There was deep concern these past few days for a few members of my denomination who were in the Congo during the recent eruption of violence there. It was with great relief and thanks to God that we heard yesterday that the two who were in the greatest danger had in fact boarded a plane headed to Paris after a safe night in a hotel: “Following the previous night of lying awake in the dirt, hiding behind a wall, while soldiers were firing their weapons and rockets, Peterson and Thorpe last evening were able to get a decent night’s rest…” Two other Covenanters (including a dear family friend) were likewise reported to have safely left Congo: “Both are reported out of Congo and safe in Bangui, Central African Republic, following a harrowing 12-hour trek by truck on rough dirt roads and a shaky dugout canoe ride across the river between Zongo, in Congo, and Bangui.”
As I prayed for these men, and for all of the people affected by this outbreak, I realized how easily this news could have simply passed me by. But for the presence of four people with differing degrees of connection to me, I am certain I would have heard nothing of the events of the past few days in Congo (have you seen the L.A. news before? “News” is generous, to say the least.)
As global and connected as things can feel in our world today, the truth remains that for most of us we pass through our days relatively unaware of what is happening in the rest of the world. This was reinforced for me by other friends who are serving in Mozambique with Samaritan’s Purse. They post occasional updates on their work to their blog, and the last two entries both contained significant news of massive flooding that had struck the country, and a recent flurry of bombs exploding in their city (which it turns out were set off accidentally). Again, news that never would have reached my ears except for the fact that they are living and working there.
We certainly live in an age of information overload, and with so much access it is interesting to note what things we do pay attention to and whose cries we have ears to hear. We have all heard the recent cries of Britney Spears (if you shop at a grocery store you have not been able to escape them), but how many of us have heard those of our brothers and sisters in Kinshasa or Mozambique?
[...] Mozambicans are still counting the casualties, and it seems that Lusophone bloggers will follow closely the reports, the inquiries and the coverage presented by the media on the developments in Maputo’s arms depot blasts. On the other side of the network, new kinds of audiences are being formed. A tragédia já ocorreu, agora é a altura das estatísticas. Quantos mortos, quantos funerais, quantas brigadas da Frelimo no terreno, quantos kits de comida a distribuir amanhã, quantas crianças desaparecidas. Através da Rádio Moçambique, a directora clínica do Hospital Central de Maputo, por exemplo, afirmou há momentos que agora são 101 mortos. Um funcionário sénior do Estado afirmou que devem estar ainda desaparecidas 200 crianças. Temos, agora, a era do fait divers, do espectáculo, dos números, do amortecimento. Estatísticas, fait divers, espectáculo - Diário de Um Sociólogo The tragedy has already occurred, now is the time of the numbers. How many deaths, how many funerals, how many Frelimo brigades on the site, how many food kits to deliver tomorrow, how many lost children. I’ve heard on Moazambique Radio, the Clinical Director of Maputo’s Central Hospital affirmed that up to now there were 101 dead. A senior state official said there were 200 children still missing. We have now the time of ‘fait divers’, of the spectacle, of the numbers, of desensitizing. Estatísticas, fait divers, espectáculo - Diário de Um Sociólogo We certainly live in an age of information overload, and with so much access it is interesting to note what things we do pay attention to and whose cries we have ears to hear. We have all heard the recent cries of Britney Spears (if you shop at a grocery store you have not been able to escape them), but how many of us have heard those of our brothers and sisters in Kinshasa or Mozambique? Ears to Hear - The Margins [...]
[...] Mozambicans are still counting the casualties, and it seems that Lusophone bloggers will follow closely the reports, the inquiries and the coverage presented by the media on the developments in Maputo’s arms depot blasts. On the other side of the network, new kinds of audiences are being formed. A tragédia já ocorreu, agora é a altura das estatísticas. Quantos mortos, quantos funerais, quantas brigadas da Frelimo no terreno, quantos kits de comida a distribuir amanhã, quantas crianças desaparecidas. Através da Rádio Moçambique, a directora clínica do Hospital Central de Maputo, por exemplo, afirmou há momentos que agora são 101 mortos. Um funcionário sénior do Estado afirmou que devem estar ainda desaparecidas 200 crianças. Temos, agora, a era do fait divers, do espectáculo, dos números, do amortecimento. Estatísticas, fait divers, espectáculo - Diário de Um Sociólogo The tragedy has already occurred, now is the time of the numbers. How many deaths, how many funerals, how many Frelimo brigades on the site, how many food kits to deliver tomorrow, how many lost children. I’ve heard on Moazambique Radio, the Clinical Director of Maputo’s Central Hospital affirmed that up to now there were 101 dead. A senior state official said there were 200 children still missing. We have now the time of ‘fait divers’, of the spectacle, of the numbers, of desensitizing. Estatísticas, fait divers, espectáculo - Diário de Um Sociólogo We certainly live in an age of information overload, and with so much access it is interesting to note what things we do pay attention to and whose cries we have ears to hear. We have all heard the recent cries of Britney Spears (if you shop at a grocery store you have not been able to escape them), but how many of us have heard those of our brothers and sisters in Kinshasa or Mozambique? Ears to Hear - The Margins [...]