In the same way that wise Athena directed Oddyseus on his long journey home, we all are blessed to meet people who drop nuggets of wisdom that help us in our pursuit of Truth...
The phone rang and one of our housemates told us that Norman Okot was at the Ethiopian restaurant. We met Norman last year at the "Move for Uganda" race in Chattanooga. He is a 73 year old elder of the Acholi people and amongst many other things, a teacher. He held us and our students spell bound as he went to work on a chalkboard describing in detail the history of Uganda from Colonialism by the British to the war that left the North devastated. So now that we were actually in Uganda we were psyched that God allowed our paths to cross once again. I wasn't sure if he would remember us since he traveled for three months throughout the Southern part of the U.S. bringing awareness of the plight of Ugandans. As soon as we walked into the restaurant, with a beaming smile, he yelled our names and gave us one of those hugs that leaves people feeling loved. We chatted for awhile and promised to meet again before we left for the States. Last night the promise was fufilled.
"A fire in Acholi culture, is a classroom." As such, we all sat by the crackling wood as Norman told how the British made their way from Egypt into Sudan and Uganda at the turn of the century, motivated by those deadly vices that are common to empires: greed and power. He remembers how the British pressed the Acholi people into service during WWI and WWII, wars of which they had no interest, nor would they gain anything. His British teachers in school, many of them former soldiers, were very harsh and one in particular would keep order in the class by reminding the students of how many people he had killed.
Norman's father was a polygamist and culturally was a very important man. He taught his son many lessons by the fire like how to read the stars to know when to plant crops and when it would rain, or the sounds that certain birds make when there is trouble nearby. Above all he taught his son that a real Acholi man is brave. So in his youth when some local boys threw a spear at him that pierced his thigh, it is no surpirse that he drew his arrows out and let them fly.
Norman told us of the losses that he had experienced during the war between the L.R.A and the government. In one day, 40 of his nieces and nephews were killed in an attack by rebels. They were unable to bury the bodies because they had been hacked to pieces, so they had to be put in a mass grave. I asked Norman what seperates someone like him who has experienced so much pain and horror in life yet has so much joy, from others who are lost in depression, anger, or madness. The wisdom that he answered with transcends Acholi culture and enters into the realm of those Truths that are eternal. "Forgiveness," he said. A person cannot expect to be healed from heartache without forgiving those who have caused them to hurt. The words of Christ rang in my mind that we are to "love our enemies" and "pray for those who persecute us." In front of me sat a man who had lived those commandments and was left with a hope and confidence that the world cannot understand. The choice to love and forgive is, above all other responses, the most difficult. But the hope is that those choices that are made by individuals, families, and countries will bring us closer to that Kingdom that was spoken of by Christ.
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