wfn.org | WOMEN, YOUTH KEY TO AFRICA'S FUTURE, DANDALA SAYS

["Pat Pattillo" <wpattillo@ncccusa.org>]

For Immediate Release  --  21 November 2003
AACC Media Team: (011) 237 966 3059 or 3063

WOMEN, YOUTH KEY TO AFRICA'S FUTURE, DANDALA SAYS

Yaounde, Cameroon: Addressing women and youth on the eve of the All Africa
Conference of Churches' 8th Assembly, set for Nov. 22-27, the General
Secretary of the AACC, the Rev. Dr. Mvume Dandala, affirmed their significant
role on the continent.

Without women, Dr. Dandala said at the joint ceremonies Wednesday night, Nov.
19, that opened women and youth pre-assemblies, most churches would close
down. "There is great universal truth in the saying 'the hand that rocks the
cradle, rocks the world' - more especially so in Africa," he said, going on
to affirm the progress being made by more churches that are beginning to
recognize the need to allow women their rightful place in the life of the
church as ordained clergy and leaders. 

Reminding the youth present that leaders like Nelson Mandela, Julius Nyerere
and Patrice Lumumba - in the quest for Africa's liberation - started their
work as young people, he urged that they too should have a vision for Africa
and a plan for the realization thereof.  At the same time, he warned that
effort and commitment would be required of them.

"Many young people fell in the great struggle for Africa while in the prime
of their youth.  Names like that of Stephen Bantu Biko should remain a
constant inspiration to young Africans," he said, going on to refer to Dr.
Mercy Oduyoye who played a crucial role in the early days of the African
ecumenical movement.

 "Come, Let Us Rebuild" is the theme of the AACC's 8th Assembly, taken from
the book of Nehemiah.  The event, which is the highlight on the ecumenical
calendar in Africa, is held every five years or so in a different African
country.  It was last held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1997.  

With Dr. Dandala, a South African who was Bishop of the Methodist Church of
Southern Africa, taking on his new responsibilities as AACC General Secretary
in September, and with the name of the new AACC President to be announced at
this Assembly, to take over the leadership from Prof. Kwesi Dickson, of
Ghana, the theme is a fitting reflection of the start of a new era for the
AACC.								
						    
According to the General Secretary, the state of inertia many churches on the
continent appear to be experiencing is a cause for concern.

"If we are to be re-builders, we have to see things as they can be, ask why
they are not, and then do something about it.  Because we see Africa as God
would have it be, we must commit ourselves to rebuild," he said.
       
"The crucial question is, what direction should we follow as we seek to
rebuild? I wish to implore this gathering to recognize first and foremost the
need to strengthen ecumenical cooperation for a common, united vision, at a
local level."

Urging ecumenical partners to share scarce resources, such as church centers
that remain closed during the week, Dr. Dandala called on women and youth of
the church to deliberate on meaningful ways of reversing this trend of events
in the African church.

On a macro-economic level, Dr. Dandala recommended the New Partnership for
Africa's Development - NEPAD - as a valuable tool for the church.

"The (AACC) Women's Desk should, in my opinion, concentrate on working mostly
with the NEPAD Desk for the interpretation of the effects of poverty on
families and challenge NEPAD to place women in a central position in its
economic renewal strategies and programs," he said, urging the Women's Desk
to interpret the value of home-grown strategies such as co-operative
movements and to forge a more dynamic relationship with bodies such as
Oikocredit to ensure adequate empowerment for the African woman.

Hand in hand with this, the Women's Desk should explore with the rest of the
African Church and its ecumenical instruments ways and means of enabling
women to be key players in the economic renewal programs.

"As we reflect on macroeconomic strategies for such renewal, so must the desk
interpret for the African woman the value of home-grown strategies, such as
cooperative movements, and forge a more dynamic relationship with bodies such
as OIKOCREDIT to ensure adequate empowerment for the African woman."

Dr. Dandala challenged members of the Youth Pre-Assembly to engage on an
action plan for the next five years.  He urged youth to strengthen their
focus on the Decade to Overcome Violence program.  To grow as future leaders
who put value on democracy and human rights, youth need to be exposed to more
role models for effective leadership and to gain some form of international
experience, he said.  Dr. Dandala also urged youths to pursue the Safe
Schools program of the AACC and Church World Service with vigor.

Finally, he placed before women and youth the huge challenge of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic.

"We have to form important networks that will enable us to respond to this
scourge," he said.  "The challenge of HIV/AIDS will, if not tackled with
purpose, destroy our people and the future of Africa.  The AACC intends
setting up a special desk for HIV/AIDS, the task of which will be to ensure
that we are all adequately equipped to respond to the pandemic."

Val Pauquet  AACC 

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