"God Bless the Panther"

Last Thursday, we travelled about an hour out of Arusha, past some beautiful scenery and incredibly resourceful villages, to visit Peter Oneil, a former member of the Black Panther party in the 60s who fled to Tanzania after getting arrested for possession of a firearm without a license 40 years ago. He has lived outside of Arusha every since and is doing a lot of great things for the community. He's a bit of a local celebrity, and is friendly and warm with impressive dreadlocks and a love for the 20 little kids he and his wife are fostering in their compound. They have partnered with people in the local community to build homes, water projects, and music and art studios aimed at empowering women. Peter's current dream is to refurb an old van and take the orphans to play in the ocean--how sweet is that? When we arrived they had prepared the most delicious lunch we have had here: most importantly, there was SALAD. I didn't think I would miss being able to eat fresh vegetables this much (it's generally  unwise to eat them here because the water used to wash them isn't clean enough for weak Western stomachs). After that Peter talked to us about his life in the Panther Party and in Tanzania, and then we got a tour of the facilities. It was a great time and everyone there was very kind.

Yesterday we went on a Camel safari, which was a lot of fun, but rather painful. I forgot to put on sunscreen the one day it was actually necessary and got very burned. We were on the camels for about 3 hours, so I got to be kind of a camel riding expert by the end of it. We were led by 4 Masaai guides who were very cool guys and made us sack lunches for our trip: meat, chapati (delicious flatbread), a hardboiled egg, and mango juice. So cute. We didn't end up seeing any animals other than a few dikdik (tiny deer), but we had a good time regardless.


Our class is located near the International Criminal Tribute for Rwanda, a court that seeks to hold people responsible for the genocide in 1994 accountable. Earlier in the week we had two women who are defense lawyers for some of the people being accused of genocide come speak with us and it was extremely interesting. At first we were all pretty skeptical that they could have anything useful to say, which demonstrates that innocent until proven guilty is definitely and ideal rather than a fact. But they were very down to earth and hearing them talk about how they are faced with challenges that the prosecution doesn't have to deal with made me realize that the international justice system has a long way to go. Then on Friday we had the opportunity to watch the court decision and sentencing on one of the most important court cases relating to Rwanda yet. It was the first trial of a woman by an international body on a genocide case. It was a really surreal experience watching these people who were being accused of committing the most heinous crimes against humanity--there faces were very blank, even as the verdicts were read that they would spend the rest of their lives in prison. As much as I am glad that these people are being held accountable, it was upsetting to witness. It just made me realize further how broken people are and how much we need God to fix us. We may not all have committed genocidal acts, but we are all guilty nonetheless. Seeing suffering here has reinforced to me the importance of having a savior who doesn't hold our mistakes against us.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110624/wl_africa_afp/rwandagenocideuncourt