My Take on KONY 2012

Mary Kay writes: 


It has been fascinating to me to watch KONY 2012 go viral this week.  This is the first time I personally have seen this phenomenon, partly because I am “a clueless old fogie” (as my high school senior would put it) and partly because we live in Ghana, where we are just beginning to explore all the uses of social media.  True confession:  I only figured out how to participate in Twitter this week, follow me at @ghanawaterwoman.  It has been doubly interesting as it follows on the heels of and illustrates two books that Charlie and I have been reading lately about the new world social order – ala Facebook and Google – What Would Google Do and Public Parts, both by Jeff Jarvis (@JeffJarvis and www.buzzmachine.com).  Watching the video gave me more insight into how the web could be used to form a critical mass for change – ala Tahrir Square, or Yemen, or Libya, or I guess even Wall Street (though I still haven’t figured out the whole “occupy” movement).

The video does bring attention to one of the major problems in Africa over the last 50 years– that of child soldiers.  But Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Rebellion Army are hardly the only ones involved in this practice.  Child soldiers have been used in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Sudan and elsewhere, as well.  The movie does bring infamy to Joseph Kony, but since he has been under indictment by the International Criminal Court since 2005, I would argue that he already was infamous.  In the end, all KONY 2012 does is vilify Joseph Kony and call for his capture and prosecution.  Easier said than done since he is hiding out in dense and sparsely populated jungle and could be in one of three or four different countries in Central Africa, in a geographic area approximately half the size of the United States.  After all how long did it take the FBI to find Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber, when he was hiding out in the mountains of North Carolina?  Or for the international community to find Osama bin Laden, for that matter?  And why pick only on Joseph Kony?  Three other leaders of the LRA are also under indictment for the same crimes against humanity.  A two others were indicted in 2005, but have since died, so the charges against them have been dropped.

My biggest beef with the movie and the KONY 2012 movement is that it doesn’t really address the underlying issues in Uganda that led to the formation of the LRA or provide any solutions.  Let’s say we arrest Kony, try him, execute him.  Or that he dies in a gun battle when they try to arrest him.  What happens next?  What will keep another from stepping into his shoes?

Many of the blogs and news sources I have read on the internet, from people living and working in Uganda, and more importantly, from Ugandans themselves, don’t see Kony as their biggest problem anymore.  Yes, he is evil, and did atrocious things.  But he is not nearly as active in that part of Africa as he was 10 or even 5 years ago.  His power has diminished greatly.  But the conditions that led to his rise to power are still in Uganda and throughout Africa.  Corruption.  Oppressive governments.  Grinding poverty.  Malaria and HIV/AIDS.    Lack of access to health care, or potable water, or sanitation, or education.  Kony and the LRA may have abducted as many as 70,000 children over the course of his rebellion, and certainly they killed more than that.  But approximately 4,500 children die every day from preventable waterborne diseases, most of them in Africa.  And 1,400 children die every day in sub-Saharan Africa from malaria.    EVERY DAY!  That would equate to over 50,000,000 children from these two causes alone, over the 25 years that Kony has terrorized children.  And this does not include the children who are ill but recover.

Of course, there are plenty of organizations that are mobilizing around the issues of malaria, waterborne disease, education, or other issues as well.  You can google any of these topics and find heart-breaking videos of the impacts of disease and poverty on God’s children in Africa (or Asia or the United States for that matter).  I can point you to a lot – and I can show you my own photographs and videos. 

But the myriad issues in Africa, or specifically in Uganda, have been going on for 25, 50 or even 100 years or more.  They are too complex to distill into a video like KONY 2012.  They won’t be solved overnight, or in 2012, or with the arrest or death of one person.   The United States can’t just “come to the rescue” like some governmental version of Superman.  And these problems certainly won’t be solved without the input and effort of Ugandans and other Africans.  Africans should be engaging in conversations, whether face-to-face or on Facebook, Twitter and the like, with other Africans about what they see as their greatest problems, most significant needs and their proposed solutions.  Then we in the west can follow along, learn, and in turn ask how we can best support and encourage them to achieve their dreams and meet their own needs. 

THAT approach, my friends, is community development.  That is development with dignity.  That moves past colonialism, or neo-colonialism, or the Western “we’re here to fix you (and remold you into our image)” mentality.  That would recognize and celebrate the image of our creator God in Africans.  And that is what I pray that I am learning to do, with sensitivity and love.

