injustice is somehow considered betrayal of the innocent. I am not saying one has been entirely innocent and the other always perpetrator. Conflict is mutual unless the vicious cycle is broken through forgiveness.
A missionary send a report to describe the horrible situation, “All the devils left hell and they are in Rwanda” Miroslav Volf commented describing the problem is not exclusively a nation of black Africa but all by refereeing to genocide occurred everywhere and said “…there are more devils left in hell to make more hell on earth.”

Kazu: “Where were you in 1994?”
We meet with a Japanese man, Kazu, his wife Megume and their daughter who works Reconciliation with a local NGO REACH (Reconciliation Evangelism and Christian Healing), in Uganda. We had many things in common. He used to work for nine years in the organization I am currently working, Food for the Hungry/Ethiopia. We commonly know places and people. He speaks Amharic. Our birth dates is on the same date too! A Ugandan civil servant asked him a question: “Where were you in 1994” that strike Kazu and lead him to stay and work on reconciliation. At the beginning of his presentation, he asked forgiveness for not responding to the genocide and after until he began to do something. It is a sin of indifference. I confessed for the sin of indifference.
Kazu proposed Invitational Forgiveness …Offered as an invitation to elicit acknowledgment, remorse, and apology.

Brian McLaren: Pre-emptive Reconciliation and Stories behind Symptoms
I and Nunu know Brian through reading one of his books, Everything Must Change. We are honored to know and spend some time with him. He is a wonderful person. He told us that his father lived in Africa since his grandfather was a missionary in Africa. He also had contact with Ethiopia while he was a college teacher and pastor. We hope to see him again.
Brian McLaren compassionately heard the stories and deeply concerned for people everywhere and all God’s environment too. More than the symptoms he searched for root-causes of the problems which are the stories behind for tribalism, colonialism, class-ism, consumerism and so on. He proposed Christ-like approach for pre-emptive reconciliation. I like the word pre-emptive because it indicates prevention than to wait for some kind of disaster happen. The proposed way is the true and only alternative to realize God’s Kingdom: forgiveness, justice and peace-making. “We are not to stand around, hands folded, waiting for shalom to arrive. We are workers in God’s cause, his peace-workers. The missio Dei is our mission.”
McLaren concluded with a call:
It is time for us to graduate:
- From the primary school of personal salvation to the secondary school of God’s kingdom.
- From the university of reconciliation to the graduate school of peace-making and justice-seeking.
- Someday we may graduate into the adult life of joy.
… when swords will be turned into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.

Freda: Extreme Forgiver
Tutsi Survivor who saw her mother and siblings killed by Hutu’s at the age 14. An attempted murder did not succeed. They even buried her but someone pull her out from the ground. She was like a ghost that is why they did not choose to finish her. Somehow she resurrected. Then someone hide her in his place. As she was laying down helplessly a dog brought a hand of someone which Freda recognized it by the watch that it her grandfather’s. She can’t do anything but saw the dog ate her grandfather’s hand. She later on discovered her father also murdered. Knowing Christ led her to forgive the murderers even the person who chooses to hurt her continually by not telling the exact place where her family’s bodies buried. Nevertheless, she chooses to forgive even if the perpetrator stubbornly refuses to accept a gift of forgiveness. She even raises Hutu kids with her Tutsi children. Freda’s story who is one of the survivors is so amazing! How she forgives even the perpetrator who killed her mother and siblings were beyond our mental comprehension. We look forward to see her in Addis soon. Indeed, she is an extreme forgiver in following the footsteps of Jesus.

Communion and Eating Together: Don’t kill your enemy feed him/her!
It was deeply traumatizing stories of two Tutsi victim women and two perpetrators (eventually become victims, shame, guilt, and fear) and the Twa (from marginalized tribe). A lady confessed how she helped in listing Tutsi who were murdered and never participated in saving one. After confessing what she has done at the local court Gachacha the punishment was minimized for her. A thirty four years old Hutu confessed he was about to kill Tutusi but God did not allow him that chance since the people he had in mind were already killed. So, he left with the chance only to rob their properties. His hands were shaking as he told his stories. Our story is a story of hurt and violence too.
I salute Rwandan survivors and those who forgive their enemies who are truly saints. After hearing the testimony and confession of two Tutsi victims and two Hutu perpetrators and their stories of agony and reconciliation I was moved deeply. I admire their courage to choose to give forgiveness for perpetrators. I also admire former perpetrators confess their evil deed. From their confession, I learned Genocide is a crime against humanity. Both Hutu and Tutsi said sorry and asked for forgiveness not only among themselves but also all of us who represent different nations across the continent of Africa and the world. It was a humbling experience. I also learned evil done against one is like evil done against all humanity.
Then after the stories, the communion service was inclusive of all groups: Hutu, Tutsi, perpetrators and victims and all of us. I said, “Wow, incredible and fantastic!” It reminds me the true meaning of Jesus’ death that is for all, not for righteous but ungodly, enemies. During lunch time, I have seen former enemies dining together. I also captured it on my camera. Never in my life had the social meaning of reconciliation pictured practically and vividly. I was writing paper on ‘Worship and Reconciliation’ and one of the subtitles I wrote: ‘Forgiveness and Reconciliation Cherished by Generous Hospitality’ But this practical act of forgiveness and reconciliation as ‘an act of worship’ was forcefully a great confirmation to the truth I was wrestling. I am glad the fellowship that was seen in confession of sin, giving of forgiveness, sharing the holy communion, extends to eating lunch together in the same table. I am delighted for the inseparability of sharing the communion and dinning together. My prayer is that the liturgical worship extends everyday of the week: in all our interactions, exchange of good gifts and building relationships towards the way of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Read Romans 12: 9-21

