Here's an idea for Lent that will do more good than giving up desserts: Read a book about contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. It's not a penance, though it can hurt. And seeing how much of the rest of the world lives sure does put a lot of our minor irritations, and even major problems, in perspective.
Consider a novel or memoir by an African, such as
• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria)
• Tsotsi by Athol Fugard (South Africa)
• A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone)
• When a Crocodile Eats the Sun by Peter Godwin (Zimbabwe)
Or read a journalist's first-person account, like
• What Is the What by Dave Eggers (Sudan)
• Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (Burundi)
• The Shadow of the Sun by Ryszard Kapuściński (post-colonial Africa)
• We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch (Rwanda)
If you'd rather watch a movie, try one of these:
• The Devil Came On Horseback (Sudan)
• Tsotsi (South Africa)
• War Dance (Uganda)
• Hotel Rwanda (Rwanda)
LaVonne Neff is an amateur theologian and cook; lover of language and travel; wife, mother, grandmother, godmother, dogmother; perpetual student, constant reader, and Christian contrarian. She blogs at Lively Dust. This post appears courtesy of a partnership with Sojourners.
if you never read or saw the movie tsotsi you should brings a fresh view to love and change