God Grew Tired of Us

On Saturday some of the members of the fellowship attended a messianic passover at Mark & Pauline's home. It was a very special celebration and Jesus is at the centre of it all. As the day got a bit long only four of us had fellowship the evening. Mario and Jordan braaied the meat to perfection and Alison provided some salad and Ansie the pudding to finish it off. This had is in the mood for a movie...

We watched the DVD 'God Grew Tired of Us'. In 1987, Sudan's government pronounced death to all males in the south resulting in 27,000 boys fleeing to Ethiopia on foot. In 1991, they were forced to flee again, this time to Kenya more than 1000 miles away. During the five years they walked in search of safety, thousands died from starvation, dehydration, bomb raids and genocidal murder. Finally, 12 000 made it to relative safety in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp.

In 2001, 3,600 “lost boys”, were invited by the United States to live in America. The film follows three of the boys who uproot their lives and once again embark on a journey, leaving behind thousands of other refugees who, in the course of their traumatic odyssey, have become their adopted extended family. They must now learn to adapt to the shock of being thrust into the economically intense culture of the United States, learning new customs, adapting to new and strange foods, coping with the ordeal of getting, and keeping a job, or multiple jobs, while never forgetting the loved ones they left behind in Africa.

The culture shock begins with airplane loudspeakers and processed food and continues as they orient themselves to refrigerators, running water, and fluorescent-lit supermarkets. It's fascinating to witness their wonder at Western customs, and even more gripping when the film monitors their spiritual temperatures. Things are tough as the boys juggle multiple menial jobs; for the first time, they find themselves well fed, yet painfully isolated from the brotherly fellowship that once enabled their survival. They face hints of racism and are perplexed by Americans' obsessive need for privacy and anxious about loved ones struggling in Africa. Yet John, Daniel, and Panther–each radiantly charismatic and thoughtful–meet their challenges, fuelled by a desire to help others. Though they were bred in unspeakably dehumanizing circumstances, their integrity and honour are impeccable, raising profound questions about the conditions necessary to create a civilized society

WOW! What a movie. It really was not what we expected. It left us sitting deep in thought after the credits have rolled.