Author: Missionaries of Africa - Southern Africa Province (SAP) Page 109 of 113
Dear All,
This morning we received the sad news that Pierre Kuppens, Jos’ elder brother, has died. He suffered a brain haemorrhage on Wednesday and passed away at about 9 o’clock. Pierre leaves a wife and three grown children. May his soul rest in peace.
Let us keep Jos Kuppens and his family in our prayers at this sad time.
Yours,
William Turnbull Sector Superior-Malawi Message sent on the 22nd February 2013
William Turnbull Sector Superior-Malawi Message sent on the 22nd February 2013
Good news! Jean-Bosco Masaba is going back home tomorrow to Lubumbashi, DRCongo. The doctor was very pleased about the results. Everything went well. Jean-Bosco will need another medical exam next year to prevent the polyps to grow, often associated to cancer. Thanks so much for your messages and prayers.
Bonne nouvelle! Jean-Bosco Masaba retourne demain chez lui à Lubumbashi, RDCongo. Le médecin était très content des résultats. Tout s’est donc bien passé. Jean-Bosco devra tout de même avoir de nouveaux examens l’année prochaine pour prévenir la croissance de polypes, cause courante de cancer. Merci pour vos messages et vos prières.
Stagiaires who came to their meeting held in Lusaka from the 18th till 23rd February. In brackets: Nationality/Stage.
Welcome to this Antislavery Campaign interview with Lora Steiner. As an Euro-American woman she explores new horizons of meaning beyond the inculcated “American Dream.” She says that in America “we don’t learn to think critically. We don’t sit in a classroom and ask each other, was your ancestor a slaveholder? What does it mean that your ancestors were forced here for free labour?” Lora invites us to be curious and creative dealing with the systemic forces that keeps enslaving us. She talks prophetically when saying that “Americans don’t know much about the world. We learn our geography through wars.” She keeps saying that if forgiveness has happened in America, reconciliation certainly hasn’t. Americans don’t recognize that a country founded on genocide and enslavement still may carry the scars, and certainly, the trauma.” Lora shares with us her wisdom as woman, writer, historian and theologian. READ MORE
MESSAGE OF THE SECAM PASTORAL LETTER
The Pastoral Letter titled ‘Governance, the Common Good and Democratic Transitions in Africa, which we are about to launch, is in line with the message of the Pope Benedict XVI Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation: Africae Munus .
The Pastoral Letter points out that the Church in Africa cannot be indifferent and isolated in the face of our present socio-political and economic challenges that have become a major concern in Africa. In the spirit of peace and justice, it notes that common good, respect of people’s rights, and the promotion of good governance are the essential elements of the Gospel message.
The Pastoral Letter views human beings as being granted free will, which is the human freedom expressed through one’s choice to belong and one’s choice to express oneself freely in truth. In the exercise of this freedom in truth, human beings cannot be subjected to restriction or constraint. These considerations explain the passage to democratic transitions and indeed demand a new form of governance in Africa. The Church in Africa lives and works in a society in which she encounters the tragedy of human selfishness, pain and suffering in the midst of a politically tense environment. At the same time the Church is called upon to break the wall of powerlessness in the face of difficulties, to be overcome by living in solidarity with the bruised and maimed of God’s children.
READ MORE (document of 18 pages in PDF slow to download!)
Nairobi | CISA N0 0016 | http://www.cisanewsafrica.com/ | February 19, 2013
The Catholic Church in Africa has been challenged to intensify its ‘war’ against human trafficking.
Sister Maggi Kennedy of Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa (MSOLA) congregation, formerly White Sisters, told delegates at a symposium on: From the Anti-slavery campaign to the fight against human trafficking held at Tangaza University College, langata on February 16.
“As we meet here, probably one or many women and young girls are being trafficked either locally or internationally,” she further told the symposium delegates through her presentation whose theme was: “Human Trafficking…21st Century Slaves –the silent epidemic…Our Story-our challenge.
The Catholic Nun, a renowned activist in the war against human trafficking, said this year marks a momentous moment in our history as a Church when 125 years ago at the request of Pope Leo XIII, himself a man of vision with radical concern for social justice especially in the area of abolition of slavery and Slave Trade, appointed Cardinal Charles Martial Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers in North Africa to spearhead the Catholic Church’s contribution to the abolition of slavery and the slave trade.
The symposium, jointly organized by MSOLA and Tangaza University College aimed to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Cardinal Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers’ entry into the anti-Slavery Campaign in 1888.
“Human trafficking,” the Catholic Nun said, “is the world’s best money earner after drugs and small arms.”
“There is a serious link between human and drug trafficking; hence a fight against one should involve the other,” she explained.
In his paper on: Fighting Genocide and a Crime against Humanity: Cardinal Lavigerie and the African Slave Trade, Tanzanian Catholic priest Father Dr Laurent Magesa said much of the cotemporary African political , economic and social situation cannot be reasonably explained without reference to the horror of the Slave Trade.
Tonny Moses Odera, a Kenyan High Court Advocate and human rights lawyer, underscored that engaging in any acts that promote child trafficking including adopting or offering a child for fostering and offering a child for guardianship is a criminal act.
“Involved persons are liable to imprisonment for a term not less than 30 years or a fine not less than Kshs 20 million,” he explained.
Radek Malinowski, a researcher on human trafficking lamented that the area -human trafficking – is under researched.
Beware of the new currency introduced in Zambia on the 1st January 2013. The old money has lost three zeros to make life easier, especially for accounts keeping. One million Kwacha has become one thousand Kwacha with the same value. People are slowly getting use to the new paper bills and new coins called “ngwee”. Please, if you plan to come to Zambia, be sure to know the difference between the old 100 Kwacha and the new one. See below: on top is the old currency bill, still being used, which is worth 0.02 $ while the new 100 Kwacha at the bottom has a value of 20 $. Enjoy discovering the differences.
The bi-annual SAP Financial Council meeting took place on the 13th and 14th February in a new building recently opened in FENZA. Gotthard Rosner, the director, was pleased to welcome the participants.
From left to right, at the bottom: Jaya Bordhan and Jean de Dieu Bukuru. On top: Didier Lemaire, Christophe Boyer, Franco Pinna, Karl Kälin and René Garand.