Mamajojo's Muse

"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say; here am I.
If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Isaiah 58: 6-11


Monday, December 20, 2010

BC : AD
by
U.A. Fanthorpe



This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future's
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect.
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.


Merriest of Christmases from all the Swansons!

Saturday, December 4, 2010






I have two sons, and one of my sons has four brothers.
A riddle?
No, just a family blended by the great adventure of ten years in Africa, the tragedy of AIDS, and the joy of adoption. Matthew was born in the US, but grew up in Tanzania, inseparable from his best friend, Will. When Will’s mom lost her battle with AIDS, we adopted him as a young teen and brought him with us when we moved back to Pennsylvania. He now makes us proud as an engineering student at Pitt.

For a few years, we lost track of Will’s youngest brother, Rama, who spent time in a village with relatives. Then, in 2007, my daughter and I visited Mtwara, our old home in Tanzania, and found him, back with his grandmother and the other grandchildren she cared for so well. Sadly, we discovered that Rama, the little boy Will had watched out for as a young boy, had contracted HIV from his mom at birth. But at 13, Rama was still attending school, playing soccer, and growing into a teenager himself.

We had left Tanzania in 2000, when anyone who contracted HIV could expect to live only a few years. But Rama seemed to be doing amazingly well! His brothers and grandmother had been caring for him, faithfully taking him for retroviral medications that PEPFAR had provided to so many in Africa. We were anxious to see him, but the day we visited he was at school, with the same teacher that Will had known years before.

Just before we saw Rama at school, he had been diagnosed with TB, in addition to AIDS. At the time, I was afraid that that would be too much for any boy to bear, but Rama has even beaten TB, and is still thriving! This is more than I had ever hoped for, after having lost my own cousin to AIDS in 1991, and then living in East Africa in the earlier years, when HIV was a hopeless diagnosis.

I am so proud to be part of a nation that extends the miracle of life to kids like Rama, not a stranger or a statistic, but my son’s little brother.

Joanna, Rama, older brother, Jackson

Friday, December 3, 2010

Emmanuel's Return to Life

Special Opportunity: Emmanuel’s Return

When Emmanuel Mbonihankuye and his wife, Angelique, ran from the sudden onslaught of genocide that had arrived at their college, they had no idea what they were facing. Crossing the river into Congo, they found a family in the forest who was willing to take them in, and there they hid, helping with farm chores, fetching water, and waiting out the horrors that overtook Rwanda as one tribe sought to wipe out another.

They thought that the forest would provide protection, and their little daughter was born there, but soon after, rebel soldiers raged through that part of the forest, taking Emmanuel, their host family, and the baby. Only Angelique was spared, unnoticed on the path to fetch drinking water at the river.

First, she waited by herself at the deserted cottage. Weeks passed, and eventually a few of the Congolese family straggled home, breaking the heartbreaking news that the baby had died on the trail. Still she waited, hoping that Emmanuel would appear, and they could return to the school in Rwanda, or their home in neighboring Burundi. The genocide was over, Angelique’s Tutsi tribe had taken over peaceful leadership of Rwanda, and after months of waiting, Angelique went home alone.

Daily she prayed and waited for news, but none came. She finished her school program in Rwanda, and next went to Kenya for training in ministry and social work. Her prayers never wavered, but no news ever arrived… until eight years later, when a message reached her that Emmanuel had escaped his slavery to the rebel group, and had made his way back to Burundi. He was waiting for her there, hoping that she was well, and had not given up and married another. He had only recently learned of the death of their little girl.

It was truly a miraculous reunion, astonishing that both had survived, had not married again, and were spared permanent injury or the ravages of AIDS. Angelique was hired by ALARM, (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries) to head their women’s work in peace-making and income generation for the poor. Emmanuel had to regain his strength and pick up the life he had lost eight years before. At 35, he humbly put on the khaki shorts of a secondary student and finished that diploma, which equals junior college here. He was in the midst of exams when I met him on a trip to Burundi, and visited the work that ALARM does there.

Angelique is a quiet, gentle soul, who gives no hint of the suffering she has gone through, and puts her energy into helping others in poverty and conflict. She didn’t tell me her story until I asked her what her forgiveness story was. Everyone in Rwanda and Burundi had one, but I never expected to hear a tale of slavery and loss from a peaceful woman like Angelique. I rejoiced to see that she held her 18-month-old son in her arms as she told me her story, which seemed to be a miracle of “happily ever after.”

I went home and set about to raise scholarship money for Emmanuel to attend college. He is studying social work, so that he can minister to others who go through similar trauma. When a donor finally agreed to fund his first year, I got on my computer to email Angelique the good news, but she had just written to me: her sister had died in Rwanda, leaving five children, and she was taking in four of them, aged 19 through 18 months. They all live in a tiny Habitat for Humanity home, and the older children help care for the younger. Angelique was pregnant at that time, and her twin boys are doing well, adding to the family to make nine.

In January, Emmanuel will start his last year of college. He needs $1500 for tuition and fees. God has always surprised me with a donor, and I am hoping that this year some of you might like to be a part of this story. The donation will be passed through ALARM (www.alarm-inc.org) and so will be tax deductable, but I promise you, that will not be your greatest reward!

For eight Christmases, Angelique hoped for the return of her Emmanuel, and our God answered her prayer. What a marvelous God we have, and what an honor to be able to hear stories like this one, to have a small part in their lives, and to link in friendship with such courageous brothers and sisters!

Kristen Swanson
kswanson@pennridge.org