wfn.org | Lutherans Continue to 'Stand With Africa' in Unique Ways

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

May 3, 2004

Lutherans Continue to 'Stand With Africa' in Unique Ways
04-088-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Lutherans give special emphasis to relief
and development work in Africa, an often forgotten continent.
Working with churches and communities to overcome AIDS, producing
enough food to eat and sell, and building peace are goals
Lutherans in the United States are striving to achieve as they
"Stand With Africa."
     "With 54 countries and probably more than 1,000 different
ethnic groups and languages, Africa is a very complex, mysterious
and magical place," according to Gaylord M. Thomas, director for
east Africa and Africa continental desk, Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) Division for Global Mission.
     Thomas said Africa is the "only remaining abundant"
continent of "natural resources such as diamonds, gold,
tanzanite, coffee and so on.  Africa has been a ripe place for
exploitation for more than 100 years, and therefore remains one
of the most vulnerable victims of capitalism."
     Africa has been subjected to a number of acts that have
caused it not to grow and prosper, Thomas said.  "There is guilt
in this world for the colonization movement there, and for the
many genocides and exploitive acts by some world corporations.
Outside influences definitely have had an influence on the
African scene," he said.
     Stand With Africa, a Lutheran campaign designed to focus on
issues significant to Africa, including HIV/AIDS, food security,
and peace and reconciliation, has been and continues to be a
unique opportunity to "walk with our African companions, to lift
up awareness and generate resources both financial and human,"
Thomas said.
     What began as a three-year campaign in 2000 has now been
extended.  At its meeting here April 17-18, the ELCA Church
Council affirmed the continuation of Stand With Africa as a
"second mile" giving opportunity and reaffirmed the ELCA's
commitment to accompany companion churches and partner agencies
in Africa.
     ELCA churches like Bethel Lutheran Church, Lyford, Texas,
continue to give generously to Stand With Africa.  At its annual
congregation meeting held in February, the congregation voted to
contribute $15,000 to the campaign.
     As a result of this kind of generosity, "Stand With Africa
has been profound in its effort to deal with AIDS/HIV in terms of
the level of awareness" and education that takes place there,
Thomas said.  "It's been incredible.  I'm going to go out on a
limb and say that east Africa may see a radical decline in the
amount of new AIDS incidents.  That's about to be a reality
there," he said.
     The campaign has also created attention to other realities
in Africa, Thomas said.
     "Homeless children are an enormous problem in Nairobi.  Most
of the government's approach to children has been to rescue
street boys, not girls," Thomas said.
     To help bring awareness to the plight of homeless children,
Thomas invited actor Danny Glover to share a meal with children
of the Pangani Lutheran Children's Center in Eastleigh, Nairobi,
Kenya.	Glover and Thomas were in Nairobi, Feb. 21-28, at a fair-
trade coffee conference.
     The purpose of the invitation was to illustrate how U.S.
Lutherans are "accompanying our brothers and sisters in Africa,"
said Thomas.
     Pangani Lutheran Children's Center is a ministry supported
by Women of the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church.  The center
offers children food, literacy classes, counseling, health care,
singing and games.  The goal is to reunite the children with
their families or guardians, and to find schools that meet the
needs of the children.	The program receives funds from Stand
With Africa.
     "Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church is a new church -- 10
years old with about 30,000 members.  [Offices] are located in a
very remote, poor section of town, so the visibility of the
church and its incredible work are not known throughout the
country," Thomas said.
     He said Glover's visit to the church and the Pangani
Lutheran Children's Center "was a victory.  The visit brought
awareness to a very unique and holistic program," he said.  "The
children did not know Danny Glover, but the adult staff did and
found his visit to the center inspirational."
     "It is evident that as soon as one arrives on the African
continent, one starts to transform mentally and begin to feel
touched by the strength, will, hope and faith of the African
people," Thomas said.
     The Lutheran church in Kenya and the ELCA are members of the
Lutheran World Federation, a global communion of Christian
churches in the Lutheran tradition.  Founded in 1947, the LWF now
has 136 member churches in 76 countries representing 61.7 million
of the worlds nearly 65.4 million Lutherans.
_ _ _
     Information about "Stand With Africa" is available at
http://www.standwithafrica.org/ on the Internet.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news