Article February 26, 2007 Issue

MY PRAYER for DARFUR needed to be more effective

BY BEA ROEGGE

AFTER RWANDA, many people vowed they'd never let such genocide happen again. But people have said that before, and today conditions in Darfur are much the same as they were in Rwanda—and in other countries, where the world stood by and allowed people to be sacrificed by the thousands.

A while ago, I heard a plea for people to write to their congressional representatives, urging them to send more money to help the African Union and to encourage NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) to intervene. Many have already been doing these things, as I have. But I felt I wanted to go deeper, to pray deeply enough so that the roots of genocide could be pulled out.

As I examined the praying I'd already done, I realized that my prayers have embraced the victims with compassion, affirming that they are included in God's great love and that this divine Love meets their needs. My prayers have also acknowledged blessing and protection and the assurance of eternal life for those who have fallen victim to torture and murder.