Since the release of the Kony 2012 video, many painful thoughts have run through my mind.
Thoughts of sin aroused in me.
Thoughts of my state of hopelessness.
Thoughts of how we the Acholi people have been misunderstood by others.
I say this because…
I am an Acholi. In 1988, my uncle as he was getting off a bus at our Village in Acholibur was shot at by Joseph Kony’s rebels. In 1992, as we gathered to celebrate Christmas as a family the rebels came on the Christmas night and attacked and killed people at the Village trading centre, this was the last Christmas that we had in the Village as we were later displaced across the Nile to Masindi District. In 1996 at the helm of the war, my father was posted to work in Gulu and on one instance the car that they were travelling in was ambushed and burnt, he stayed in the bush for three days. My cousin was shot and I personally saw her intestines fall out as she was being brought to the hospital in Gulu, my other cousin was adducted by the rebels and he has never returned home to this day.
This all happened in the first twenty years of my life. When I think about this it’s painful and hurts and I feel bad. I am sure that if my grandmother watches this video today, she will weep in memory of her husband that the rebels killed, if my uncle watched this video fear and hopelessness would reawaken of the rebels re-abducting him, he would reconsider his plans of returning to our village. Is this good?
The solution to our problem is not to capture Kony but to help us continue in this process of healing, the thought of capturing Kony arouses more anger, more pain and feelings of revenge that are unbiblical. In fact if you asked me ten years ago what I would do with Kony if I captured him, I would revenge all the evil he has brought on my family. Now I realize that revenge is for God, I personally have handed Kony over to God. The gospel of Jesus has helped me over come these feelings, the thought of arresting Kony arouses sin in me, reminds me of how hopeless I am and how people do not understand me.
Justice is not only going to happen when our oppressor is captured and taken to The Hague, there are many leaders in Uganda who have done far worse atrocities and qualify as well to go to the Hague even before Kony but no one seems to say anything about them. Justice is going to happen if we the oppressed are restored and given living hope. This hope is what the oppressor took; taking the life of the oppressor does not bring back any hope. I have realized that hope is not in the cows, land, food or other material things we owned, because when Kony took all these from us, we lost hope and life was meaningless. Hope is in life eternal, hope is in Christ. This hope no man can take.
The focus in Northern Uganda should no longer be Joseph Kony the man that oppressed us for 23 years, but it should be on we that were oppressed. I believe that this Acholi problem needs a biblical and African solution of restoring the broken hearted. We urgently need to raise leaders that will give hope to the hopeless. Therefore the kony 2012 Video is not the solution, hope to the oppressed is the solution.
KILAMA DENNIS, Academic Registrar Africa Renewal Christian College
THANK YOU FOR this.
ReplyDeleteYes. Thank you for this honest and helpful response. We pray for true restoration and healing - and justice through the love and power of our Lord Jesus.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written. Thank you for sharing your story.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your opinion. I've had reservations about this whole Kony campaign, actually. And you are right - what the Ugandan people (and all people) really need is Christ, not revenge.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering your thoughts on this question though: If Kony is left out there many more people will die, more children will be abducted, and more girls turned into sex slaves. Are these people, his future victims, worth stopping him for?
Thank you for sharing your story, and I pray that the Lord would continue healing your heart. What you are saying is truth, what the people of Central Africa need is Jesus Christ. Kony is not the only one out there, and neither is revenge good. However I believe that it is a start. I believe that this is not about revenge, but one man (out of many) answering for his crimes against God's creation. God bless you, and may He give us all His wisdom and strength in this.
ReplyDeleteJesus Christ is the ultimate answer. I agree. But could you share further on how making the plight of the African people known and the atrocities of the LRA and others in the region is actually a bad thing. I for one have been forced to take a close look at this problem as a direct result of this video, I also would love to hear if programs that Invisible Children support in the LRA affected regions are a good or bad thing. Because I do not live in the region I am clueless as to the effectiveness of these programs in the lives of real people. But I respect your opinion and will consider all the info I gather as I prayerfully consider how I might help.
ReplyDeleteI agree that revenge isn't the solution, but the problem is that people in the rural forestry of central Africa are still being harmed.There are many stages in ending war, the grieving process being one of them, but technically the war isn't over. Northern Uganda is safer, in regards to LRA activity, but the people living in D.R. Congo, Central African Republic,and the Acholi still in forced LRA captivity don't have the luxury of healing.
