Category: Justice and Peace Page 5 of 6
125th Anniversary Antislavery Campaign – Bulletin of Justice and Peace, Rome
A Human Trafficking Conference, organized by Sr. Melanie O’Connor HF, Coordinator of the Counter Trafficking in Persons Office (CTIP) of the LCCL/SACBC, took place at The Good Shepherd Retreat Centre Haartbeespoort from the 9th till the 12th April 2013. During the Conference there was the launch of the “TRUCKERS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING” campaign for which we congratulate FRUIT SPOT as being the first trucking company to engage in this project. Various speakers exposed the dangers of human trafficking, pointing out that truckers can play a significant role in safeguarding victims and potential victims in transportation by reporting offenders sometimes encountered especially at truck stops.
The role of the Church in the pastoral care of truck drivers who face long and hazardous journeys was emphasized. It was stressed that the Church should move from its traditional way of evangelization of waiting for people in church buildings to the new evangelization emphasized in the recent African Synod. Africa has become a continent where millions of people are either willingly or unwillingly daily on the move thus transforming African roads and streets into privileged places of evangelization and education. Therefore our Church should be seen as the Church on the Move.
The presence of over 15 Police units who man the borders of the Northern Cape was acknowledged and highly appreciated by all present as a source of strength in the fight against Human Trafficking. With many of the participants coming from different African countries and representatives from different agencies – NPA, US Embassy etc., religious and lay people, it became obvious that networking is central to the success of the fight against this hydra-headed evil of our time.
One of the outcomes of the Conference was the commitment of each member to further the Truckers against Human Trafficking campaign in their various regions and countries.
A COUNTER TRAFFICKING NETWORK COMMITTEE (CTNC) was established for easy and effective communication.
Sent in by: Sr. Melanie O’Connor (South Africa), Sabina Namfukwe (Zambia), Sr. Patricia Ebegbulem (Nigeria)
Picture below: participants of the Conference
I am Sister Sabina Namfukwe, I belong to the Congregation of the Sisters of the Child Jesus. I am working at the Zambia Catholic University in the Copperbelt Province as Matron for both boys and girls. I am in charge of their accommodation. I learnt so much on human trafficking and sexual abuse that I am failing to keep quiet about it. I do a lot of awareness as I visit and meet them in their boarding houses.
Due to poverty, some of our young people are hungry and thirsty for sponsorships to study abroad. There are a lot of fake sponsors around. Some boys and girls have gone missing from school, no communication to their parents or anybody. Only God knows where they have disappeared. I just help them to make informed choices in case someone approaches them and talks about sponsorships. They should know how to analyse and know the difference between a genuine sponsor and a fake one.
Recently, I got some pamphlets from the Missionaries of Africa community in Kitwe and I distributed them immediately. Also, I have been invited to participate in an international conference in Pretoria South Africa on Anti-Human Trafficking Campaign and Truck drivers in African countries. After it, I intend to extend my sensitization campaign to primary, secondary and high schools around our University because some of the pupils can also be potential victims of sexual abuse and human trafficking.
Sister Sabina Namfukwe
Below: drawings from a poster illustrating various forms of human trafficking.
Dear missionaries,
We have just received a document from André Schaminée which you can read below. As attachments, you can also open a letter from Fr. Richard K. Baawobr, M.Afr and Sr. Carmen Sammut, MSOLA inviting us to share a common retreat on the 30th April, feast of Our Lady of Africa. A PDF file of 8 pages will guide you through this recollection. Please, let me know if you prefer a hard copy of this PDF files, as some of you might find it difficult to download it because of poor Internet network. Your Sector Superior may also help you.
Fr. Serge St-Arneault, M.Afr Dear Confreres, To all of you: a good continuation of the celebration of Easter. May this feast be for us and for the whole Church, under the guidance of the new Pope Francis, a nice occasion to renew our faith in Him, who offers us his New Life and who sends us with a Mission of bringing this Joyful News to all those whom we meet in our apostolate. This year our Lavigerie family commemorates the Antislavery Campaign of Cardinal Lavigerie. We have now reached the half-way point of this celebration. Carmen, the Superior General of the MSOLA and Richard, our Superior General, propose to us a recollection on this theme for this month of April. You find their letter and the text of this recollection attached to this e-mail. They can also be found on our website mafrome.org This message is sent to all Provincials and the Delegate Superior. I invite you to let all communities of your Province or Delegation have a copy. It is equally sent to all Formation Houses. Fraternally, André Schaminée
Fr. Serge St-Arneault, M.Afr Dear Confreres, To all of you: a good continuation of the celebration of Easter. May this feast be for us and for the whole Church, under the guidance of the new Pope Francis, a nice occasion to renew our faith in Him, who offers us his New Life and who sends us with a Mission of bringing this Joyful News to all those whom we meet in our apostolate. This year our Lavigerie family commemorates the Antislavery Campaign of Cardinal Lavigerie. We have now reached the half-way point of this celebration. Carmen, the Superior General of the MSOLA and Richard, our Superior General, propose to us a recollection on this theme for this month of April. You find their letter and the text of this recollection attached to this e-mail. They can also be found on our website mafrome.org This message is sent to all Provincials and the Delegate Superior. I invite you to let all communities of your Province or Delegation have a copy. It is equally sent to all Formation Houses. Fraternally, André Schaminée
By Claudio Zuccala, M.Afr
Our students from Lechaptois Formation House in Balaka put up a good show at the Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe on March 26th. In front of a small but very keen audience our candidates presented two plays: “Cheap Labour” and “The Changes Identity of Slavery”. The first depicts a plantation owner in the States who is convinced to buy slaves by an unscrupulous slave trader but who is then convinced by a missionary into looking at them as human beings and eventually granting them their freedom. The second tackles the problem of modern day human trafficking: it’s the story of two young people, brother and sister, who are allured by promises made by an agent based in America only to be savagely exploited once they get to their destination.
