Yet what do people do now in the face of war?
As a student at a University I do not have a great amount of options when trying to go out and help the world… besides mission trips, feeding the homeless and getting the word out. This is why I stay connected to programs like “TOMs shoes” and “Falling Whistles.” They both deal with providing help to those who need it. Falling Whistles is a program that was created to make people see that a war is happening in Congo that most do not know about or just overlook. To be in support of Falling Whistles, one can buy the whistle from their site and wear it as a symbol of being a “Whistleblower for peace.” The war in Congo is ongoing, yet our government has not done anything about it. Obama said he would and even signed an agreement, but nothing has happened. So as of right now a petition has been going around with now over 20,000 signatures to send to our government, petitioning that we send a convoy to Congo to protect those in need. Come to find that the organization “Invisible Children” also deals with many of the war affected children.
“Over the past 15 years war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has consumed as many as 5m lives, often gruesomely: children murdering in gangs, civilians massacred by the thousand, rape as common as petty thievery. And yet, who can name the man responsible?” said The Economist when writing about Jason Stearns, a man who travels through the Congo area, speaking the dialects to get information out of as many people as possible.
That is the question to be asking, “Who can name the man responsible?” The leaders of Congo have been shot, ignored and killed through the years, so it is utter insanity there. Rape is as common as small thefts. Millions of people are dying. There seem to be no restrictions, similar to a Holocaust, yet who is the one charging it on? Although there is not much of an answer to that, the more important question is how the rest of the world is allowing this kind of behavior to continually happen? Why is no one doing anything about it? Is the world not supposed to work together? Why do we have the UN and not use it? America has its solders in Afghanistan, and although there is still a fight there, does it compare to what is happening in Congo.
At my school, California Baptist University, we have many students from Rwanda. I never was able to really get to know them except for one, but I haven’t really asked about life back there. I know she and her mother do not live there anymore and had moved away, but The Economist’s article spoke of how close Rwanda is to Congo, how the war enters into that country. This is very scary, and it makes me worried for all the families back in Rwanda from our students here, how much pain must be in their hearts.
It breaks my heart that although organizations such as Falling Whistles and Invisible Children work so hard to inform the public and reach the government officials, people ignore or do not care enough to put all their support behind the cause. Our world has become extremely self-centered, and it is truly heart breaking.
“Despite at one time having the world’s biggest UN peacekeeping mission, Congo, Jason Stearns argues, should be ranked alongside Germany, Russia and China as one of the great vortexes of recent human violence. The conflict sucked in armies from nine nations, spawning at least 20 rebel groups that fought 40 or 50 interlocking wars within wars in a country as big as western Europe, but with few roads. Ethnic rivalry, lust for power, security concerns, poverty and greed all played a role, yet no side had a clear objective.”
These people are fighting for nothing. Yes there might be an abundance of minerals, but it is an uncontrolled war going on. But because the minerals are not necessarily oil and gas, America is not as keen to get in on the fight, to clear up the war, unlike the war that started in Iraq. The wars in Congo have not necessarily been directed on America like crashing a plane into our Twin Towers, but it’s still a war, an unnecessary war that is harmful, and if not controlled soon, will start consumed and spreading to neighboring countries.
Are you a Whistle-blower for peace?
http://www.economist.com/node/18617876
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