A Short Guide to Talking About Africa

Talking About Africa Top Blogs 2015

As a U.S. citizen, I’ve heard many reactions to my nationality as I travel to other places. A few gems: “We love Americans!” “We hate Americans!” “You can print your own money at an ATM.” “You’re all fat.” People have ample opportunities to see the United States in news and entertainment, so they have ample opportunities to form opinions of us — for better or for worse.

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I’m Not Quite Rich Enough to Go to Disney World

im poor burkina faso

Our tendency, when we get a little more money, is to live up to our means. A slightly larger house or a slightly larger car, and we have the same stress each month when our bills arrive and the same feeling that we’re poor compared to so and so up the road.

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rwandan genocide survivor

Rwandan Genocide: Where Were God’s People?

At the time of the Rwandan genocide in 1994, Gary Haugen, a senior trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, was given an assignment to serve as the Officer in Charge of the U.N.’s genocide investigation in Rwanda. 

He had seen a lot of injustice in the past, working to combat human rights abuses around the world. And in Rwanda, he stood amid it. He led a team in gathering evidence against those who perpetrated the genocide.

He didn’t just fight a legal battle from afar; he stood at the sites of mass murder and mass graves, and looked into the ugliness of this world. 

And his response to it was quite surprising to me.

When you are standing in a mass grave in Rwanda, the question that came to my mind was not the question that was coming to everyone else’s mind perhaps. I’ve had people ask me, Where was God in the midst of all of this?’ But I could sense, at least from Scripture, what I knew of my heavenly Father, was that I knew where God was: He was right in the midst of all that incredible suffering. The more relevant question for me was, ‘Where are God’s people?’

What I also saw so clearly was the biblical mandate, because when you go through Scripture with an eye for that, all of a sudden there are these very clear commands: Micah 6:8, ‘He has told you, O man what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with your God,’ or Isaiah 1:17, ‘Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.'”

– Excerpted from RELEVANT magazine, “A Call to Justice,” March/April 2007 with permission.

Rather than raging at God, like I sometimes feel tempted to do, Haugen knew that this was a matter for the church. It was our responsibility to do justice, to rescue the oppressed, to plead for the widows and orphans.

rwandan genocide survivor

Laurent Mbanda is the Vice President of the Africa region for Compassion and also a native Rwandan. He wrote the book, Committed to Conflict: The Destruction of the Church in Rwanda, about the church in Rwanda and how it was involved in the genocide.

Rwandans had a common saying: ‘God spends the day somewhere else, but spends the night in Rwanda.’ To many, God left Rwanda on 6 April 1994 and did not come back until the final defeat of the Rwandan army by the RPF soldiers.

But not only did God seem to have left, some church leaders seemed to have allowed, blessed and even participated in the slaughter.

According to Mbanda, a history of prejudice and political involvement in the Rwandan church, dating back to Belgian colonial times and early Christian missionaries, set the stage for the unthinkable. Where were God’s people in the Rwandan genocide? Unbelievably, some were right there, supporting it.  

What did Haugen do in response to what he saw?

I would have despaired. But fueled by what he saw, Haugen knew what he must do. He knew it was the church’s responsibility, our responsibility, not to wink at the injustices of the world, but to stop them. He founded the International Justice Mission, an organization that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and violent oppression in 12 countries around the world. This organization partners with us to help protect children who might not otherwise have someone to speak up for them. 

What is your response when you read about the ugliness of the world? Do you want to close your eyes or just despair? It sure is tempting. But rather than giving up, Haugen went to the Scriptures to see what God’s call was on him, and he obeyed. He is now mobilizing the Church to be the ones who don’t look away, but who show up when the world needs it most.


Photo by Phoebe Graves

We originally published this post on April 6, 2009, the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda.

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Kids Photography Ideas group

Five Ways to Take Great Photographs of Kids

How can we take photographs of people that treat them with dignity? Here are five ways in which our photographers strive to take great photos of kids.

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holistic child development soccer team

Not-So-Sexy Ministry

We believe that in order to make a long-term dent in ending poverty in the life of a child, we can’t only focus only on what sells or what seems most important from our outside perspective.

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Support Kids: What Happens When a Child Isn't Sponsored?

What Happens When a Child Isn’t Sponsored?

When someone stops sponsoring a child, the Unsponsored Children’s fund fills the gap so that children can continue to receive support until a new sponsor is found. For 9-year-old Happy, this fund helped save her life.

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Derek Gordon giving young boy a fist bump

Ministry Insider: Derek Gordon, Called to Serve

As the Complementary Interventions Strategy and Operations Manager, Derek Gordon is one of the people whom God is really using at Compassion through his wisdom, calling and commitment.

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Field of wheat.

Hope as Wide as the Prairie

Our pioneer ancestors scraped and sacrificed and barely got by, in many ways living a similar lifestyle to what millions of subsistence farmers still lead around the world.

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Pray for Your Sponsored Child: A Heart for Missions

Pray that God would fill your sponsored child with a passion for proclaiming God’s glory and sharing His gospel with their community.

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thankful heart

Pray for Your Sponsored Child: Gratitude

Although they do not have material wealth, pray that your sponsored child would be overflowing with thankfulness to God for the gifts He has given them.

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prayerfulness

Pray for Your Sponsored Child: Prayerfulness

God has given sponsored children around the world His ear, that even though they are often voiceless in this world, He cares for their prayers.

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Wolfgang Riedner with a group of children

Ministry Insider: Wolfgang Riedner and Qavah

Wolfgang Riedner was born in Nuremberg, Germany, and spent five years as a pastor in southern Germany before he moved to Uganda to teach in Bible colleges. He now serves as Compassion’s Church Partnership Director.

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