Bearing Witness Makes a Difference

I recently heard a phenomenal story http://m-gat.es/2dy21no @TheMoth on the healing power of bearing witness. In it, South African writer and activist Sisonke Msimang states:

“Bearing witness is a form of action — sometimes the single most important thing we can do in order to fix everything within us that is broken. And I realized that you can’t do anything — you certainly can’t change the world — unless you’ve learned how to sit, how to be with people, in silence.” 

With over a dozen visits and a year of my life breathing Kenyan air, I am of the opinion that poverty and injustice in developing countries will not be erased in our lifetime. With due respect to the initiatives of the MDGs(2015) and the SDGs(2030), they are but guidelines to be achieved when all political, social and environmental factors are in sync. Service providers show amazing resilience and courage, often going well beyond their own parameters of safety and security. They too are limited by external factors beyond their control. There are no easy solutions, no quick fixes. 

I once asked a veteran of humanitarian aid what he did to measure the success in his work. Ron Ward worked in Kenya for four decades in a number of health, education and nutrition outreach programs. His answer was “I hang around.” In his view it was more important to first be accepted by local elders and chiefs. Furthermore, he believed strongly that to meet a humanitarian need through a western mindset was a recipe for disaster. So hanging out meant meeting people in their world, getting to know them as human beings; and by doing so, breaking down barriers of mistrust.

CES Canada Patron Ron Ward built hospitals, schools and provided access to education for thousands of needy children. He was a doer, but first he learned the principle of coming alongside, acknowledging the reality of pain and then acting in ways that were progressive and inclusive. 

I have learned the value of spending time with people in mud huts, at their shambas, in the village and at the local school. This is where the heart is softened, even broken. These are the places where true understanding happens. 

The urge to do something needs to be suppressed in favour of first “bearing witness.” When people get together, have a meal or a cup of tea, there is something that stirs deep within. There is a realization that we are more alike than we are different. 

Canadian Senem Ozkin recently volunteered for CES Canada in Kenya. They were part of a CES Canada/Kenya team that provided relief and medical aid for children in rural Kenya suffering from Jiggers. Senem applied the principle of “bearing witness”.  Her perspective on humanitarian aid was altered as she washed those little feet, held their tender frames and “hung out” with them.

She concluded, “After hundreds of kids had gone through the process of being de-jiggered, their feet soaked in sodium bicarbonate to close up their wounds, on they went - many of them without shoes - to their homes. Facing the reality of leaving these kids behind and wondering how these brave little souls handled themselves in such a grown-up way was almost too much to comprehend.  What could we do to give them back their innocence? So little really when compared to what they gave us.” 

By feeling the hurt and acknowledging where people suffer the most, we come to realize that but for a different set of geographic circumstances, we too could be in this place. As a result we become better people, display greater empathy and often re-discover our humanity. It is perhaps at this point our most effective humanitarian work can be done.