Our concern for Africa is shaped by long term relationsips between Maryknoll missioners and the people of Sudan and South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Namibia. We honor their strength and wisdom and believe that African cultures and traditions often suggest solutions to seemingly intractable local and global problems.
In Africa our Global Concerns work is at times country-specific, focussing, for example, on the slow process toward peace between Sudan and South Sudan, or the genocide in Darfur; the political and economic collapse of Zimbabwe; the introduction of genetically modified seeds or the political situation in Tanzania; efforts to stop corruption in Kenya, among other issues. We also address transnational issues of great concern to all people in Africa: deep and endemic poverty; the HIV and AIDS pandemic; the call for the cancellation of illegitimate and overwhelming debt without conditions that worsen poverty; just trade agreements; the rights of women and children; and environmental degradation.
Despite indictments by the International Criminal Court in 2009 and 2010, Sudan’s President Bashir remains in power and has not been brought to justice, and the killing and displacement of Sudanese by their own government is again on the upswing.
Fr. David Schwinghamer, MM currently works with the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; he wrote the following reflection which was published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
At its April 2015 meeting, in light of President Obama’s summer trip to East Africa, the Washington, D.C.-based Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA), of which the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is a member, adopted a final draft of a statement on several important U.S./Africa policy issues
In mid-March, Amnesty International released the following statement on the situation of human rights activists in Angola.
In 2015, 14 African nations will hold presidential and legislative elections; by the end of 2016, 25 countries will have held elections.
Sr. Rebecca Macugay has spent much of her mission life in east Africa and South Africa
Our colleagues at ActionAid USA are circulating this petition to urge the Obama administration to end its support of the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
Sr. Connie Krautkremer has spent much of her mission life in Tanzania. ” … God decides that our hearts will be responsible for holding the law. God decides to forgive and forget our past failures, and we can go on from there.”
Sr. Genie Natividad, MM, who serves in Morogoro, Tanzania, wrote the following reflection.
Some South Sudanese believe the long journey to peace and reconciliation has already begun.
Lay missioner Liz Mach writes about her work in Tanzania, where the holiday time means the closing of schools and the return home of girls in order to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
Two seemingly contradictory trends have emerged in the security situation of several African nations: an increase in military spending and a decline in civil warfare.
Along with her family, Joanne Miya serves with the Maryknoll in Tanzania. Her reflection, published here, is also found in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Fr. John Sivalon, MM, who served in Tanzania, wrote the following reflection. It is also published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
The following reflection was prepared by Sr. Patricia Gallogly, who served many years in Tanzania. Her reflection can also be found in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Fr. Mike Snyder has served in East Africa for many years.
The Darfur Women Action Group held its third annual symposium in Washington, D.C. on October 25-26.
The Pan African Network on Nonviolence and Peacebuilding has issued this statement which connects the spread of the Ebola virus with the potential for increased violence and conflict in countries most affected.