Richard Twiss: What would heaven look like?
Richard is a Native American, Lakota/Sioux, presented on ‘Restitution and Reconciliation.’ Like many others he is victim of discrimination. His mother protected him not to speak his native language. Many were killed systematically… natives who are strangers in their own land. He listed all the crime done against his people for more than 500 years, expressed the impossibility of restitution for what they were robed: people, land, cultural values, language and so on. I felt bad for my ignorance. It seems even some of our American friends does not know what has been done against the indigenous/tribal people. After listing the evil done against his people, he expressed what heaven looks like with former perpetrators who demonized their culture, language, drum and so on. He said, “I guess I will see them in heaven. I wish it will not happen. But I think they will be there in heaven. …May be the problem is me.” Richard chooses Jesus’ way of forgiveness but exemplify how restitution is difficult and the tension between justice and reconciliation.
Richard reminds me the story a Cuban woman asked “Is it possible, for Castro to convert on his deathbed and end up in heaven?” “It is possible,” Professor Eire assured her. “This is what Christian faith is all about. Nobody is beyond the pale of redemption.” “Well, if that were to happen,” said the woman, “then I would not want to be in heaven.” “Love Your heavenly Enemy: How are we going to live eternally with those we can’t stand now?
Earthly forgiveness and reconciliation in light of heavenly reality and ultimate forgiveness…
This is a disturbing reality about heaven. Hearing this presentation, I was stunned and not able to dance and celebrate at the end.

Amazing conversations … I wish … more …
I wish there could be more time to hear some of the most important presentations, to bring together the conversations among small groups and there is more expression of feedbacks to shape our perspectives more sharply and to offer alternative models on reconciliation.

What we learn… many things including
•    Forgiveness is a process
•    Restorative justice is important
•    Restitution does not happen all the time
•    Truthful Remembrance is Redemptive and Fruitful
•    Heavenly reality should govern our earthly life (here and now)
•    Trinity is our model of relationship (for community)
Our stay in Rwanda was a time of joyful laughter and tearful agony. The evil done and forgiveness cherished make our story, a story of woe and hope.

Amahoro / Selam!

Tekle and Nunu
Ethiopia

The testimony of torturous atrocities suffered in the townships under Apartheid reveal the hellish imprint this systemic injustice left on the majority of the society. Graves of family members, bodies diminished by torture, souls that carry scars forever – the greater part of the South African psyche is marred by such reality.

An unexpected truth was the gash left across the soul of the white South Africans. There was such penetrating doubt about the country they loved, the leaders that were once their heroes, and the language that once they spoke with pride. Speaking their language became a reminder of Apartheid and what their leaders and police chiefs and hit squads did to secure their way of life.

The everyday Afrikaner now walked saddled with guilt for crimes their leaders committed. Maybe they knew, maybe they suspected, or maybe they had no clue about the cost of their way of life. But the TRC brought into full view the harsh, abusive injustices of Apartheid. Months of broadcast testimony forced the Afrikaner to hear out loud things that were once whispered; the haunting now took place in daylight for all to struggle with together. And it seems that many people were left utterly disoriented. Perpetrators or beneficiaries, Afrikaners were now distressed as the TRC gave voice to the underbelly of Apartheid.
But the great wisdom of the commission, of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was not to seek justice in court like Nuremburg or grant blanket amnesty, but to contend for a third way. The TRC was that third way, creating space for victim stories, questions and tears. A place for perpetrators to speak the truth about the crimes committed, utter apologies (or not). But this approach to reconciliation recognized what we often miss – reconciliation must be reflexive to bring restoration.
Africans have a word to describe the fabric of their society – ubuntu. ‘I am who I am because you are who you are,’ ubuntu declares that we are all connected to one another. This means that to dehumanize you is to, in fact, dehumanize myself. When one race subjugates, humiliates and tortures another race, they are committing these crimes against their own race, their own families, their very self. No one can walk away without a limp. So consider the mandate to reconcile in such a context, one must be cognizant of all involved: aggressors and victims, the beneficiaries and the bereaved.
In such a society, to torture another is to inflict torture on yourself; to ignore the injustice done to fellow countrymen is to do injustice to your own family. No one, according to ubuntu is unaffected. Therefore, reconciliation must be comprehensive. It must be big enough to allow all to seek truth, healing and reclaim dignity. And here is the challenge, at this point we often side with the victim and the bereaved and vilify the aggressor without mercy. It is understandable; they have sinned against society and brought irreversible fracture. But they, too, are a member of the community. All includes them, as well.
Therefore, reconciliation has to be reflexive. Healing will only come to the victim when he can offer forgiveness to the torturer; comfort will at last come to the bereaved when she can pardon the beneficiaries of the unjust system. And to reconcile with your enemy is to reconcile with something deep within your own psyche. Reconciliation cannot be a solitary affair, it must include the other if it is to bring true healing, an honest reconciling of the truth will complete the cycle of restorative work for one and for all - ubuntu. So we cannot overlook the healing of those who once stood on the wrong side of justice. There must be room in the process of restoration for the perpetrator and beneficiaries to express guilt, sorrow and grapple with the disorientation that is the fall-out of injustice. Their return to wholeness is part of the restoration of the entire society, because all are connected.
Ubuntu might be the hallmark of African self-understanding, a stunning way to see society as an interconnected whole. Yet ubuntu demands that all are offered the opportunity for restoration, healing and a return to wholeness. The road to reconciliation must be open to all if the community is to be whole again. There must be space created for all to embrace one another, or at least receive the story each offers. The process must allow for questions and some answers, accusations and apologies, some punishment and the granting of amnesty. And the tears, they seem to be shared by all. Maybe that is the moment restoration sprouts, sowing in tears to reap in joy together in a healed land. As we reconcile with others, we fully reconcile with ourselves, allowing a solid foundation for the future of an entire community. Reconciliation, if it leads to restoration, must be reflexive.
Kelley Johnson
AMAHORO AFRICA

Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Latin America for the first time. I arrived in Nicaragua to learn first-hand about the work of AGROS INTERNATIONAL (www.agros.org). Upon my arrival, I immediately recognized that the people of Nicaragua are wonderful people with the most beautiful language, living a simple life of caring for each other and the land that God has given them. As I walked through their communities and witnessed the pride in their agricultural accomplishments, I was impressed with their eagerness to work hard to bring about lasting change in their villages. Their joy was contagious, and I found myself infused with deep delight with each encounter, with each story told and each meal shared together. Cultivating and owning your own land, is good news, indeed!
The vision of Agros is “to restore hope and opportunity to the world’s poor.” In other words they go after what Jesus called ‘the least of these’ and give them tangible hope in the form of farmland. For the last 25 years, Agros has been doing rural community development in Latin America with a simple but very transformative process, building self-sustaining and thriving communities. While mistakes have been made, it is success that thrives as Agros creates communities with land, local leadership, homes and a spirit of generous hospitality. Their work is a visible manifestation of God’s good news to the impoverished people of Latin America.
I went to Nicaragua hoping to be inspired for ‘the least of these’ in my own homeland of Burundi. Indeed, the rural farmers of Nicaragua inspired me beyond what any book or essay on rural development could have ever done! These are people who are getting their ‘first chance’, their first real opportunity to build a home, own land, run a business, lead in their village and experience the goodness of God’s provision. Their industrious and gracious spirit reminds me of my African kinsmen, and I feel like I have got a glimpse of hope for the countryside of Burundi.
For many years I have looked for a way to sustain healthy development in a rural setting and a communal culture. I believe this is it, this is what it can look like! Agros offers a paradigm that offers me hope; it is a model that can deliver real transformation on the ground. This model allows communities to grow, leadership to develop and opportunity to spring up like wild flowers. I have seen what is possible in Nicaragua, and I believe that it is possible in Burundi and across rural Africa. By partnering with the poor and making land, agricultural knowledge, community development and leadership training available to them, good things can grow. This can be good news for Africa! This summer while my family and I spend time in Burundi, one of the things we will be exploring will be a potential local NGO who can partner with Agros to bring this opportunity to the poor of Burundi.
Amahoro,
Claude Nikondeha