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["Church World Service News" <nccc_usa@ncccusa.org>]

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE WEST AFRICA DELEGATION WANTS SUPPORT
FOR GAMBIAS REFUGEE, POVERTY, CHILD LABOR PROBLEMS

BANJUL, THE GAMBIA - July 16, 2002 - A nation at peace, The Gambia has come
a long way in building its infrastructure with road, schools and hospitals.
But the West African country of two million people is combating issues of
poverty, new streams of refugees, HIV/AIDS, and concerns about child labor.
An eight-person Church World Service peace and solidarity delegation visited
The Gambia last week (July 6-9) with a commitment to help deal with those
issues.

As part of its current four-country delegation tour of the troubled Mano
River Basin countries, the Church World Service delegation met with Gambian
church and government officials to assess problems and to inform the
international humanitarian agencys advocacy strategy for the region.

First visiting Guinea July 2-6, then The Gambia July 6-9, the CWS group
spent July 14-18 in Sierra Leone. Arriving yesterday in Monrovia, Liberia,
the delegation ends its Mano River region tour in Liberia July 18, with a
closing press conference.

In The Gambia, Church World Service Executive Director John L. McCullough
reports, This West African nation of Muslims and Christians is generally
blessed with peace. But, since the UN High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR)
withdrew from The Gambia last year, McCullough says, the country is
struggling to deal with an increasing stream of refugees from Liberia,
Sierra Leone, and a fresh influx of 2,000-3,000 refugees from southern
Senegal.  In that section of Senegal, there is heated involvement between
Senegalese government forces and the Mouvement des Forces Democratiques de
Casamance (MFDC), which is seeking secession.

CWS McCullough says, The Gambia Christian Council invited us here in part
because it has been dealing with the impacts and increasing needs arising
from the refugee situation.

We met on Monday (July 8) with the Minister of the Interior and Religious
Affairs of The Gambia and Vice President of The Gambia Mrs. Isatou
Njie-Saidy, reports CWS delegate Susan M. Sanders, Minister and Team
Leader, Global Sharing of Resources, United Church of Christ, Cleveland,
Ohio.

They told us that the UNHCR left The Gambia last year, she says, and the
Gambian government is inviting UNHCR back to help it deal with the newly
arriving refugees.  But, Sanders notes, UNHCR hasnt yet responded.

This added to our concern about a possible UNHCR scaleback in this
sub-region of West Africa.

-more-

[CHURCH WORLD SERVICE DELEGATION/IN GAMBIA . . . Page 2 of 2]

CWS McCullough says Church World Service is also particularly concerned
about human rights in West Africa. Some Gambian church leaders expressed
concern about the children, mostly from Senegal, who are being sent into The
Gambia to serve as houseworkers for a small salary to send back home.

Most of these children, explains McCullough, dont go to school, and they
work hard at home morning, noon and night while the children of the host
household are at ease.

Technically the refugee children are not being trafficked or sold as slaves,
but some church leaders went so far as to say these children are virtually
slaves.  Others in both church and government denied that theres a problem
here at all.

We also talked about coping with HIV/AIDS in The Gambia, says delegate
Sanders. The incidence of HIV/AIDS in The Gambia is officially 2.1 percent,
a relatively low percentage. To avoid an increase and avert concerns, The
Gambia is attempting to educate its population.

Gambia Christian Council General Secretary Daniel Able-Thomas told the
delegation that The
Gambia is trying to get affordable drugs to prevent mother-child
transmission of HIV, and in order to take care of people clinically. Right
now, Able-Thomas says, people can only easily get drugs to treat
opportunistic infections.

CWS McCullough reports, that the Vice President of The Gambia urged us to
advocate that the price of AIDS drugs be brought down.

Able-Thomas praised Gambian President Yahya Abdulaziz Jimus Junkung Jammeh,
who chairs the National AIDS Council and who has said hed never dismiss
someone from his government just because he has HIV/AIDS.

A Gambian government minister and physician in charge of the nations
HIV/AIDS program acknowledged the religious communitys reluctance to talk
about condoms, lest they imply infidelity is acceptable.  So the churches,
he said, talk about A-abstinence and B-be faithful.  We the government will
confidently talk about C-condoms.

On poverty alleviation, Vice President Njie-Saidy, a Muslim, said, All
religious communities should be working the poverty issue.  Its an
obligation directed by the Almighty Himself.  If you are poor and you are
eking out a living, you have less time for your religious duties.

CWS delegation leader McCullough responded, saying, Our work to alleviate
poverty is about Gods call on our lives.  Its about a quality of life that
everyone deserves to have.

Vice President Njie-Saidy told the delegation about the negative impact of
structural adjustment programs, and said, I dont blame the West 100
percent or us 100 percent.  Some governments in the past have failed, but
theres a will to do something about our situation.

We have governments across Africa that are really concerned about the
well-being of people, said Njie-Saidy. Theres a wind of change.

[CHURCH WORLD SERVICE DELEGATION/IN GAMBIA . . . Page 3 of 3]

The Church World Service peace delegation was hosted in The Gambia by the
Gambia Christian Council, which includes Roman Catholics, Methodists and
Anglicans. Delegates also met with Gambian Catholic Bishop Cleary, Anglican
Archbishop S. Tiliwa Johnson, and a deputy of the Methodist Church there.
The US visitors worshipped Sunday (July 7) at St. Pauls Anglican Church,
where Pastor Priscilla Johnson, Bishop Johnsons wife, is pastor and the
only Anglican ordained woman in The Gambia.

Church World Service delegates include the Rev. McCullough (United
Methodist); the Rev. Benjamin Musoke-Lubega of The Episcopal Church, New
York City; the Rev. Philip Reed of Missionaries of Africa (Roman Catholic),
Washington, D.C.; and Ms. Susan Sanders of the United Church of Christ,
Cleveland, Ohio.

CWS staff participating in the delegation include Victor Hsu (Presbyterian
Church U.S.A.), Senior Advisor to the CWS Executive Director; Kirsten
Laursen (The Episcopal Church), CWS Deputy Director of Programs; Moses Ole
Sakuda (Presbyterian Church U.S.A.), Associate Director, CWS Mission
Relationships and Witness Program, and Carol Fouke-Mpoyo (United Church of
Christ), Media Liaison.

West African church leaders will return the CWS delegation's visit, in
spring 2003.

-end-

Contacts: Jan Dragin, New York/Boston
Phone: 781-925-1526
		E-mail: jdragin@gis.net

Carol Fouke-Mpoyo, in West Africa July 2-18
E-mail: cjfm10@hotmail.com

Web www.churchworldservice.org; see also www.ncccusa.org
<http://www.ncccusa.org>