A Peace Lesson from Susan Ubima
Remarks to begin Worship at the FCNL Annual Board Meeting in Washington DC on Nov. 12, 2006
Twenty some years ago, Ron and I sold everything we owned and flew off to Africa. We landed in Southern Sudan in the middle of a civil war and worked with refugees from another war in Uganda. Motivations for changing our lives at the ripe old age of 30 were many. One was we thought we could help change Africa. Instead, Africa changed us. After nine years in Southern Sudan and Uganda our African friends taught us that our Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality are not just good things to believe in or just something we do, but our testimonies must define how we live. We must be these testimonies to our world.
A petite Ugandan woman named Susan Ubima taught me about being peace in our world. I met her shortly after Northern Ugandan rebels killed her husband in an ambush. I admired her grace in the face of tragedy. Several years after the death of her husband, Susan was traveling on the same road where he was killed when her bus was attacked by rebels. In the rain of bullets, many on the bus died and Susan was shot in the arm and a bullet grazed her scalp. She and several other survivors managed to crawl out of the bus and were taken hostage by a large group of rebels, most of them barely teenagers.
Susan knew what she faced: possible death at the hands of men who killed her husband or being forced into being a sex slave to this group of rebels. For six hours Susan and the captives were marched deep into the Ugandan bush where they witnessed the murder of one of the captives who tried to escape. In those hours facing the unknown, Susan felt a leading to pray for the young men guarding her. They were close to the same age as her son. She began to engage them in conversation and to reach out to them as she knew their mothers would want of her. Slowly they began to respond to Susan. They talked a bit about playing soccer, about their homes and their families. She watched as their demeanor changed: they began to look her in the eye and spoke to her in kinder tones. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the rebels released Susan and the other hostages and they walked back to safety.
When Susan told us her story several days after the capture, she spoke about the peace studies she and her husband did under the tutelage of Quaker Peace and Service volunteers years before. The inner work of preparing for peace gave her a foundation to stand on when she found herself face to face with her husband killers. In the moments when she feared for life, she was drawn to look for that of God in her captors instead of seeing them only as rebels and killers. She was in the process of traveling a path towards forgiveness when this incident happened. She knew in those moments that somehow, someway the cycle of violence, revenge, and killing had to stop and she could choose to be a part of that plan through forgiveness and mercy. God made it possible for Susan in those moments to see the rebels as children of a mother just like her and she chose to forgive them.
Susan’s witness prepared me for life back in America. After years in the war zones of Africa, we moved to a safe home in the middle of America where there were no landmines or civil wars. On a spring afternoon three years ago, a prisoner from the county jail a block from our home beat up a guard, escaped, ran down the alley, found our back door, and broke into our home. I was home alone and found myself face to face with an angry, violent and broken young man. I was held hostage for 20 minutes while policemen searched our neighborhood in vain for this escaped prisoner.
In those moments, my commitment to peace made a difference. Because I knew I did not want to harm this young man, I was able to respond calmly to him. My husband and my commitment to peace meant we owned no guns. He searched our home for a weapon to use against me and the policemen outside my home. He found nothing. In the moments alone with this young man in our home, he broke down and cried on my shoulder, he told me about his children for whom he broke out of jail to see, and he told me of the 20 year sentence he’d just received. I was able to give him a cup of cold water and I told him that I was praying for him. In the end, he still tied me up and stole our car. But the few scrapes and bruises I had were incredibly minor to what this encounter could have been. I continue to pray and to write to him in prison.
Face to face with this young man in my home, I did not know how things would turn out. But I discovered I did not fear harm or death. God’s presence was tangible and real and I faced the unknown with peace and confidence that God would help me through whatever was to happen. My relationship with God does not mean I am protected from pain, suffering, or death. Susan’s husband, the Amish school children in Pennsylvania, and the many men, women and children who are the victims of violence and war in our world each day remind few escape violent encounters unscathed. Those who do are visible witnesses of the power of peace. For those who do not survive violence, the peace community can remind our world that it is possible for those who live in peace, to face harm or death in God’s peace.
The peace community - my faith community – works daily on Capital Hill for a world free of war and the threat of war. For over six decades the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has brought the spiritual experience of Friends to bear on federal legislative processes and public policy decisions. FCNL is the oldest ecumenical lobby and the largest peace lobby in Washington DC. In mid-November 250 Friends from across the United States met in Washington DC for the annual board meeting of FCNL. For three days, representatives of Yearly Meetings and Monthly Meetings came to consensus on a list of priorities of FCNL’s lobby work with the 110th congress.* Meetings for worship centered on the theme “Building a living peace: Beyond the absence of war.” The encouragement to integrate the inward life of devotion with the outward life of social change sets a foundation for FCNL’s work in lobbying for a society with equity and justice for all, for communities where every person’s potential may be fulfilled, and for an earth restored.
The peace community – my faith community – can be a living witness the cycle of war and violence can end. The peace community – my faith community - is a living witness that peace is possible, as is forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration. The peace community – my faith community – is active in building a just and peaceful society. I can think of no better community for which to be a part.
*Please see the FCNL website for this document and information on how to lobby your congressional representative.
