Did you ever have a dream of a street, a park, or perhaps a country being named after you?
Naming a country after himself was the arrogant feat accomplished by Cecil Rhodes, a British citizen in the late 1800s. As the founder of the British South Africa Company in 1893, Rhodes, besides reaping untold riches, managed to name a large territory in the southern part of Africa after himself, Rhodesia, a new country 1.5 times larger than his home country, England. No doubt a conquest bolstering his prestige in the gentlemen’s clubs of London, while his subjects spent lifetimes toiling and sweating in his diamond, gold and copper mines.
The Republic of Rwanda, a small country in central Africa the size of Maryland, is commemorating the 30th year since the genocide tore the nation apart. In a 100-day period between April 7 and July 19, 1994, up to 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered by Hutu militias, and an estimated 500,000 Tutsi women were raped.
The Republic of Rwanda, a small country in central Africa the size of Maryland and with about double its population, is commemorating the 30th year since the Rwandan genocide tore its country apart.
Many may recall the Queen of Sheba, who, according to 1 Kings 10, caravanned from East Africa to visit King Solomon of the Israelites, a monarch deemed wiser than all the sages of Egypt and the Middle East.
“Nothing is constant but change,” says the philosopher, and we might as well add, “…changing ever faster.” Wherever we look today the world is changing and at an unprecedented rate.
“Nothing is constant but change,” says the philosopher, and we might as well add, “…changing ever faster.” Wherever we look today the world is changing and at an unprecedented rate.
Much of that change is alarming, but there is also some good news, such as for our prison system. In my home state of New York, the state prison population in the last 25 years has been reduced from 70,000 in the late 1990s to around 30,000 today.
Can you name the 11th largest country in the world? Would it help if I said it is the second-biggest country in Africa?
If you’re still unsure, pull up a map of Africa and place a finger right in the center of this huge continent. Chances are you have found the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DR Congo for short. Probably, like the rest of us, you know very little about this country named after its lifegiving Congo River. Most of us are not aware DR Congo is a country of contradictions. It holds large resources of raw materials like gold, silver and diamonds, , while at the same time being among the poorest countries in the world.
The commemoration for All Souls’ Day, also known as All Saints’ Day, is a long-held tradition to honor family members who have passed. It is a tradition which takes different forms in human cultures around the world.
The Jesus call, “I was in prison, and you did not visit me,” is heard even in Pakistan, a Muslim country one-third the way around the world, where the sun rises nine hours earlier than it does in the Eastern Time Zone in the United States.
Any self-respecting Christian seminary will teach its students that the Jesus sheep and goat story in Matthew 25 is a mandate to care for the less fortunate in society, including those in prison.
