Ask me anything you want to know!

This week has been an interesting one. Obviously my media triumph (see my last entry) was a high point, but it was another, on-going problem that actually served as the defining factor of this week in the NW Office: the sudden demise of my internet connection. I’ve been through the typical gamut of emotions about this, from mild irritation to optimistic bafflement through to genuine ready-to-hurl-electronic-devices-around-the- room fury and crazed hair-pulling frustration. I’m quite calm about it now. When I see those five bars of wonderful connectivity fade into that wretched yellow triangle with the dreaded black exclamation point, I simply shake my head philosophically and reach for my folder of ACN reports and reading material. I am really extremely well-informed about Iraq, Syria, Gaza and Nigeria now: ask me anything you want to know. Before fate removed eternal connection to cyber-space from my life I knew a good bit, but I rarely had decent stretches of time to read and think and assimilate. It has been an upsetting exercise in many ways, but ultimately beneficial. I have an appeal coming up in October and lots of prayer vigils from November, so I need to stay on top of things. I am thinking of blocking out a little bit of each week, maybe an hour or so, to catch myself up. Things happen swiftly and unexpectedly in this complicated, often misguided world of ours. What is relevant today may have changed rather dramatically by next month or next week or, at the moment, tomorrow. Lesson learned: from now on I shall make the time.

Among the most upsetting things I encountered on my read-a-thon concerns the current situation in Gaza. Embedded in an update from the Regional Director of the Pontifical Mission for Palestine was a table of figures derived from UN statistics. The update featured a number of fairly harrowing personal stories as well as a couple of pretty moving photographs from Gaza, but what struck me was the information contained in this fairly dry, academic table. The first column included a number of figures summing up the deaths, injuries and destruction in Gaza by the 23rd of July and the second listed the same statistics as of the 13th of August (just three weeks later!). These are just numbers—clinical, dry statistics—but once I noticed the dramatic increase from column one to column two, this table moved me more than many of the countless images of bombed out blocks of flats or long lines of refugees walking away from the cities and towns that they have always called home.  4,000 people had been injured in this conflict by 23 July; nearly 10,000 (9,986) were suffering three weeks later. There were 117,000 displaced persons in July (a figure that is scary enough in its own right), but by the day before yesterday there were…get ready for it… officially 386,000 people in Gaza who have been forced to leave their homes and lives behind. And how can this figure possibly include every single child and baby or lonely elderly person or over-confident teenager or man or woman who has become separated from other family members? It can’t—there must be even more. I could go on, but it doesn’t get any better—there are also totals for damaged housing units, schools and hospitals, people affected by lack of water or electricity and even numbers of children who are likely to need psychosocial support to deal with this. Believe me when I tell you that I am doing you a favour by not including all of these figures. What’s worse is that these aren’t really numbers and statistics, these are, or were, real live people and lovely homes and sweet little schools with pictures of flowers and birds stuck on to the windows just like here at home.  How can this be going on in the same world where you and I are living our lives right this very minute?

I was shocked by this, and even more so because the current ceasefire and the desperate situation in Iraq have moved Gaza just that tiny bit down from the lead story on the news. That’s the way it works…the most recent ACN mailing arrived in the NW Office on Monday…Nigeria: remember Nigeria? Those poor girls who still haven’t been returned and all of the other problems that Christians are having there at the minute? More on this next week. I am beginning to think that I need to set aside more than just an hour to stay on top of things!

Rosie relaxing in her 'wee' bed

Finally, on a much lighter note, I’d like to highlight an opening here at the NW Office—a volunteer position, of course. I had thought that I would promote Rosie the Cat to the much coveted position of Head Cleaner, but the fact that I have just found her lounging in the LITTER TRAY(!) means that I am going to have to reconsider. Please send your cv to the NW Office if you’d like to be considered; there is no salary, but I might consider letting you have Rosie…

Thanks for reading!  Caroline