it's so much bigger than my little world

A few weeks ago, I found myself in one the most morally ironic and conflicting situations I’ve faced in America. I was in a normal place, in a normal city, surrounded by normal people. A friend of mine needed a ride to Best Buy to pick up a few items before he went home, a camera charger, USB—just the average stuff. I've been to Best Buy and similar stores like it all my life, nothing had ever really struck me about the experience, in fact, I'd hardly call it an experience at all. But that day, as we walked through the automatic sliding doors and into a room stacked to the ceiling with electronics, entertainment and the newest technology, I suddenly felt conflicted, confused, angry and guilty. You see, the friend that I was with is named Marcel. He is pastor from a place called the Democratic Republic of Congo in Eastern Africa and was visiting the States to speak at this event called The Justice Conference. The reason Marcel was asked to speak is because he works for a relief and development organization called World Relief in his home country. I also work for World Relief, but unlike Marcel, my life has never been threatened by the work I do.

You see, the DR Congo is in a war that has killed 5.4 million people—the deadliest conflict since World War II. Almost half of those who’ve died are under the age of 5. In addition to the death toll, in 2009, it was estimated that over 215,000 people had been raped by the armed military forces oppressing the country. They also estimate that in 2010, about 1,000 people were raped each month. In June 2010, UK aid group Oxfam reported a dramatic increase in the number of rapes occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While researchers from Harvard discovered that rapes committed by civilians had increased by seventeenfold. Reported victims have range in age from a few months old, to a 110 years old.

Although citizens of the DRC are among the poorest in the world, having the second lowest nominal GDP per capita, the Democratic Republic of Congo is widely considered to be the richest country in the world regarding natural resources; its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth in excess of US$ 24 trillion.

So why is all of this happening and what does it have to do with my trip to Best Buy with Marcel?

The Enough Campaign explains it this way.  “The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been plagued by regional conflict and a deadly scramble for its vast natural resources. This greed for Congo’s natural resources has been a principal driver of atrocities and conflict throughout Congo’s tortured history. In eastern Congo today, these mineral resources are financing multiple armed groups, many of whom use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control local populations, thereby securing control of mines, trading routes, and other strategic areas.”

In Congo, rape is used as a weapon of war. Women are like the glue that holds the communities together. If a woman is raped, she is considered unclean and her husband almost always abandons her. This leaves her to fend for herself and her children resulting in the break down of the community, vulnerable families, and thousands of traumatized men, women and children.

“Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars per year by trading four main minerals: the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold. This money enables the militias to purchase large numbers of weapons and continue their campaign of brutal violence against civilians, with some of the worst abuses occurring in mining areas of Eastern Congo. The majority of these minerals eventually wind up in electronic devices such as cell phones, portable music players, and computers.” (http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/initiatives/conflict-minerals)

“Cell phones, portable music players, and computers…”

The disconnect of geographical space that normally numbs me evaporated as I watched a man who dedicated and risks his life to help his fellow countrymen who are victims of this war. I marveled at the fruitlessness of our attempts to entertain, distract and satisfy ourselves through materialism and was sickened by the cost it created.

I have no conclusions, just a heavy, sick feeling in my stomach from the stark realization of the cost of our entertainment. I’m as guilty as the next person. Even as I type this, I feel conflicted by the laptop I am holding.

I’m not so ignorant as to think that we can and even should abandon all technology or boycott all minerals involved. But I do believe that it is our moral duty to take responsibility by demanding to know where the materials we consume came from. If companies like Apple and Microsoft were forced by consumers to ensure that each device was conflict free, we could literally impact thousands of innocent lives.

I'm amazed by the grace and love radiating from his man who daily gives his life to bring justice and healing to his people. He could easily been bitter, angry and resentful, and I don't think anyone could fault him. Yet he sees the brokenness and emptiness in our culture and seeks to love, encourage and uplift us in our brokenness.

I just have never seen grace personified quite like I did in Marcel.