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| {During Peace Negotiations in Sudan - Looks so Friendly and Warm doesn't he??} 'I am a man of peace,' said Kony, although his eyes said otherwise. 'I am here to help you. I am here to help your mission.' 'And how do you intend to help our mission?' demanded Rebecca. Kony's hand crept back towards his gun. The tone of the meeting had changed. 'I can offer employment to your children,' he said in Acholi, 'to your orphan children...' 'these children are not muna muna. They are not white men. They are Acholi. The Acholi people are at war with the murderers and child-killers of the Museveni regime. Every Acholi man, woman, and child is bound by blood to rise up and support the struggle... 'You will not stop us, said Kony, 'because we have God and Jesus on our side; because we are the Acholi. If you try to resist, then we will say you are a part of the Museveni regime.' He swung his gun around so that the barrel was an inch from Rebecca's face. ~~~ |
'Then why have you come? Rebecca demanded.
The two men conferred softly in Acholi. Then the first man said, 'If you please, Mr. Luke, Mrs. Luke, it is my turn to make my introduction.'
Luke leaned back and raised a hand to silence Rebecca. 'Very well,' he said, 'your turn.'
'I am a man of God,' the soldier said, "I am a preacher like you.'
Luke nodded without correcting him.
'I am known throughout all of Acholiland as a holy man. That is right. Your man will tell you.' He nodded towards Odokonyero.
Everybody knows him,' Odokonyero replied.
'And he is a holy man?'
The cook nodded. 'He is a holy man to the Acholi.'
'I've never seen a holy man wearing an army uniform,' said Rebecca.
The holy man--or the man who claimed to be holy--said, 'Is it only the white man, then, who can fight for the Kingdom of God?' He looked around the table and his eyes settled on Rebecca. 'You are a child of God, are you not? Are you not commanded to take up arms to defeat the forces of evil in the world?'
The softly sinister implications of this question floated above the little meeting and settled like a moth on the rafters to watch the way the conversation went.
Rebecca said, 'Our God commands us to love our enemies; to turn the other cheek.' She flinched as a fly landed on her face, and swatted it away. Outside in the compound an unnatural silence prevailed.
'So,' said the hold man in the army uniform, 'you do not know of the LRA?'
'Are you familiar with the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers--marching off to war"?' asked the soldier of Rebecca,
Rebecca shrank slightly. 'It's marching as to war.'
'As to war,' she said, 'not off to war. It has a completely different meaning.'
'It is a command for Christian Soldiers to fight,' said the man, 'to go off to war and fight.'
'No, it isn't,' Rebecca said. 'It's a metaphor. The hymn is telling us that we must face up to evil--but not with violence.'
"'With the Cross of Jesus going on before",' said the soldier triumphantly. '"Onward into battle, see his banners go".'
By J. W. Ironmonger
I had read this entire story before it settled into my gut...Why did the author write this book? Once you get into it, you may decide that it was determined that he would write this book at this time in 2014... But who determined that he would?
Quite a number of years ago, I read another book by a woman whose husband developed AIDS. She coined a phrase that I have used often since then. A God Incident is what I would call this book. No, I don't agree with the Big Bang Theory that you will learn about. It claims that ever since then, everything is pre-determined. Nor do I believe that every single thing we do or decide is but part of a master plan that a supreme being has created. But, sometimes, just once in awhile, occasionally, sporadically, or maybe even routinely, I've witnessed a God Incident...
This one is all wrapped up in a complicated literary puzzle that discusses philosophical issues many have studied in college... If not, you will enjoy a review of coincidence, determinism, destiny, etc.
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| But there are postscripts of the foundling girl, and these are significant too. In none of these cases did anyone appreciate at the time quite how relevant each of the events might be to the life of Azalea Ives. The first such event occurred in May 1983, almost a year after Azalea's appearance...The body of a young woman, very badly decomposed, was discovered on a beach in North Devon, near Bude. She had been dead for about a year...In 1986, a police constable in Cornwall, carrying out a cold- case review, was able to point to a number of similarities between this case and the case of 'Girl A.' ~~~ |
It was probably her Irish background that had allowed Midsummer's Day to be noted... They were having a fair in Devon, so Miriam had stopped there with Azalea who was only three years old at the time. The child was found alone and lost wandering through the crowds. But later at night, still nobody had come to pick her up at the manager's office. It was then they contacted the police.
The Investigation continued and it was later confirmed the Azalea's mother had been murdered the night she was found. Azalea was put up for adoption and became the daughter of Luke and Rebecca Foley, both teachers...
Luke's family had been missionaries for three generations. When Luke had gone away to attend college, he had stayed, married and had begun to work. But it was his time now... They moved to Africa to work at the mission compound...
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| Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928), who grew up on Jølster lake at the same time as Elisabeth and Oleanna, captured the St. Hansbål (St. John’s bonfire) many times Midsummer Night Festival ~~~ |
The Investigation continued and it was later confirmed the Azalea's mother had been murdered the night she was found. Azalea was put up for adoption and became the daughter of Luke and Rebecca Foley, both teachers...
Luke's family had been missionaries for three generations. When Luke had gone away to attend college, he had stayed, married and had begun to work. But it was his time now... They moved to Africa to work at the mission compound...
Azalea's happiest years were there in Africa--at least until she was 13. That's when she identified the man walking into the compound as Joseph Kony and immediately ran for her secure place. Kony's reputation was known throughout the country. He would demand, no, really steal children as well as men and women to fight his war. If they refused, they would cut off their lips, their arms, or in some other way disfigured them...Soon not many refused to be taken...
