Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in
any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
When
I was volunteering with my home church, it was on our third or fourth mission
trip when we found out about residential schools. With each summer trip, we learned more about
the schools and their impact. Provided below are links to more information. In
short, they were designed to “get rid of the Indian out of the Indian”.
From 1831 to the last school closing in 1996,
thousands of children were taken from their homes and placed in schools built
by the Canadian government and run by various churches. Conditions were very poor with under funding
and overcrowding, resulting in many of the children dying from tuberculosis as
well as being abused. In 2007, the Canadian government started the Residential
Schools Settlement Agreement, but many of the survivors of these residential
schools have seen little to no action concerning this Agreement.
You might have heard the news about
the 215 bodies being found in a mass unmarked gravesite at a former residential
school in Kamloops. Unfortunately this has brought up negative feelings from
the past of both the survivors and those whose parents or other relatives
attended residential schools. There have been peaceful protests, but also
several churches have been burned down. Some of the churches were affiliated
with operating a residential school while others had nothing to do with them.
As time passes, there will be more discoveries of unmarked gravesites and more
protests for the Canadian government to take action on reconciliation.
Recently I read on the news about a
residential school only an hour away from my house. This residential school is
still operating. It is not like the
former residential schools in Canada, but it makes a person wonder: did the
United States have similar schools or mistreatment of Indigenous people?
These recent events are reminders of
why LAMP exists. As stated on our
website: “We believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ can heal and transform people
and communities.” It is important to note that LAMP only serves in communities
that invite us to come. Please continue
to pray that God would use people in each community to help others hear of the
peace that only God offers through His son Jesus. Pray that teams might be able
to travel soon into their communities to encourage and be present with people.
New
about the school in Salem, Oregon:
History
of residential schools in Canada:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools
