A Story of Change

I love Luis' story.

We are called to love others.
We are called to serve others.
We are called to help others.
We are called to bless others.

I don't think anyone can argue that.



Luis' Story from Patrick Coker on Vimeo.


I love Luis' story because it serves as a reminder of who are called to be as "Christians". Luis actually attends my church here in Columbia. I love my church because they remind us to serve as missionaries every day in our own communities (and abroad). This video was a good reminder for me to never forget to serve here in Columbia first. Like Luis said, "I am happy to be a part of this family." Perhaps I could put my 8 years of Spanish courses to work, "Estoy feliz ser parte de este familia."

Count to 15

I was driving back from Charlotte to Columbia yesterday morning. As I drove I turned my radio to NPR and listened to the news; a 10 minute update on the BP oil spill (which is horrible, by the way), a 3 minute blip on the Nashville flooding that has claimed 11 lives, a 1 minute update on the Goldman Sachs "fraud", and in the middle of these updates, I heard this 15 second statement, "U.N. Reports Massacre of 100 villagers in Congo. U.N. officials announced a previously unreported massacre that occcurred two months ago: up to 100 people were killed when the rebel Lord's Resistance Army attacked a village."

15 seconds later this statement was already old news. A forgotten "story". I don't recall what came on the radio after hearing this. My mind was frozen on what just came over the speakers in my car:

100 people dead.

Located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A massacre by the LRA.

That was it.

I was deeply troubled and saddened by the fact that it received a mere 15 seconds. 100 lives worthy of 15 seconds. The more I thought, the more I realized that this short update seems to represent the news that we receive about all of Africa; short updates on attrocities too large to comprehend. Too vast to believe. Too difficult to take in. Therefore, it gets sliced again and again and is slotted to 15 seconds.

Why has this happened? Why is Africa a continent that appears to have been forgotten by the majority? Perhaps it's because the news isn't resonating with people. The details of this horrible massacre have been left out. Perhaps it's because God is needed in many countries in Africa and yet there is a lack of missionaries to stand next to these people and suffer with them in unreached places; share their burdens. Perhaps (to some) it seems like a hopeless cause.

The awful acts that are taking place in Central and Northern Africa overshadow the positive things that are going on in these countries and in Africa in general. But the truth hurts sometimes and this is where I am disturbed.

In my opinion, it was a pathetic 15-second-blip. We deserve to know the truth. We deserve to hear the whole story. We deserve to hear the facts.

And vice versa.

The people of D.R. Congo deserve to have the truth be told. They deserve to have their voices heard. They deserve a chance...

There are ways to get the news to stay up-to-date on what is going on with the LRA, (You can click here and here to view a couple websites I go to for news) however, why on NPR, Fox News, CNN, etc. are these stories being forgotten and not told. Is it too much?

Photo: 2010 Beatrice Petit

Is this too much? I don't think so. It takes my breath away.

"The young woman with the hacked-off lips and stitches where one ear used to be shakes her head when asked why rebels did this to her, then whispers that the attackers who came from across the river were angry because she kept crying for mercy and calling on God for help." - Associated Press

There are many people that are doing great things to be the voices of the people that are being raped, killed, kidnapped, mutilated, however, they need our help. We need to stop the LRA and you can do something. You can pray. You can have your church pray. You can tell their story to your friends. You can sign the a Citizen's Arrest Warrant for Josephy Kony (click here). 231 members of Congress have co-sponsored the LRA Disarmament Bill and on April 29, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the LRA Disarmement and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. For a little goverment lesson: From here, the bill will go to the floor of the House for a full vote in the next few weeks. After this, this bill goes straight to the President's desk to be signed into law and put into action.

This is exciting news. Exciting to know that some people still heard their cries for help. There are others that caught the 15-second-blip and didn't throw it away as old news. People are hearing the truth and seeing the photographs and can't look away. If you have more than 15 seconds, please take a moment and look...and pray.

Photo: 2010 Human Rights Watch

"This 37-year-old man from Bangadi was attacked by the LRA on January 24, 2010 when he risked going to this banana and sugarcane farm 2km outside of town. A group of LRA found him there and shot him twice - both bullets grazed his back and neck. An LRA then grabbed him by the ankles and shook him to see if he was really dead, and cut him by machete just below the neck and lower down on on his back, leaving him unconscious. When he came to, he eventually found his brother who had also been shot by the LRA. Covered in blood, they made it to a Congolese army position and found soldiers who took them by bicycle to a health center.

A man with machete wounds to his head after being attacked by LRA rebels near Ngilima, northern Congo.

Photo: 2009 Reuters

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget." - Arundhati Roy