no such thing as disposable people
I sent the trusty Tim to scout a lecture at Gesu Tuesday night by Father Donald Dunson, recently returned from East Africa. Father Dunson is the hero of one of our most respected and venerable friends, so I sent Tim out to see why. He came back changed, and with Tim, that has the potential to be problematic and unpredictable. I’m glad I sent him.
Father Dunson speaks on behalf of a portion of humanity not usually in our newspapers or on our televisions and therefore not in our consciousness: The people of East Africa, terrorized these past 19 years by “The Lord’s Resistance Army” (LRA) in Uganda and the Sudan. Father Dunson’s affirmation: “There is no such thing as ‘disposable people.’”
Snippets from an incredible, eye-opening 1-hour talk:
“food is reverenced here”…”largest neglected human catastrophe”…”no food security”…25,000 children abducted and pressed into the military service…”the dark story of gender bias”…girls used as sex slaves and given as trophies to commanders…89% of those who escape the LRA have HIV…the kids who know death intimately…TB and HIV rampant through the generations…a monstrous maldistribution of resources…Sam died because he was too poor to live…
We all need to hear more from Father Dunson and how he views the human connection and the need for global solidarity. He’s a local boy who’s gained a world perspective. He knows “we live in a complex web of realities.” He tries to bring them into balance and alignment. He tells us we have much to learn from East Africa–things just are not right, and we live in a troubled world. I agree. His stories help put things around here into perspective right quickly.
It’s only a question of scale.