After that we had a lively discussion on the broad issue of modern forms of slavery in Malawi with a panel made up by our confrere Jos Kuppens, Sister Florence Mwamba, the director of the Tikondane project (street children), Habiba Osman Norwegian Church Aid Programme Coordinator on Human Rights, and Raphael Sandram, voicing the concerns of the Malawi tobacco tenants. Leading the debate and weaving together the different parts of the evening was TV moderator and journalist Wisdom Chimgwede who did an excellent job.
The only disappointment was the late arrival of Luntha TV. There was some serious hiccup and the TV crew only turned up half way through the show so I don’t really know what will happen to the DVD which they were supposed to produce. Pity really for an otherwise well prepared event. A few minor details can be improved on but certainly not the enthusiasm, hard work and good will of our candidates (plus the staff at Balaka and another couple of confreres) who have given their best.
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- Panel: Raphael Sandram, Habiba Osman, Jos Kuppens, M.Afr and Sister Florence Mwamba, MSOLA.
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- Jos van Boxel, M.Afr, member of the General Council – Rome
New Website of St. Lawrence Home of Hope
St. Lawrence Home of Hope is a centre for the homeless children and youth where we receive and give shelter to the homeless that are found on the streets of Lusaka.
It has a dual purpose:
1. A rehabilitation centre where we offer a new home and a new start for the children.
2. It is a “half-way home” where we intend to re-integrate the children back in their families, back to their real” homes and main stream society.
The centre was founded in 1998 by the Catholic Women’s League of Lusaka at the request of the then Archbishop of Lusaka. R.R. Medardo Mazombwe. The project was put in their hands in order to respond to the growing numbers of “street children” in Lusaka. They are in charge of advocacy, sourcing funds, developing infrastructure and taking care of the running costs. From its inception the Catholic Parish of Good Shepherd was involved in its establishment, development and running of it as it was within the boundaries of the parish. The first basic structures were built within the property of St. Lawrence Community Centre which was part of the Good Shepherd Parish which, in turn, is in the hands of The Missionaries of Africa.
Our goal is to rescue children from the vicious circle of homelessness (street-drugs-abuse-crime), rehabilitate them and their families and to re-integrate them back into their home environment (when and if possible).
The Website includes:
Why?
How do we do it?
Programmes
Children’s Stories
Galeries
Rural Basic Needs Basket Analytical report for January 2013 in Malawi shows that the majority of rural households are poor since they are living below a dollar a day.
During the month of February, CfSC’s Rural BNB project conducted a Rapid Rural Appraisal in its operation areas to assess the availability and prices of maize. It was found out that maize prices ranged between MK 7000 and MK 10,000 a bag of 50 kg. This was too much expensive for a rural household. Those who had no or too little maize and money resorted into consuming maize bran. Those who had completely nothing, slept on an empty stomach or could even consume leafy vegetables only. READ MORE
Press statement published in the Daily Times of 21st March, 2013
Press statement published in the Daily Times of 21st March, 2013
Pope Benedict’s prayer intention for March
“May respect for nature grow with the awareness that all creation is God’s work entrusted to human responsibility!”
Care for creation is particularly important in Zambia which is one of the greatest producers of copper in the world. A documentary concerning Zambian copper was aired recently on ZNBC TV. It is entitled “Stealing Africa”. Lasting only 28 minutes it is well worth seeing and can be viewed on You Tube by typing “Stealing Africa” into your search engine.
“Stealing Africa” brings out in a dramatic form what the Pope is asking us to pray over: while the copper extracted in Zambia is highly valuable most of the profits go overseas leaving ordinary Zambians impoverished. The same could be applied to other countries in Africa including Malawi. In addition it raises questions about the ethics of the mining companies and their lack of care of the environment and the secrecy about the levels pollution caused by their extractive activities.
Care for the environment which is God’s gift to us is central to our faith as Christians. Ensuring a just tax system is in place and that the monies thus collected do in fact go to benefit the poor of Zambia is also central to our Christian faith.
Such issue call for our prayer and Christian prophetic action!
Charles Searson, SJ
National Secretary for AP for Zambia and Malawi