#12 Find Your Courage and Let It Live!

“Ummera, ummera-sha”
‘Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’

I was recently inspired by Doctor James Orbinski, who helped establish, and became president of the Canadian chapter of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders/MSF), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. Orbinski was the head doctor of MSF in Rwanda at the height of the genocide where he treated thousands of casualties. The people on the frontlines of the world’s crises have a kind of courage the world should breathe more of; an intoxicating kind of courage that forces us to consider how we too might be brave enough to make a difference in our own way.

The following passage from his book An Imperfect Offering is very moving.

“Ummera, ummera–sha” is a Rwandan saying that loosely translated means ‘Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’ It was said to me by a patient at our hospital in Kigali. She was slightly older than middle aged and had been attacked with machetes, her entire body rationally and systematically mutilated … I could do little more for her at that moment than stop the bleeding with a few sutures. We were completely overwhelmed. She knew and I knew that there were so many others. She said to me in the clearest voice I have ever heard,— “Allez, allez. Ummera, ummera-sha”–‘Go, go. Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.’
—From An Imperfect Offering

What I found striking in this story is both his own courage to stay and help, when those who could were leaving, as well as the courage of the woman he was treating, who despite her own suffering offered him words of strength so that he could persevere. In times of strain and suffering we depend on each other for strength to go on. We depend on each other to reinforce our hope, our belief in the positive, and our belief in our own ability to make a difference. To believe that this world can be good, we must believe in the good of people.

We must find the courage to believe in ourselves, and each other – believe in our visions of hope for the future and our own and each others’ strength to instill it. Creating a vision of hope for the future can create positive energy – the kind that can invigorate as it spreads and grows. But to be positive about the future and have hope in this world takes strength; it takes courage. Ummera, ummera-sha. Courage, courage, my friend–find your courage and let it live.

Written By: Claudia Goodine