Category: Justice and Peace
125th Anniversary Antislavery Campaign – Bulletin of Justice and Peace, Rome
Welcome to this Antislavery Campaign interview with Wore Ndiaye. In her book “Nous sommes coupables” (“We are guilty”) she uses her writing skills to be the voice of African Women while conducting a thorough analysis of various factors infringing the development of the African continent. She says that determination is just an outcome of the clarity of the vision of the individual. In this intimate interview Wore shows that determination. She opens her heart and shares fearlessly her own struggle to deconstruct oppressive structures of identity. She acknowledges being free but not fully liberated. Indeed, in this interview she embraces who she is! READ MORE
Antislavery campaign updates
The followi
ng blog, by our confrere Yago Abeledo, is highly recommended by Claudio Zuccala. Two articles are available in Word format for those with poor internet connection. They can be requested on demand using the section “leave a comment” below. Those articles are: 1. Diarmuid O’Murchu, EMBRACING THE PAINFUL TASK OF DECONSTRUCTING SLAVERY, Insights from the New Cosmology, New Physics and the Historical Jesus. 2. Wolfgang Schonecke, STRUCTURES AND IDENTITIES IMPEDING THE “GREAT TRANSFORMATION”, The Wisdom of a Life’s Journey.
How Customs and Popular Sayings Contribute to 
the Discrimination and Violence Against Women
by Evans K. Chama, M.Afr, Printed by Montfort Media, Balaka, Malawi, 2011
Contents: 1. What is Gender Equality? 2. Can there be Gender Equality in Marriage? 3. The Image of Women and Their Work 4. Raising a Female Child Today 5. I Will Marry a Woman Like Mum 6. How Much Does Your Daughter Cost? 7. My Wife, A Maize Field? 8. Women’s Dependence on Men 9. Love Potions, Are Women Just Nasty? 10. Romance 11. If Your Husband Does Not Beat You… 12. Why The Silence When Abused? 13. What Does Being a Widow Entail? 14. Property Grabbing: A Mere Criminal Act? 15. Approach to Gender Equality.
The wind of change is blowing, sending waves tossing up and down stirring up what has existed undisturbed for centuries. In this rousing the world is being hatched from its centuries-old shell to new birth. We are in the time of awakening, maturing too perhaps. Once again we are challenged to take distance from our own cultures and traditions, our own identity, in order to reflect in a disinterested way on our society and on ourselves. Certainty we marvel at our beauty that often overflows unnoticed, yet still, we also realise there is some mopping up to do somewhere. (…)
Books for sale at Woodlands House, 1 Mwapona Road, Lusaka, at the cost of ZR 30
Priest takes on the inequality of women in African tradition
A WOMAN LIKE MUM: Reviewed by Mphuthumi Ntabeni
Zambian-born Fr Evans Chama’s book, A Woman Like Mum: How Customs and Popular Sayings Contribute to the Discrimination and Violence Against Women, is apt for our country and times.
The increase in electricity tariffs is leading to Service Exclusion
Addressing poverty continues to be identified as a major challenge for Malawian society and has been a central topic that successive governments have attempted to tackle or at least pretended to do so. Commitments in Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS), pronouncements in the newly launched Economic Recovery Plan (ERP) and various key government documents underscore that view. However, in spite of all these attempts to address poverty the reality is grim: poverty in Malawi remains severe and widespread – a situation that leaves millions to grapple, on a daily basis, with the unabating increase in food and essential non-food commodities. The ever rising cost of living presents to the country an extremely serious challenge upon which all efforts must be concentrated so as to ease people’s daily suffering. (…)
Home of Hope is a Centre which gives shelter to the homeless boys that are found on the streets of Lusaka in order to rescue them from the vicious circle of homelessness: street-drugs-abuse-crime. It has become a half-way home with the purpose of re-integrating those children back in their families and main stream society. Statistics show that 90 % of street children are boys. The girls are referred to other NGOs with a similar outreach program.
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 League is still in charge of advocacy, sourcing funds and development of the premises as well as its running costs.
Being within its boundaries, the Catholic Parish of Good Shepherd was involved from the very beginning of the Centre. The first basic structures were built within the property of St. Lawrence Community Centre under the supervision of the Missionaries of Africa.
In 2011, Home of Hope admitted 68 homeless boys from whom 37 of them ran away at one point or another. Most of them came back and were readmitted. A total of 24 boys were successfully reintegrated to their families while others are still under the care of the Centre by providing them with educational support. Some children were very young. Two of them were 6 years old, one 8 and several boys within the range from 9 to 11 years old. Two brothers came from Ethiopia and two young ones from DRC/Congo.
The Centre works closely with Social Services (DSWO), Child Protection Unit of Zambia Police (CPU) and International Organization for Migrants (IOM). As a joint effort, Home of Hope has managed to take two cases (assault and child sexual abuse) to the Court of Law.
The year 2011 was marked by many types of violence among the population of homeless youth and children in Lusaka. Among these, the most common were assaults. But cases of murder, child sexual abuse, abortion and suicide were also registered. At various moments, the Centre was instrumental in transporting dead children to the Lusaka Mortuary, obtaining legal documentation and informing relatives of the deceased when possible. At the moment Home of Hope employs four teachers. Six dormitories are sheltering 48 boys. Our confrere Jacek Rakowski is involved at the Centre for many years now. Child protection policy guidelines are in place for the wellbeing of the children as much as for the staff of the Centre.
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- Logo of Home of Hope
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- Welcoming entrance of Home of Hope
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- Home of Hope facilities
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- Street boys being welcomed at Home of Hope
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- Our confrere Jacek Rakowski in a classroom with a street boy