Will anyone do anything about Zimbabwe?

The news from Zimbabwe just gets grimmer and grimmer. Robert Mugabe's government continues to desperatly cling onto power by whatever means possible; influencing elections, arresting opposition leaders, stopping opposition rallies. Even food has become a weapon, as they are now preventing aid agencies from distributing food (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7440237.stm ).

But- compared to other events recently, and given the scale of the crisis- there seems to be relatively little international condemnation of Mugabe, so little that in the same week as banning food aid he can attend an international conference trying to solve world food shortages! Surely there's something wrong here.

Is it because the West still feels guilty about the role it played in Africa in the past, in the days of colonialism? Because politicians are frightened of interfearing, in case they end up with another Iraq or Afghanistan? Because Western politicians believe that their voters are unlikely to care much about the political problems of a country so far away? Because other African leaders see it as an African problem, which can and should only be solved by Africans? Something of all these?

Or, to quote yes minister, that "once you start interfearing in the internal squabbles of another country, you're on a very slippery slope." Well yes, I think we can all see that from the disaster zone that is Iraq. But does that excuse them from any action? Not as far as I'm concerned.

Some seem to think that all the West can do is encourage African leaders like Thabo Mubecki (apologies if I've spelt that wrong) to mediate. But he's got enough problems at home, besides Zimbabwe. Understandable, Africa is nervous about white intervention. But the crisis in Zimbabwe goes far beyond issues of race.

It's surely time, and more than time, that the UN made some effort to help the people starving and suffering from violence and coercion. That was what it was created to do, and if it cannot help now, it will be more ammunition for those who say it's an irrelevance. I don't want that to happen. Eventually, something will happen- another country will feel that their stability is being threatened, or the people will finally rise up against Mugabe, and an already utterly dreadful situation will become even worse. Surely there's got to be something that can be done to stop this happening. Interfearing may lead down a slippery slope, but not interfearing isn't going to prevent trouble. One day the people of Zimbabwe may look at us and ask, "why didn't you help us?" And I don't think we've got a good enough answer.

Question: what connects cow dung, siege rations and prostitutes?

Bit of a rush of posts this week! I must be bored or something...

Last night at the theology course I'm doing we were looking at Ezekiel. We'd already looked at some of the other prophets and I was struck by their obedience to God, even when asked to do things that must have made other people think they were mad- eg Hosea was told to marry a prostitute and call his children "not loved" and "not my children" while Ezekiel had to lie on one side before a model of Jerusalem and eat only siege rations, cooked on cow dung. And God seems to have caused (or at least used) personal tradgedy in their lives and relationships as a way of getting his message across to the people of Israel, for example Ezekiel's wife dies at the time of the fall of Jerusalem and Hosea's wife leaves him. I find that hard to understand. Being obedient to God is never an easy task at the best of times, but for him to put his prophets through that...I don't understand completly. Couldn't he have created a world where it wasn't necessary? I suppose that's where our free will come into it- the people wouldn't listen, so they needed the demonstration of what would happen to them, so God had to use the people who were obedient to him as that demonstration. But it's still not easy to accept.
I wonder at the prophets' obedience, and wonder too if I'd be as willing to be obedient. No wonder some, like Elijah, had crises of confidence, and were close to giving up or that others, like Jeremiah, tried to get out of their calling. But you can't run away from God- I know that only too well. And the amazing things that the prophets did- bringing drought, bringing rain, demonstrating God's power to a reluctant people, prophesying what was going to happen, writing the wonderful if enigmatic books that make up a major part of the Old Testament were only possible because the prophets were willing to obey God, whatever the cost. There was nothing special about the men (and women) who became prophets. What made them able to do all these things was that they trusted God and were willing to obey him. "The Spirit of the Lord" was with them.
So if we today trust God and are willing to obey him, what can we expect to happen? Our life, like theirs, won't be easy; we may be called on to make fools of ourselves or to suffer, although I would say that this is more likely to be a result of trying to live God's way in a world that doesn't want to know than God bringing trouble on us. Like the prophets, our faith may slip from time to time, we may not think we are worthy or capable of doing what we have been called to do, but God will equip us, as he equipped them, with his Spirit. In the end, the prophets achieved some great things, because they were willing to be obedient. If we obey God, I believe we can to.

Just to add to the confusion...

not only do I not know how old I am, I'm also no longer sure when my birthday is! One friend texted me a happy birthday message yesterday (it's so unusual for him to be early, I wonder whether it was actually a very very late message from last year?!), then had Happy Birthday sung to me along with a card and cake at church today. Whereas it's not my actual birthday until the day after tomorrow, and my party's two days after that! So I'm obviously spreading the fun out as long as possible...I need something to cheer me up!

How old am I?

You might think that's a simple question. But it appears not. My 23rd birthday is at the end of this week, but am I really 23?

A week or so ago I was told that I was currently too young for the career I was looking at. I was fed up of being looked down on as "young" and not being given the chance to try to do new things because of my age. But then my church home group (mostly in their 40's and 50's) were trying to work out how old I was, and estimates ranged from 26 to 30! Then, in another group of friends, it was assumed that I was the oldest, despite one person there being two years older than me! The fact that I always seem to be the "mother" figure, handing out suncream, handwipes and generally organising people (even though I have no authority to do so, or even any plan beyond making it up as I go along) must be having some effect on people's minds!

So, people who know me seem to assume that I'm older than I actually am. Whereas people who don't know me particularly well judge from appearances (I can't help being small or looking young, and don't particularly want to change that!) and from my chronological age. A personality test I did when I was 16 suggested that my results were more typical of a 35 year old. But how can I get the fact that I'm (seemingly) more mature than my chronological age would suggest across to people? For example in interviews, when sounding like someone with experience rather than a naive graduate is certainly beneficial?

Any suggestions gratefully recieved!

Paul, in his first letter to Timothy tells him, "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." Although I can't claim to be a shining example of any of those things, I wish more people would pay more attention to Paul's words to a young and timid church leader in need of encouragement. How can anyone to gain experience without someone taking a risk and letting them have a go, make mistakes and learn from them? Without new people coming in, any organisation runs the risk of stagnating and, in a world where not to move forwards is to move backwards, that's a dangerous road. If Paul trusted the young, why can't people today?