wfn.org | Bishops Plan Appeal for Africa

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (449
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Note 447 by UMNS on Nov. 10, 1997 at 16:41 Eastern (4863 characters).

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally				   635(10-21-30-71){447}
         Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470			 Nov. 10, 1997

United Methodist bishops proposing 
‘Hope for the Children of Africa’ appeal

	LAKE JUNALUSKA, N.C. (UMNS) –- A $12 million churchwide appeal for Africa,
under the banner "Hope for the Children of Africa," is being proposed by the
United Methodist Council of Bishops.
	Purpose of the appeal is to provide "relief, reconciliation and rebuilding of
the church, with specific attention to the physical, social and spiritual
well-being of the children."
	Following approval by the church’s General Council on Finance and
Administration, specifics for the appeal will be developed in cooperation with
the United Methodist Committee on Relief and United Methodist Communications.
The bishops are suggesting that the appeal be launched in the Lenten season of
1998, with an Easter offering, and that the effort continue through the year
2000.
	To show their collective support for the appeal, the council is seeking to
receive pledges of $100,000 from its own members by early 1998. 
	The appeal is planned to mesh with an episcopal initiative on children and
the poor that was launched by the bishops in 1996.
The decision to focus on the needs of Africa emerged out of an
emotionally-charged session here Nov. 5. when African bishops shared their
personal stories of living amidst war and violence.
	One of the most impassioned speeches was given by Bishop Joseph Humper of
Sierra Leone. Referring to the overthrow of the constitutionally-elected
government May 25, 1997, he said "Never before in the history of our country,
nor in the history of coup d’etat in Africa and probably the world at large,
has so much destruction been done to the infrastructure, the business
community, the civilian population, the soul and international image of this
once relatively peaceful and stable country."
	Humper said life in Sierra Leone has come to a halt.  "Our socio-economic
condition is deplorable.  Looting, armed robbery, raping, mutilating and
killing are daily experiences of defenseless people struggling to live among
well over 3,000 well-armed rebels and soldiers."
	Regarding the church and its ministries throughout the country, the bishop
said immediate and long-term assistance is needed for relief, rehabilitation,
reconstruction and resettlement.
	"Our parsonages, churches, clinics, schools and other infrastructures
destroyed, looted and vandalized or ravaged by the rebels will need to be
reconstructed and some renovated after the political crisis . . . so we will
be able to continue to serve our people."
	Even though he described the situation in Sierra Leone as "apparently
hopeless, helpless and essentially indescribable," Humper added,  "there is
one thing that keeps the people hanging on: there is a God who is a God of the
impossible.  What we cannot do on our own, He gives us the strength, courage
and will-power to keep on living one day at a time."
	Humper, Bishop Arthur Kulah of Liberia, and Bishop Onema Fama of Congo, were
among African bishops who made passionate pleas for United Methodists to press
their governments to take action regarding Africa.
	"In West Africa, and perhaps all of Africa, we don’t see any clear policy of
the United States Government toward Africa," said Kulah.  He also expressed
frustration at the lack of attention given Africa in the Western news media.
"Unless you speak for us and call attention to your government, we are
doomed," he declared.  "We don’t have any lobbyists." 
	Despite hardships, Kulah said he and other Liberian United Methodists who
fled to the Ivory Coast organized 10 new congregations while there.
	Humper wondered aloud why the United States could not act toward Africa as it
did to bring peace to Bosnia.  "It is crucial that you look at Africa as part
of the global community," he declared.
	Among U.S. bishops who responded to their African colleagues was David Lawson
of Franklin, Ind., "Every bishop of the United Methodist Church is a bishop of
Sierra Leone," he told Humper.  "That prevents us from looking at your
situation as your situation.  We see ourselves at one with you. There is need
for significant political intervention from outside Africa.  These are our
people we are talking about, our church."
	On the day the bishops took their action here, the United Nations  Food and
Agriculture Organization at its 29th government conference in Rome announced
that more than half of Africa faced food shortages by mid-1997 and more than
800 million people in the developing world are chronically undernourished. 
The organization expressed concern that this year’s world food production may
not meet expectations.  This comes as food aid in 1996-97 declined by 37
percent, to 4.9 million tons of cereal.
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