This Is Jesus

by Glenn W. Hawkes

 

Author's preface: This poem was inspired by a comment made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu when I was visiting South Africa in December 2002. On World AIDS Day (December 1^st), at an event in the Masiphumelele community in the nation's Western Cape province organized by Homes for Kids in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu said, "Look around, and you'll see, 'Jesus is HIV-positive.'"

The poem can also be used in worship as a "call and response" piece.

(Eric Rwabuhihi, September 2003)

This is Jesus

Do you recognize Him?

        The hands

        He was buried under a pile of bodies

        April of '94

        Uncle Sam -- like Peter --

        Denied knowing

This is Jesus

Do you recognize Him?

        The dead on either side

        20,000 in this one place alone --

        A holy place called -- Nyarabuye

        Good Friday all over again

This is Jesus

Do you recognize Him?

        When I visited Rwanda

        (Or was it Golgotha?)

        I met the man who carried Him

        He referred to Him as her

        "I carried her in my coat," he said,

        "She didn't weigh 30 pounds

        "Even the maggots had abandoned her."

This is Jesus

Do you recognize Him?

        His name is Valentina

        If you don't believe me

        Look Him up on GOOGLE

        Click "Valentina," you'll see

This is Jesus

Do you recognize Him?

        Look again --

        At those eyes

(Eric Rwabuhihi, September 2003)

        Yes, now you know

        April was "the cruelest month"

        But not all was thorns and blood . . .

        Beyond Golgotha -- Easter

        She lives

        She lives

        She lives!

 

Dr. Glenn W. Hawkes is director of the Ward Brook Center for Reparations in Montpelier, Vermont. He is the author of What About the Children? (1985) and several articles on educational philosophy and curriculum. Glenn is the 1995 recipient of the Vermont National Education Association's "Human and Civil Rights Award." For more information about Valentina & the Ward Brook Center's work in Rwanda, contact the Center at 802.229.0137 or centers4sr@adelphia.net. Interested readers are also encouraged to obtain the "Valentina's Nightmare" segment from PBS Frontline television.