Watermark Justice

During last month’s trip to Goma, Congo, our Watermark team partnered with the African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) to conduct conferences with counselors and victims of sexual abuse (led by brave women from Watermark’s Shelter from the Storm ministry) and Congolese lawyers (led by lawyers from Watermark Justice).  Learn more about the trip.

The excerpts below were taken from an email from the Congo country director for ALARM, which later was shared with Watermark’s Shelter leadership.

We are proud of the Watermark team. Their . . . conference for counselors of victims of rape and women living with HIV/AIDS was a success. The conference that started with sobbing, crying and many tears, but it ended with singing, dancing and ululations.

. . .The telling of teachers own past ordeals helped the participants to understand that they were not the only victims in the world. [The] teachers’ victory over the[ir] problems gave hope to them that they too could overcome theirs.  . . . Their openness talking about the past and victory helped some women to disclose for the first time that they too had been victims of sexual abuse but kept it [secret] for many years. The quick response to emotional breakdown by either hug or pat on the back was very comforting.

The participants at the conference suggested that the teachers should extend their reach to other areas beyond Goma. They should also consider preparing lessons on other types of trauma, such as those caused by loss of relatives during the wars, or . . . land grabbing.  . . .The sufferers are the persons who do not know their parents. They would want to know the father, for example, but nobody tells them. They were [born] from either rape or incest and nobody wanted to tell them the embarrassing stories. Some married women who are living with . . . ruthless spouses do not share their story and cannot get any help. . . .

These encouraging words also serve as a renewed call to action and remind us that we must maintain focus on the injustice and suffering of the least of these (Matthew 25: 31-46).  Let us, Christian lawyers, continue building Christ-focused leadership by  sharing the good news and challenging Congolese pastors, lawyers, and judges to speak out against injustice, immorality, and untruth.  Pray that the Lord gives our Congolese friends the strength to speak out in the face of danger.  (See also Why go to Goma?) Pray that the Lord will reveal more ways to use our lawyers, ministries like Shelter from the Storm, and ALARM to “bring good news to the poor” and “bind up the brokenhearted” in the Congo.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” Isaiah 61: 1-3 (ESV)

ALARM operates in eight countries in east and central Africa, with offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.  Visit ALARM’s website to learn more: www.alarm-inc.org.

As many of you know, I had a great opportunity to speak at Pepperdine Law School’s conference on “The Role of the Church in Doing Justice” back on February 19, 2010.  Notable speakers included Kay Warren (a great talk on doing justice in Rwanda), Sean Litton of IJM, and Rich Stearns of World Vison — and many, many other great speakers.  Here’s a link to the schedule http://law.pepperdine.edu/nootbaar/news-events/events/doing-justice/schedule.htm

The best news is that Pepperdine has now posted all of the video from the conference on itunes.

As I said at our recent justice breakfast, I strongly recommend that if you are interested in justice, you carve off some of your study time to hear from these speakers by watching the videos.

Here’s the link and details on finding the videos:

We are happy to announce that video from the conference is now posted on itunes U, the itunes program for universities. The video is available to the public, so no authentication is required. The only thing required is the itunes player. More information about itunes, and itunesU can be found at http://itunesu.pepperdine.edu

If you already have itunes installed this link will take you directly to the conference videos:

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/pepperdine.edu.3569635999.03569636001

I hope everyone has a blessed Easter

Van