Page 121 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue #3 - December 2015

Dark Matter: Women Witnessing - December, 2015 Issue #3 - EXTINCTION / DEVOTION

put the bright colors on the wall, nobody thought beauty can exist in such a dire place including me at

the beginning.

But when we put beautiful colors on the wall, when we put flowers, when we put angels, when we put

all the big birds and all the things they imagine, and that begins to transform the mentality and create a

sense of hope for the community. And that was one of the most powerful moments I have ever

experienced.

And I always say that when it seems like one can do nothing in such desperation, if we create through

imagination, creativity, and make beauty, it is like making a fire in the dead winter night. And that strikes

hope. Brings light. And that beckons people to join us. And that's the power potential of broken places,

places of despair, ready for transformation.

Caroline:

Absolutely. And the fundamental question we want to put on the altar of desirable mystery everywhere

is how do we humans heal our relationship to each other and all our kin and nature itself and all the

flora and fauna on this planet? So in nature, some seeds only sprout after cataclysmic flood or fire...

Lily:

Yes.

Caroline:

I know that you went also into Rwanda when there was still fighting.

Lily:

No. I went there after. Actually, ten years later. But the pain was so deep. That's what awakened my --

That's what moved me. I was in the international Conference in 2004 and I heard a person speaking

from Rwanda, Jombasco Musana, and his voice came from so deep and so wounded for his people.

And he said how much the nation still suffers. And I was just so moved by that. I was on my way to

Kenya and I said, "Well, I will be in the continent of Africa." So I said, "Wait for me at the airport and I'm

coming to check it out."

I didn't have any idea what I would do. I just want to be there and to be where the pain is, the

brokenness and listen. And then what followed was the ten-year project unfolding and leading through

the building of the genocide memorial and then working with villagers and then transforming from

destitution and despair of a genocide survivor village of 100 families into the beginning of prosperity

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