Now that I have seen...

Now that I have seen, I am responsible.

Last night I lay in my bed, mind racing, the faces of the Ugandan people flashing in front of me. I can hear their laughs, their cries, their songs. I wish that I had the words to tell you what it feels like. I wish that I could make you feel it to. Because if you knew, you would never question why. You would never look at their pictures and then walk away. You would never pass by an opportunity. You would never tell me to stay here.

Now that I have seen, I am responsible.

Do you really want to see or would you rather just pass them by without taking a second glance? Because that's what most people do. They'd rather not see, because then they too would be responsible. But what is our faith worth if we deliberately choose not to see? If we walk by and pretend we didn't know? Does that really make it easier? I wish I could make you understand, that if you saw, I mean really saw, then you wouldn't want to look away again.

Now that I have seen, I am responsible.

They are standing right in front of you. I have carried them back with me and I have shown you. When you look at me, you are also seeing them, because they are part of me. I have held these sweet souls in my arms. I have seen them die because they didn't have the things they needed to live. I hold their hopes and dreams for the future in my heart. I have seen and thus I am responsible....

Now that you have seen, You are responsible

(scroll to the very bottom of the page and click on the song "Alberdine" on the playlist and read along as you listen)

I am sitting still

I think of Angelique
her mothers voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thosandth hill, I think of Albertine
there in her eyes what I don't see with my own
rwanda

now that I have seen, I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
now that I have held you in my own arms, I cannot let go till you are

I am on a plane across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
and the dust on, the dust on, the dust on my feet
Rwanda

I will tell the world, I will tell them where I've been
I will keep my word
I will tell them Albertine
I am on a stage, a thousand eyes on me

I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine

To Diana, Aisha, Cathy, Laticia, Doreen, Angelina, Benjamin, Pious, Daisy, Gloria, Gift, Matthew, Nicole, Ditte, Aligaya, Becca, Daphine, Esther, Fatuma, Getu, Elijah, Losira, Lydia, Rachael, Joshua, Sharon, Freda, Ruth, Lokute. I will tell them.