Hope in the face of humanitarian crises

Hi. Remember that time the job search ate my week. Sorry. I’m back.

So, this post is not meant to depress you, but to show that there are people doing great things in the midst of incomprehensibly challenging hardship. Regardless, this is some pretty tough stuff, so be warned.

Yesterday I spent my morning catching up on the 700 articles from the 74 blogs I follow in my google reader. I had neglected it for a week due to the aforementioned week-swallowing job search. The better part of the morning I spent on two sites that you should visit:

First, The Places We Live is a site that has an interactive photo feature which takes you through some of the most incredible slums in the world. I use incredible in the real sense of, it is so hard to believe we live in a world where people have to live like this. Jonas Bendiksen has used his powerful images to show these slums with a stark beauty, dignity and truth. The exhibit is now on display at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. Thanks to Patrick James over at GOOD Magazine for bringing it to my attention.

Second, click on “the story” section in Falling Whistles for a very moving PDF which is well worth the 5-10 minutes it will take you to read/experience. With beautiful, compelling design, Sean D. Carasso tells the story of meeting 5 boys who had just escaped from two of the rebel armies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This story is so hard. It is not fair. It evokes anger. Hopelessness. Helplessness. Pain. But Sean does well what any advocate of peace and justice does well. He tells the boys’ story. He gives a voice to those who have none, and the voice that he lends is one of urgency, eloquence and love. Make sure you read to the end where he talks about the Congolese artists who are pulling boys like these into a community of rehabilitation.

The way these artists use these horrific stories to spread the truth and point others towards rehabilitation and reconciliation give me hope.

I spent 2 powerful weeks in Rwanda, a country that is a model of progress and reconciliation after the genocide there in 1994 in which around 1 million lives were lost in about 100 days. Even with much progress and healing, there is a long way to go. There will be many more posts here about Rwanda, my short, but clearly life-changing time there, and how it has shaped my world today. For now though, check out Indego Africa, another beacon of hope for me. They blog here. Their work is to help to create cooperatives of women who make handicrafts, import those goods for sale in the states and send 100% of profits back to the women for education and training purposes. Nothing helpless about that.

I give thanks for these tangible places where we can fight against these atrocities by building up strong communities turning with hope to their future. What places and ways have you found to address these issues?