ReplyDeleteBesides my minor rant. I like your article a lot. It gives a great perspective of the war and the people left in it's path. Thanks for sharing.
May the Lord Jesus reveal more and more to you, so that your faith and love and hope would grow, as well as your freedom to forgive as the Father forgives.
ReplyDeleteBlessings from Spain.
I do Totally agree that God will have His revenge on this man and many like him and we should Allow God to have His Revenge. But I do have to agree with the many others here that know that if we don't STOP him, only MORE Children will be Killed and made as Sex Slaves for this Monster!! I'm sure God don't want MORE children to be HURT by this man!! If there are MORE men like Kony, then we also should put them out there for us to Make them Responsible for their Actions!! If there was a burgular in your House, you wouldn't say, "Go ahead, take what ever you want & go in Peace!" You would call the Police and have him arrested wouldn't you??? Then why should be ALLOW this man to continue he's rampage and STEAL the Children there for his SICK feeling of POWER!!
ReplyDeleteGod put us in Charge of our Children to be Protective of them!! How are we Protecting them if we ALLOW this Monster to STEAL them from us??? So to me, part of his ability of getting away with this is our "responsibility" for ALLOWING him to Run Free!! My Blessings are for you and the HURT that he brought to your Family! I am glad to see that you are NOT putting yourself to his level, but Rising Above it and Forgiving him for his senseless act! God Bless you & your Family!!
I am reminded of a comment attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer (speaking about Adolf Hitler): "At some point it is not enought to offer first aid to those injured along the road. You must stop the maniac driving on the sidewalk." To stop the maniac is not the same thing as revenge. I admire your Christian character and lack of desire for revenge. I believe that it is truly a position one must come to to move forward. As a personal position, spiritual position it is essential. But the governmental position must be to provide security for its citizens. The governments of Uganda and the surrounding countries have the obligation to provide security from violent men and gangs such as the LRA.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your perspective! We, indeed, need leaders to give hope to the hopeless!!
ReplyDeleteAs an American supporter of Invisible Children (IC) and one who has spent some (limited) time in Uganda I have a slightly different perspective.
Revenge is not the same thing as justice. You are right that God provides eternal justice and we can rest secure in that, but pursuing a criminal and holding him accountable to international law is not revenge. God has sovereignly ordained governments to execute justice and hold criminals accountable. The Ugandan leaders that have perverted the law deserve no less, but for IC to bring attention to a warlord and not other criminals is not wrong, it simply falls short of being perfect.
IC has also been actively engaged in restoring the oppressed Acholi since 2004. They are far from perfect but their programs are Acholi ideas, Acholi-led and Acholi-sustained. Their media simply serves to bring attention to the oppressor AND the oppressed in a creative way that energizes youths. As a High School Teacher I have seen this energy sustained in youths for the past 6 years that went from unaware and apathetic to compassionate, informed activists. KONY 2012 is not the whole solution, but I contend that it is part of the solution to creating global citizens that have a genuine concern for all image-bearers of God regardless of national origin.
If you watch the video that is going "viral" from IC there is no mention anywhere of revenge. This is about bringing attention that can lead to his arrest so that he can face justice. That is Biblical. Until he is stopped, arrested, and brought to justice he remains at-large and dangerous and we can assume he'll continue to kill, rape, murder and mutilate. The KONY campaign is seeking international attention to continue support of military pressure designed to find and arrest him.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your story because it is your story and not our story. It really amazes me how prideful many of these comments are from Americans. Praying for you, Uganda, and everyone affected by this horrible war.
ReplyDeleteA different perspective.
ReplyDeleteBless you, precious one. Thank you so very much for sharing. The power of Jesus Christ is amazing and I love what you said, "no man can take that away." Praise His glorious name!!!! You are loved!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. It is very encouraging. We all have a great hope in Jesus Christ that when this fallen world ends, everything will be restored and we will be living together with God, glorifying and worshiping Him.
ReplyDeleteHere are some clarifying thoughts on the campaign from the organizer of Kony 2012-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html
Psalm 91
My reaction to the film was fairly positive: Kony must be stopped. I recently retired from 28 years of ministry in countries of central Africa -- mainly in two countries to which Kony and the LRA brought their movement after leaving Uganda (where I also invested two years if my life). The atrocities continue to this day in those two countries. My focus of ministry was to bring God's Word to people in their heart language -- yes, I am a man of forgiveness, hope, etc. But I do not know of any culture which simply turns the cheek of forgiveness to evil.
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