So there I was, feeling sorry for myself for having sustained extensive nether-region damage during the birth of my son ten weeks ago AND having the surgery to correct that damage BOTCHED (don't even ask), when I came across this: a Wall Street Journal report from Cindy McCain on the state of things in Rwanda.

I braced myself to be horrified - after all, anyone who remembers hearing anything about Rwanda in the mid-nineties is probably still having nightmares about it.

Instead, it made my heart swell and I forgot my nether region complaints entirely. This was a story to give all women, everywhere, hope in the future and faith in the power of women to effect change.

From McCain's story:

I have recently returned from Rwanda. I was last there
in 1994, at the height of the genocide that claimed the lives of more
than 800,000 Rwandans. The memories of what I saw haunt me still.

I wasn't sure what to expect all these years later,
but I found a country that has found in its deep scars the will to move
on and rebuild a civil society. And the renaissance is being led by
women.

Women are at the forefront of the physical, emotional
and spiritual healing that is moving Rwandan society forward. One of
them, from eastern Rwanda, told me her story -- a violent, tragic and
heartbreaking testimony of courage. She spoke of surviving multiple
gang rapes, running at night in fear of losing her life, going days
without food or water and witnessing the death of her entire family --
one person at a time, before her eyes.

The injuries she sustained left her unable to bear
children. Illness, isolation and an utter lack of hope left her in
abject despair.

And yet the day I met her, she wasn't consumed by
hatred or resentment. She sat, talking with me and a few others, beside
a man who had killed people guilty of nothing more than seeking shelter
in a church. She forgave him. She forgave the perpetrators of her
tragedy, and she explained her story with hope that such cruelty would
never be repeated.

Which, wow. I spent the weekend trying to figure out whether I would ever forgive the doctors who mis-stitched my nethers post-delivery. That Rwandan woman has already decided to forgive perpetrators of genocide. Let me tell you, that leaves me awed. And, also, feeling somewhat small and petty. But mostly awed.

Women are, apparently, leading the charge in rebuilding Rwanda - the genocide left the country over 70% female, and so women have taken on the roles that were traditionally filled by men: running households, maintaining agriculture, running businesses. And they're taking care of each other: according to Women For Women International, they're adopting the children orphaned by the genocide (as many as 6 at once, WFW reports) and raising them as their own. They agitated and succeeded in getting rape decreed a war crime. They are they very embodiment - walking, talking, acting, empowering - of women's strength.

They leave me in awe. They leave me proud to be a woman. They leave me wanting to be a better woman. They leave me wanting to set aside my petty problems, and do something to help.

Check out Women For Women International's Rwanda initiative, and consider donating. And then consider blogging the good news about Rwandan women. They're an inspiration to us all.