Remarks to begin Worship at the FCNL Annual Board Meeting in Washington DC on Nov. 12, 2006
Twenty some years ago, Ron and I sold everything we owned and flew off to Africa. We landed in Southern Sudan in the middle of a civil war and worked with refugees from another war in Uganda. Motivations for changing our lives at the ripe old age of 30 were many. One was we thought we could help change Africa. Instead, Africa changed us. After nine years in Southern Sudan and Uganda our African friends taught us that our Quaker testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community and equality are not just good things to believe in or just something we do, but our testimonies must define how we live. We must be these testimonies to our world.
A petite Ugandan woman named Susan Ubima taught me about being peace in our world. I met her shortly after Northern Ugandan rebels killed her husband in an ambush. I admired her grace in the face of tragedy. Several years after the death of her husband, Susan was traveling on the same road where he was killed when her bus was attacked by rebels. In the rain of bullets, many on the bus died and Susan was shot in the arm and a bullet grazed her scalp. She and several other survivors managed to crawl out of the bus and were taken hostage by a large group of rebels, most of them barely teenagers.
Susan knew what she faced: possible death at the hands of men who killed her husband or being forced into being a sex slave to this group of rebels. For six hours Susan and the captives were marched deep into the Ugandan bush where they witnessed the murder of one of the captives who tried to escape. In those hours facing the unknown, Susan felt a leading to pray for the young men guarding her. They were close to the same age as her son. She began to engage them in conversation and to reach out to them as she knew their mothers would want of her. Slowly they began to respond to Susan. They talked a bit about playing soccer, about their homes and their families. She watched as their demeanor changed: they began to look her in the eye and spoke to her in kinder tones. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the rebels released Susan and the other hostages and they walked back to safety.
When Susan told us her story several days after the capture, she spoke about the peace studies she and her husband did under the tutelage of Quaker Peace and Service volunteers years before. The inner work of preparing for peace gave her a foundation to stand on when she found herself face to face with her husband killers. In the moments when she feared for life, she was drawn to look for that of God in her captors instead of seeing them only as rebels and killers. She was in the process of traveling a path towards forgiveness when this incident happened. She knew in those moments that somehow, someway the cycle of violence, revenge, and killing had to stop and she could choose to be a part of that plan through forgiveness and mercy. God made it possible for Susan in those moments to see the rebels as children of a mother just like her and she chose to forgive them.
Susan’s witness prepared me for life back in America. After years in the war zones of Africa, we moved to a safe home in the middle of America where there were no landmines or civil wars. On a spring afternoon three years ago, a prisoner from the county jail a block from our home beat up a guard, escaped, ran down the alley, found our back door, and broke into our home. I was home alone and found myself face to face with an angry, violent and broken young man. I was held hostage for 20 minutes while policemen searched our neighborhood in vain for this escaped prisoner.
In those moments, my commitment to peace made a difference. Because I knew I did not want to harm this young man, I was able to respond calmly to him. My husband and my commitment to peace meant we owned no guns. He searched our home for a weapon to use against me and the policemen outside my home. He found nothing. In the moments alone with this young man in our home, he broke down and cried on my shoulder, he told me about his children for whom he broke out of jail to see, and he told me of the 20 year sentence he’d just received. I was able to give him a cup of cold water and I told him that I was praying for him. In the end, he still tied me up and stole our car. But the few scrapes and bruises I had were incredibly minor to what this encounter could have been. I continue to pray and to write to him in prison.
Face to face with this young man in my home, I did not know how things would turn out. But I discovered I did not fear harm or death. God’s presence was tangible and real and I faced the unknown with peace and confidence that God would help me through whatever was to happen. My relationship with God does not mean I am protected from pain, suffering, or death. Susan’s husband, the Amish school children in Pennsylvania, and the many men, women and children who are the victims of violence and war in our world each day remind few escape violent encounters unscathed. Those who do are visible witnesses of the power of peace. For those who do not survive violence, the peace community can remind our world that it is possible for those who live in peace, to face harm or death in God’s peace.
The peace community - my faith community – works daily on Capital Hill for a world free of war and the threat of war. For over six decades the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) has brought the spiritual experience of Friends to bear on federal legislative processes and public policy decisions. FCNL is the oldest ecumenical lobby and the largest peace lobby in Washington DC. In mid-November 250 Friends from across the United States met in Washington DC for the annual board meeting of FCNL. For three days, representatives of Yearly Meetings and Monthly Meetings came to consensus on a list of priorities of FCNL’s lobby work with the 110th congress.* Meetings for worship centered on the theme “Building a living peace: Beyond the absence of war.” The encouragement to integrate the inward life of devotion with the outward life of social change sets a foundation for FCNL’s work in lobbying for a society with equity and justice for all, for communities where every person’s potential may be fulfilled, and for an earth restored.
The peace community – my faith community – can be a living witness the cycle of war and violence can end. The peace community – my faith community - is a living witness that peace is possible, as is forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration. The peace community – my faith community – is active in building a just and peaceful society. I can think of no better community for which to be a part.
*Please see the FCNL website for this document and information on how to lobby your congressional representative.
posted by Pam at 9:25 PM
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