Earlier this year I read an article about a man called Enoch Rwanburundi. He acted with immense courage because of his convictions. He risked his life constantly and consistently for the lives of others.
It made me start asking the question, what would give me the courage to risk my life for someone else’s life? Would I be able to live such that my self preservation, my happiness, my comfort were not the most important thing? And, live so that even my family’s comfort and security where not the highest be all and end all of life?
What did Enoch do? He was a Hutu during the civil war in Rwanda and he sheltered and hid Tutsi refugees. I read about this in the Australian newspaper*. Here is an excerpt from the article
[Leora Khan] cites Enoch Rwanburundi, a Hutu who cared for injured Tutsi neighbours during the genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed by Hutu extremists.
He built a separate dwelling when his house proved too small to accommodate the fugitives.
"Many times, the local authorities forced me to appear before the burgomaster (magistrate) and every time it happened, my family would lose all hope of seeing me again," he says in a statement on one of 16 panels on display. "But at the end of the day, I would return."
A Christian, he would "mingle with both sides".
"My neighbours rushed to advise me to evict the refugees from my home as soon as possible but I told them, 'I know that the only relationship between them and me is that we pray in the same congregation, but I cannot chase God's people from my home'."
Leora Khan in the Huffington Post article said she was blown away by the depth of his courage. His courage stems from his Christian convictions.
I hope that have that kind of courage when the chips are down and I also hope I have that same kind of courage to live for others in everyday life.
Enoch was an ordinary man but his courage came from an extraordinary source.
*Read another article on this here if you can't access the article in the Australian.