Can you imagine ...?

In Rwanda, the nation's justice system and the International Criminal Tribunal set up to try genocide suspects have been overwhelmed by the number of cases. According to Rwanda’s President, handling all the cases in those courts would take hundreds of years. With that in mind, “gacacas” have been formed to help the process move more quickly.

Thousands of people attend gacaca courts all across Rwanda on any given day. Hearings are held in open fields in neighborhoods where the attacks occurred. There are no lawyers and no judges in robes. A panel of local villagers with no legal experience conducts the proceedings.

While gacacas were originally formed to resolve minor disputes among villagers, they have been reinvented to hand out justice to the perpetrators of Rwanda’s infamous genocide and help fast-track reconciliation efforts in the broken nation. Some analysts say the system has its advantages, reducing congestion in prisons and allowing survivors to hear first-hand what happened to their loved ones. For many, though, it is watching suspects struggle to come to terms with the attacks that brings an unusual form of comfort.

“They (the suspects) will never know peace,” explains a man who lost his family to the violence. “They have to live with the fact that they killed their neighbors for the rest of their lives. While the survivors can move on, they (attackers) probably never will.”

Myth-busting

When former South African President Nelson Mandela celebrated his 91st birthday this past Saturday, it was without fanfare or any large galas. Instead, the former political prisoner spent the day at home in Johannesburg with his family. His wife, Graca Machel, said he still keeps busy working with his charities but has slowed down, something he finds frustrating.

Nelson is “a very proud person,” Graca explains. “He is vain so when he realizes that he can't walk tall and firm like he used to be, he doesn't like it.” In an unusually blunt statement on his weakening health Machel also explained how hard it was for her to see him getting so old. “To see him aging is something that pains you. You understand you know it has to happen.” He is, after all, just like every other human being.

Even as he ages, though, Nelson Mandela's message remains crucial -- which is why “Mandela Day,” his birthday, aims to promote the values of Nelson Mandela long after he is gone. Mandela Day is a “way of demystifying, that only extraordinary people can do can make a difference.”

“Everyone,” she says, “can be a little like Mandela if you care about others, you care about their wellbeing, you want them to have a real smile, they feel worthy, they are loved, they are cared and that's what you can do.”

Did you hear about the flood?

While most of the mainstream media was focused on President Obama’s visit to Ghana, elsewhere in West Africa, the people of Benin have been devastated by floods caused by torrential rains.

“Thousands of people fleeing floodwaters are living with precarious food security, [staying with] family and in public places,” a government official explained. Flood victims are in dire need of water, food, medicine, mosquito nets and clothing, the report continued. Tens of millions of dollars are needed to provide the relief that is critical for more than 20,000 men, women and children.

United Nations staff have been deployed to help with shelter, medical and sanitation needs around Cotonou, the commercial capital, and along the southern coastline which were among the hardest hit regions.

Somalia's endless struggle

As armed militia groups continue to battle against government military forces, those caught in the middle are crying desperately for a place of peace and security. “The escalating conflict in Mogadishu is having a devastating impact on the city's population causing enormous suffering and massive displacement,” the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said earlier this week. The eight-week long push by militias has prompted what the agency calls “the biggest exodus from the troubled Somali capital since the Ethiopian intervention in 2007.”

Approximately 204,000 people have fled their homes in the Somali capital of Mogadishu as a result of the recent fighting. Official reports estimate that the total number of internally displaced people in Somalia amounts to more than 1,000,200 people . . .

. . . all of this in a country that is smaller than the state of Texas.