Stop buying new phones

Unless your phone is FUBAR and is nothing better than a paper weight, please reconsider “getting the latest”. We know that the providers lure us with more storage, more features, bigger, smaller, faster, slimmer, foldable, wearable…

But what are they made of?

Where do those materials come from?

Who pays the price for our obsessions with the latest tech?

This article from 2017 (mining.com) outlines the true cost of our obsessions with tech – note the use of (forced) child labor in much of this. There is also the proxy wars supported and encouraged by countries like Rwanda (read this very recent article from Reuters).

We may be wondering why there is so much conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo at the moment. Well. I have been to Rwanda, and I am on the Board of an awesome non-profit called Congo Education Partners. We are blessed with the contributions of Congolese on our Board and in the DRC with whom we work. One of our Board members, Dr. John Ulimwengu, penned this most eloquent explanation of what’s going on. If you don’t read French, use copy / paste into Google Translate.

John’s article, in full.

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Que penser de l’hypocrisie et de l’inaction de la communauté internationale en face du génocide congolais ?

Depuis plus de deux décennies, la République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) est le théâtre de violences inouïes. Des millions de vies ont été fauchées, des femmes et des enfants brutalisés, et des villages entiers réduits à néant. Les ressources naturelles de ce pays, riches et convoitées, attisent les convoitises des prédateurs locaux et internationaux, alimentant […]

Source: Que penser de l’hypocrisie et de l’inaction de la communauté internationale en face du génocide congolais ?

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Celebrating Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every year I try to make the march in town on the date of the celebration of MLK Jr. This year, A and I walked with others gathered in town, listening to speeches from various dignitaries, and pausing for a brief moment in what feels like a storm of negativity to remember.

My current favorite MLK quote:

What is needed is a realization that power without love is reckless and abusive and that love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”

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