ACNS - Iumi go fowad tugeta: Pacific consultation strateg

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Iumi go fowad tugeta: Pacific consultation strategy

Posted On : September 9, 2011 11:07 AM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS:
<http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2011/9/9/ACNS4939>http://www.aco.org/acns 
/news.cfm/2011/9/9/ACNS4939
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<http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/ACO--Anglican-Alliance>ACO
- Anglican Alliance
?Iumi go fowad tugeta? - travelling forward
together - was the strategy agreed at the
Anglican Alliance?s Pacific consultation which closed today.
Climate change and youth empowerment were the
priorities in the strategy which participants
from across the Pacific agreed to take back to their provinces.
The five day consultation was held at the home of
the Sisters of the Church, outside Honiara in the
Solomon Islands, and included a field visit to a
refuge for women fleeing domestic violence, St
Luke?s college, and the centre for the Melanesian
Brothers. It was hosted jointly by the Anglican
Church of Melanesia and the Anglican Alliance.
?Iumi go fowod tugeta? included proposals to:
·         Establish a part-time facilitator
supported by a regional steering group to carry
forward the mission to work in the Pacific for a
world free of poverty and injustice. The steering
group would include women and youth
representatives, and would also work with Anglican agencies.
·         Prioritise climate change and youth
empowerment. In climate change the Pacific would
focus on survival, adaptation, impact of climate
change on food security, and forced migration of
climate change refugees. Youth empowerment would
focus on violence towards young women and gang culture.
·         Highlight the role of the church in
delivering peace and reconciliation, especially
the role of the Melanesian Brothers during the
ethnic unrest in the Solomon Islands.
·         Advocate for action by the G20 to end
the scandal of 900 million hungry people: the
Anglican Alliance?s food advocacy pack for World
Food Day on October 16th was launched at the consultation.
The meeting received powerful presentations on
the impact of climate change on the Pacific islands.
Maina Talia, from Tivalu, described the
devastation caused by king tides on his island,
with the sea destroying homes and crops on the
atoll. Tackling climate change was a matter of survival, he said.
And Father Patteson Worek, of the Church of
Melanesia, set out the work the church was doing
to help people adapt to climate change by different farming methods and cro ps.

The participants also paid tribute to George
Kiriau, General Secretary of ACOM who will be
retiring later this year, and who invited the
Anglican Alliance to hold its consultation in the Solomon Islands.

The decision to include violence against young
women in the work on youth empowerment came after
the consultation's field visit to the Christian
Care Centre, run by Sister Doreen of the
Community of Sisters of the Church. The centre
provides a refuge for women and children who have
suffered domestic violence, works with police and
courts over prosecutions for violence, and on
counselling services for perpetrators.