I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken. My spirit is poured out in agony as I see the desperate plight of my people. Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets.  (Lamentations 2:11, NLT)

Water Is Life

Water is Life. We all have been thirsty, we all understand. Whether in the hot summers of Georgia, the hotter and more humid equatorial tropics of Houston or southern Ghana, or on the even hotter, dusty semi-arid savannahs of northern Ghana, “water is life” is not just a saying – it is reality. Here in Ghana, water is deeply ingrained in the local culture. Any time you visit anyone anywhere - city or village, office or home - Ghanaian culture and hospitality demands that you are offered water to drink. That is always the first order of business – before even introductions or stating your mission. If you are not offered water, by oversight or because you are visiting clueless expats, it would not at all be rude to ask for water. Once you have traveled around Ghana at all, even here in Accra, it is easy to understand why. This is a hot, dusty place, and you get thirsty so quickly. Dehydration easily turns into a headache or worse here. 

When we dedicated the borehole at Koduakrom last Friday, I had the opportunity to share a few thoughts with the assembled villagers. I reminded them of the role water plays in their culture of hospitality. You could see the heads nod in agreement. Then I told them the story of Jesus meeting the Samaritan woman at the well from John 4. While the Samaritan woman gave Jesus water to drink from the well, He gave her something much more valuable – Living Water! And despite the sin in her life, her religious traditions, her gender and her culture – all barriers that could have blocked her from receiving this gift from Jesus – she accepted it. 

The people of Koduakrom have been blessed with the gift of safe drinking water. The village will have plenty of potable water throughout the year. Their children will be less likely to get waterborne diseases. They will be able to share this water with visitors and weary travelers who come to their village. All of these are great, life changing benefits to the village. But how much more life changing will it be if they share the Living Water that Jesus offers with each cup of drinking water! 


In the US, we are blessed with abundant access to safe drinking water. And we are blessed with abundant access to Living Water as well through our churches, media, books, seminars, even the internet. But do we link the two together as Jesus did? Do we introduce Jesus when we offer a glass of water to a visitor who may not know Him? 

"Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:10-14, NIV)

A Day of Celebration in Koduakrom, Ghana

Mary Kay writes:

I first visited Koduakrom in 2010. This little rural farming village is about 30 minutes outside of Sunyani, the capital of the Brong Ahafo Region of Ghana, which is the breadbasket of Ghana. Farmers here grow bananas, plaintain, coco yams, palm nuts (for palm oil) and other staples of the Ghanaian diet. But it was a somewhat depressing little collection of crumbling mud huts with thatched roofs, one borehole that dries up every year during the dry season, and two cement block buildings – churches – on either end of the village. The Methodist chapel was roofed, but not finished – no plaster, windows or doors.

Back again two years later, my fifth or sixth visit, we celebrated a new day in Koduakrom. The village has a new deeper borehole that will not dry out, thanks to the generosity of my friends at St. John’s UMC in Edwardsville, IL. Everyone in the village is excited about this improvement, especially the children who will not miss school due to waterborne disease as often as in the past.

The Methodist Chapel has been completed as well, thanks to friends at Asbury UMC in Madison, AL. A team from there came this past November to Koduakrom and participated in a revival in the village. At the same time, they were moved to contribute funds toward the completion of the chapel. My dear friend and colleague, Bishop Kofi Asare-Bediako, also remembered his pledge to build a chapel at Koduakrom from the early 90s, when he was a minister in their circuit. So now they have a beautiful Easter egg colored church to remind them of their new life in Jesus – yellow for the light of Christ in our lives, blue for His living water, pink for joy. Villagers report that the church is growing and has a renewed hope for their future.

There is a beautiful grove of mango trees started around the chapel now, too, a gift from the Bishop as well. So in a few years, the church and its members will have the income from the mangoes they grow to augment their coffers – money that will be used to support the widows and orphans of the village.

Lastly, a school is under construction – right across the road from the Methodist Chapel. This is being funded by the local District Assembly, as it should be, but there has never been a school in Koduakrom before now. Schoolchildren have had to walk a couple of kilometers to attend the nearest school in the next village. What a blessing that they will soon be able to attend school in their own village.

Things are definitely looking up in Koduakrom. You could see it in the smiles on peoples' faces and the hugs and warm greetings I received when I got out of the car. The people of Koduakrom also gave us a traditional "thanksgiving" gift from their harvest - plaintain, coco yams, a goat (live!), and palm nuts - all the ingredients for fufu and palm nut soup. I can’t wait to come back in two or three more years to see the changes here, all because its citizens now have pride in their community and hope in the future. And I can’t wait to taste one of their delicious mangoes !