The Foleys had prepared everybody to be ready for danger and even ran drills, based upon a particular sound of the bell, to run to their assigned secure place. Azalea was to run to the bus, knowing if everybody had to leave, she would already be prepared. Luke did manage to sound the bell and everybody responded, but it wasn't enough. Kony had brought his own bus full of his child soldiers and they ran after and found all of them.
One of those children shot Rebecca in the back as she ran after the children, including Azalea, who were being taken! But Azalea, plus two other young visiting doctors, were white... and were a problem to Kony's group and should never have been taken.
There is an amazing concurrent story surrounding Azalea that works to solve the puzzle of her life. She had no memory of her life before the Foleys-- But what she had been able to determine so far was that she had lost loved ones on June 21, Midsummer Night! She lived with the possibility, the fear, that she also might die...
Enter the Coincidence expert...
Thomas Post taught Applied Philosophy and had through word of mouth, begun to receive questions about determinism, fate, destiny...coincidences... You'll get to know him very well--his mind, that is, as he tries to respond to Azalea's questions about her past and the coincidences that seemed to surround her... Actually, they made a good pair because Azalea was quite willing to challenge Thomas and stick to her own beliefs... Soon they were friends, then lovers...
And so when she disappeared out of his life, he was in such a quandary he didn't know what to do...
This latter relationship and the subsequent investigation actually makes up the majority of the book. But for me I think you can tell what came to be the most important element presented by the author. The love story, the puzzle of Azalea's seeming life full of coincidences, helps to lighten the reality contained in this book. I chose to play up the reality because Kony 2012 is, of course, in today's headlines, spreading virally. More people need to know about Joseph Kony This book provides an excellent fictional account of what is and has actually happened in Africa.
If you don't read anything else, read "Explaining Kony" an appendix to the book... Here's the beginning:
My personal thanks goes to the author along with Kudos, congratulations, and praise for being brave enough to tackle him directly through your words...
This entire novel is quite an achievement--to watch one lost child...walk through her life in such a strange and coincidental way... A Memorable Exceptional Read!
GABixlerReviews
The Foleys had prepared everybody to be ready for danger and even ran drills, based upon a particular sound of the bell, to run to their assigned secure place. Azalea was to run to the bus, knowing if everybody had to leave, she would already be prepared. Luke did manage to sound the bell and everybody responded, but it wasn't enough. Kony had brought his own bus full of his child soldiers and they ran after and found all of them.
One of those children shot Rebecca in the back as she ran after the children, including Azalea, who were being taken! But Azalea, plus two other young visiting doctors, were white... and were a problem to Kony's group and should never have been taken.
There is an amazing concurrent story surrounding Azalea that works to solve the puzzle of her life. She had no memory of her life before the Foleys-- But what she had been able to determine so far was that she had lost loved ones on June 21, Midsummer Night! She lived with the possibility, the fear, that she also might die...
Enter the Coincidence expert...
Thomas Post taught Applied Philosophy and had through word of mouth, begun to receive questions about determinism, fate, destiny...coincidences... You'll get to know him very well--his mind, that is, as he tries to respond to Azalea's questions about her past and the coincidences that seemed to surround her... Actually, they made a good pair because Azalea was quite willing to challenge Thomas and stick to her own beliefs... Soon they were friends, then lovers...
And so when she disappeared out of his life, he was in such a quandary he didn't know what to do...
This latter relationship and the subsequent investigation actually makes up the majority of the book. But for me I think you can tell what came to be the most important element presented by the author. The love story, the puzzle of Azalea's seeming life full of coincidences, helps to lighten the reality contained in this book. I chose to play up the reality because Kony 2012 is, of course, in today's headlines, spreading virally. More people need to know about Joseph Kony This book provides an excellent fictional account of what is and has actually happened in Africa.
If you don't read anything else, read "Explaining Kony" an appendix to the book... Here's the beginning:
This story is a work of the imagination. All the characters in this book are fictional, and none is based on any person, living or dead. Except:
Joseph Kony is a real person. His cult-like Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been operating in Uganda, Sudan, and the Congo for more than twenty years. The BBC reports that tens of thousands have been killed by the LRA, and one and a half million people have been displaced. Thousands of children have been abducted. No one knows how many have been mutilated. As far as we know, Joseph Kony is alive and still evades capture...
My personal thanks goes to the author along with Kudos, congratulations, and praise for being brave enough to tackle him directly through your words...
This entire novel is quite an achievement--to watch one lost child...walk through her life in such a strange and coincidental way... A Memorable Exceptional Read!
GABixlerReviews
I'm the author of 'The Coincidence Authority,' ('Coincidence' in the USA), and 'The Notable Brain of Maximilian Ponder.' Here are some things about me:
1) I'm a Cornishman who was born in Kenya, schooled in Kent, studied in Nottingham and Liverpool, worked in Nigeria and Slough and Manchester and Edinburgh and Warrington and Warwick and Glasgow but never lived in any of those places (except Nigeria), and now I live just south of the village of Market Drayton in Shropshire right at the exact geographical centre of England.
2) I once wrote a book on British Zoos.
3) My lovely wife Sue and I are possibly the only non Indonesians to have seen a Javan rhino and her calf. True. You can read about it on my blog at http://notablebrain.blogspot.co.uk/20...
4) I once drove across the Sahara Desert in a £100 banger. You can find the proof on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_-DLY...
5) I once met Idi Amin at a rugby match and he bought me a drink.
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