Love Does

I recently read a book called Love Does by Bob Goff. It is a collection of stories from his life, each told to teach a lesson about life, God, being Christian, Jesus, and so on. Overall it is pretty good, well written, and inspiring. It was hard to relate to some of the stories, but clearly the author "oozes" and "leaks" passion, love, and Christ.

One trajectory of the book is telling about his desire to make the world a better place, and how he is using his training as a lawyer to do so. He told a bit about his work in Uganda, doing lawyer stuff to get a bunch of kids released from prison. This story stuck with me. Prisons are on my mind a lot lately, because of the chaplains I am working with here in Malawi. I had mixed feelings about the story. On the one hand, clearly the work he and his fellow lawyers did was positive, helping people who were clearly in need of help, working within the existing legal system. On the other hand, while I do not know Goff at all, the story does smack some of "white savior complex," and I strive hard to avoid being "the one in comes in and does for others." I strive to work with, to build up from within, rather than from without.

Goff mentions that they work to enforce the laws on the books in various countries, in regards to children rights, trafficking, slavery, etc. The problem in Uganda was that the civil war had rendered certain areas unreachable. Kids in prison hadn't had their cases heard or processed because there were no lawyers or judges in the area. So Goff went in with lawyer friends, did all the paper work, and convinced a Ugandan judge to travel to the area to hear the cases. It worked. All but two of the kids were released!

But I couldn't help but think of another "well wisher" I know, who comes to Malawi regularly and helps in the prison setting. They work with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP, our partner) chaplains, they visit prions, and they help by giving money and physical aid. Both Goff and this other family spend time with prisoners, listening, comforting, praying, bringing hope. I'm a big fan of that, since as a chaplain that's mostly what I do. But by handing out money, they manage to feed and cloth some people for now, but make no change in the system. The systems in Malawi largely rely on outside well wishers (mostly white people) to come in, give money, and keep the system afloat. In this way this visiting family is successfully keeping the broken and corrupt system in place.

Because both Goff and this other family fly in, do, and fly out, at first they felt similar to me. But as I pondered it further, I realize there's a big difference. Goff may not have fixed the system, but he showed how it can work: care, volunteer, do your job, enforce the laws, and so on. And the love and care he and his fellow lawyers brought with them, I think clearly had a large impact beyond just the legal skills they brought to bear. He made a difference in those prisons that lasted: one of them was empty! (He even stole the door!) This other family, though, is showing how the system doesn't work: the inmates will be hungry tomorrow when no one brings in foreign aid to feed them, they have not had cases heard, they have not had the laws on the books enforced in their favor. What if instead this family used their money to pressure local lawyers and judges to get to work in the prisons? What if they used their money to send the chaplains to training that would enable them to pressure people in the legal system? What if they used their money to set up farms, so that people could eat permanently?

Sometimes we can't help but come in from the outside. I mean, I'm not Malawian, I never will be, I will always being coming in to help from the outside. But I can do it in a way that is incarnational. Jesus literally walked in Jewish shoes for a mile (or thousand). Jesus had special skills and talents, after all, he created the world from scratch. And he used those at times when he performed miracles. But largely he worked within the existing systems, showing what they should be like, showing where they failed, and pressuring people to make changes. Maybe he's not the best example, since he did get killed for his efforts. But then again, maybe that's what Love Does: comes in, risks, gets dirty, and shows what change can look like.