I was privileged in 2005 to find myself in Berlin at a conference organised to both bring to light and pray into the effects of the Berlin conference 1885.
The Berlin Conference spanned almost four months of deliberations, from 15 November 1884 to 26 February 1885. By the end of the Conference the European powers had neatly divided Africa up amongst themselves, drawing the boundaries of Africa much as we know them today.
There were of course no Africans present at the original conference. The 2005 two day gathering brought together representatives from most of the present day African nations as well as those from European nations.
The intention of the weekend was to hear accounts of the treatment of Africans by Europeans in a number of contexts and to seek to at least start a process of repentance and reconciliation.
One of the perhaps inevitable questions that arose was around “recompense” and “restitution“. It was accepted that the parties present had no power to demand or provide such in financial terms, intercession is always about binding and loosing things in the heavenlies in the belief that there will be an outworking in the natural.
The following are simply images from the weekend representing the deeply serious; the intercessory; the fun and the celebration that occurred as those assembled expressed their sorrow, their forgiveness and finally their celebration.
We are all one people.
And so to some happier images.
