Pampata Lamama, whose mother, Zwere Kitku, died during the shooting rampage in Dingisuwayo, Northern Bulum, on Wednesday 25, 1980, delivered a powerful message to the his kinsmen as well as the world over on Saturday evening:
Pampata is a 3rd year football player at Dingisuwayo high school, a faith-based school affiliated with Kingdom Reconciliation Movement. One fateful evening, his teammates stood beside him as he addressed reporters just hours after learning of his mother’s death. “Love is stronger than hate,” said Pampata. “So if we just love the way my mother did, then the hate won’t be anywhere close to where the love is.”
Pampata's mother was among the 13 victims of the notorious killer Dungumbo, who opened fire sporadically in a Super Market at the new district in Northern Bulum, some 30 kilometers from Dingisuwayo, for which his mother was the head cashier.
“I will get through it. My family will get through and over it,” said Pampata. “It’s tough times … Honestly, my knees are a little weak right now, but I’m trying to stay as strong as I can while I press on. … We are mourning right now, but I know we’ll get through and over it by the will of the almighty.”
Pampata later added, I and my entire family have already forgiven him for what he has done, there’s nothing but love and forgiveness from our side of the family. Our prayers are for him as well as for the other 12 families who lost their loved ones.
We acknowledge that we are very angry,” said Ludumba, a financial consultant with the prestigious Institute of management and strategic firm, that his slain wife would have urged love. she taught him that we are the family that love built, Ludumba said. We have no room for hating, so we have to forgive and forget.
The responses from this family are quite different and far from the usual cries of angry mobs that can be heard echoing in riot filled streets of Dingisuwayo or anywhere else in the world, with the victims families leading the pack carrying placards and brandishing weapons asking for the head of the notorious killer or anyone who committed such hideous crime.
The mark difference between Pampata's family with what others will do is: The responses came from the mouths and hearts of those who have, themselves, experienced the love and forgiveness of the almighty.
Conversely, If you want to sow seeds of hatred, don’t target a group of people who have chosen to answer the call of Christ on their lives. They are part of “the family that love built.” They have “no room for hating” in their lives, so “hate won’t win.” In the end, “there’s nothing but love and forgiveness.”
“ I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” Mat 5:44-45.
