This trip to Rwanda and Congo I am embarking upon makes so much sense to me. As a child I was exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust, as a young adult I learned to care, as an adult I have been tasked to do something about atrocities of genocide, violence against the innocent and other horrors of human abuse. Tikun olam, the Jewish ideal, admonishes us to repair the world in which we live. This Jewish value informs what I do. It is also the driving force of Jewish World Watch.
WHY am I going THERE? I go to Congo for the same reasons I traveled to Russia, India, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Cuba and other places. I travel to bear witness – to experience, to see for myself, to listen and learn about things that are beyond comprehension. When I return to Los Angeles, my role will be that of the story teller so that more of us who are so fortunate in our own lives will hear about Congo. We can be instruments of change.
How do I feel about this coming experience? I am a bit nervous, exhilarated with possibilities, humbled by the magnitude of the challenges faced by people in Congo and hopeful that we can all make a positive difference. I am grateful to Jewish World Watch for its ground-breaking work and for making this life changing trip possible.
On Sunday May 25, 2014, Terri Smooke will be leaving for a 10 day trip to central Africa, led by JWW Co-Founder and President Janice Kamenir-Reznik and JWW Assistant Director Naama Haviv. This post also appears in The Jewish World Watch Blog: One Life at a Time, hosted on the Jewish Journal’s website.