When I
arrived in North Sebago, Maine, USA from Tanzania in East Africa two weeks ago,
people immediately began asking me about the crisis in Rwanda: the reasons for
the devastating civil war and the plight of the millions of refugees.  Each
morning as I sit and look out on beautiful and peaceful Lake Sebago, I think
about another lake that used to be beautiful and peaceful — Lake Kivu on the
border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central
Africa.  On television we have seen how the borders of this lake have become the
site of many overcrowded refugee camps.  In turn, the water has become polluted
and dirty; some parts of the lake are muddy, other parts dry.  Once a sign of
life, now Lake Kivu has become a sign of sickness, disease and death.

    I
presently live in Musoma, Tanzania which is about 250 miles from the Rwandan
border.  Some years ago I lived in Rulenge, Tanzania where the Rwandan refugees
first fled and formed a camp of over 400,000 people to become the second largest
city in Tanzania.  Over the last few months I have gathered some quotations and
descriptions about this tragic situation.   The May 16,1994 cover of Time
Magazine quoted a Rwandan refugee in Tanzania: "There are no devils left in
hell," the missionary said.  "They are all in Rwanda."   An international
journalist in Rwanda reported that it is the worst humanitarian situation he has
ever seen in 25 years of reporting.  Two newspaper headlines read: "Hell Close
Up" and "Witnessing Hell."  In being caught between the Hutu and Tutsi Ethnic
Groups, one missionary said: "We are between two fires."

    After
seeing pictures of the bloated bodies floating in Lake Victoria, a Kenyan woman
said: "I can no longer eat fish nor feed it to my family."  A letter imploring
help from the United States Government said: "A nation is being crucified before
our eyes."  One concerned person noted: "There never has been a nation where one
third of its people are in refugee camps and they can’t dig a well or a
latrine."

    Is
there an explanation for this tragedy?  In commenting on the fact that Rwanda is
74 percent Christian, a Nigerian Catholic bishop sadly stated:  "In Rwanda the
blood of tribalism is thicker than the water of Baptism."  One commentator
remarked: "I have no answers. I only know that God’s heart is crying too, and
that somewhere in the midst of war there is a way to achieve peace."  In trying
to explain the mystery of this great suffering and death one person said: "In
the beginning God created out of chaos.  Now God will have to create out of the
chaos in Rwanda."   For myself there are real signs of hope in this seemingly
hopeless situation — loving, caring, selfless and heroic people who want to
reverse the tide of

    How do
we personally respond to this nightmare of the Rwandan people?  Certainly many 
people worldwide have responded immediately and generously with money, food, 
medical supplies, blankets and other basic necessities for the refugees.  But
what about the deeper questions?  A good friend recently told me the Parable
of the Batteries.  One version of this story offers an important insight
about mutual help and peacemaking:  "Two travelers were very fond of taking
photographs.  But the batteries for the flash in one of their cameras

were getting very low,
while the other flash had new batteries.   The nearby store had no new
batteries.  What to do?  The second traveler said, "I have the perfect
solution.  If you give me one of your weak batteries I will give you a strong
one; then we will have the necessary contact in each of our cameras.  We both
will be able to continue to take pictures.  And it worked!"

   
This parable
challenges the weak and the strong, the poor and the rich to work together.  The
distance between Lake Sebago in the United States and Lake Kivu in Rwanda may be
over 6,800 miles, but through love, sharing and mutual help we can make it a lot
less.