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life..." (Psalm 23:5-6a, NIV)

Ant Music

Mary Kay writes:

No, not the early 80s Adam Ant kind, though I did go back and watch his videos on you tube for a blast from the past this afternoon… And not the cool ants running around in the baggage claim area at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport either.

This morning, I poured cereal for Ken, but he didn’t eat it. Then, instead of eating it myself right away, I got distracted. So when I did go to eat, it was swarming with ants.

A WAWA (West Africa Wins Again) moment, but I was not about to let the ants win! A quick stay in the freezer, and they were dead. Then if you shake the bowl, the dead ants fall to the bottom, and you can transfer the cereal to a new bowl. Or you can put the cereal in a colander, give a shake and the ants will fall out, leaving the cereal behind. Any that remain in the cereal will float when you add milk and you can pick them out. Besides, ants are protein, right?

This may sound funny to my North American friends. Why pick the ants out of the cereal, or weevils out of rice (rinse – the weevils drown and float) or flour (freeze then sift)? Why not just throw it out and start over? That is certainly what I would have done before. But here in Ghana, food is expensive, especially imported items like cereal. This was a precious bowl of Honey Loops (a European version of Honey Nut Cheerios) that I had spent almost $10 for.

And more importantly, here in Ghana, many will not have enough to eat today. The UN World Food Programme reports that 18% of children are undernourished, a number which seems low based on my experiences in the rural villages, where 50 to 100% of children may be malnourished. How can I waste food, even if I can afford to, knowing that there are others nearby, maybe even next door, who got no breakfast this morning?

Christ’s heart is for the hurting in the world. And we as Christians are called to love others as we love ourselves. The least we can do is not waste the bountiful resources we have.

“The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14, NIV)

Laundry Day

Mary Kay writes…

I am working at home today – an unusual occurrence in and of itself. And since I am home, I am getting some housework done as well – even rarer! Hell might actually be freezing over at this very moment. I have scrubbed the bathrooms and hung out a couple of loads of laundry to dry.

As I hung out the laundry, I was overwhelmed by memories. I remember as a very small child “helping” my mom hang out the laundry in our back yard. I would hand her clothespins out of her apron pocket. I think she only wore the apron to hang out the laundry – and to hold the clothespins. I loved to run through the damp clothes, feeling the cool damp cotton against my arms, especially on a hot, sunny Houston summer day. While I am sure my mom was thrilled, it was a bittersweet day when we got a dryer.

Sheets flapping in the breeze remind me of my Grandmother Queenie’s house. Myrtle, her housekeeper, would hang them out to dry, then iron them flat even after they got a dryer. The cotton sheets always seemed so crisp and fresh. Who needed “spring breeze” scented laundry soap then – we had the real thing.

Today I also washed and hung out my hotpads – all hand-crocheted by my mother. She rarely has idle hands, preferring to always be working on the latest project. She learned to crochet and to make the hotpads from my Great-Grandmother, so it is a family tradition of sorts. Some of my hotpads (the maroon and navy ones) are almost antique now – made as shower gifts when Charlie and I got married 25 years ago. The primary colored ones were made before we left for Ghana – to match the dishes I was bringing here.

While I am far from home, today I feel like I have been hugged – by my Mom, my Grandmother and the great-grandmother I never knew. Who knew that housework could be so rewarding?

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies…She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed. (Proverbs 31:10, 13, 27-28, NIV)

Ashesi African Studies

Charlie writes,

I sat in on two classes yesterday at Ashesi where fellow faculty discussed African issues. In the first, Lloyd Amoah, introducing Leadership 3, had the students read and react to two essays written by a Kenyan and a Ghanaian on the state of political leadership in their countries. The other, Mikelle Antoine, supervised the African side of a bi-coastal conversation (Ashesi and Swarthmore) on the reactions college students studying the diaspora had to a troubling image of an African wrapped in a European Union flag, standing, head cocked, next to a smashed bicycle in a desert landscape.

What do you make of it? What do you think the photographer was trying to say?

December 2011 Newsletter Released

Mary Kay writes:

After several late nights at the computer, our next newsletter is finished and will be going out via e-mail, or you can read it at the last link.