By Desmond Nleya
It has been many days since the war in Ukraine started. It has been over a thousand days since Hamas and Israel began fighting. In Africa, the Congo is still crying. Just last week, men with guns went into a church in Congo and killed people who were only praying. In Gaza, children are starving, mothers are crying, and fathers are digging graves instead of planting crops. In Ukraine, families sleep not knowing if they will wake up the next day. In Burkina Faso, more than 50 soldiers died because insurgents stormed their camp. And in Yemen, in Syria, in Sudan, it is the same story—guns, bombs, and tears.
Yet we have a United Nations. They call it “United” but I see no unity. There is even something called a Security Council that is supposed to stop wars, yet the wars continue. Some countries have permanent seats there and power to block decisions, while others, like Africans—the ones who bleed the most—are just standing outside, watching.
We hear about peace agreements being signed on TV in air-conditioned rooms with bottled water on the tables, and then at night, we hear about weapons being sent to the same places. I ask myself: what is the meaning of this peace they speak of during the day, while sending guns at night?
Where is humanity? What happened to caring for one another?
I am just an ordinary villager, from Dombodema, like a farmer in Goma, or a fisherman in Gaza. I do not understand politics or big words, but I understand pain. I know how it feels to bury someone you love. I know hunger, and I know fear. And I know we were not born to live like this.
Why can’t leaders choose peace? Why can’t they put people first before power and money? They say the world is modern, with technology and intelligence to fly to the moon, but still, we can’t find peace on earth.
I plead for the silence of guns. I plead for a day when no child goes to bed hungry or afraid of bombs. When a church is just a church, a mosque is just a mosque, and a home is a safe place.
Would the guns ever go silent? I believe they must, because if they don’t, what kind of world are we leaving for our children?
