wfn.org | ACNS3753 Lifetime achievement award for Bishop of Seychelles

[Anglican Communion News Service <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3753     |     INDIAN OCEAN     |	   26 JANUARY 2004 

Lifetime achievement award for Bishop of Seychelles

by Matthew Davies

The Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, established on 21 June 1991 to act as a catalyst
in promoting effective, practical and sustainable programmes in areas of
national development, presented a lifetime achievement award to the Rt Revd
French Kitchener Chang-Him, Bishop of Seychelles, on Tuesday 30 December
2003.

Two other awards were given to former minister, Esme Jumeau, and historian,
Khantilal Jivan Shah, at the National Conference Centre in Seychelles.

Foundation inspired by tragedy

Rajiv Gandhi was elected Prime Minister of India in 1984 after the
assassination of his mother. In 1989, after serving his five-year term, he
became Leader of the Opposition and was widely expected to return as Prime
Minister when his election campaign was cut short and he was assassinated on
21 May 1991. The Foundation, launched to commemorate Rajiv Gandhi's vision
for India, has established its presence in many of the states and union
territories of India, launching numerous programmes and activities.

Chang-Him a "role model"

Seychelles' Minister of Land Use and Habitat, Mr Joseph Belmont, was guest of
honour at the ceremony and presented the awards on behalf of the Foundation.
He described the recipients as "role models" and "individuals who have
contributed a lot to the Seychellois society".

Speaking during the presentation ceremony, Bishop Chang-Him noted that the
Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, although made up of people from another religion,
had chosen to award Christians among their recipients, which he said marked
the Foundation's universal nature. 

He thanked the organisers of the event and the award scheme on behalf of last
year's and previous award recipients.

Bishop Chang-Him was ordained Deacon at Lichfield Theological College,
England, in 1962 before becoming a priest in Seychelles on 9 June 1963. He
was awarded a Licentiate in Theology at Trinity College, Toronto, and gained
a PhD from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in 1998.

He served as Dean of the Province of Indian Ocean from 1983 to 1984 and as
Archbishop from 1984 until 1995.

In addition to attending the Lambeth Conferences of 1988 and 1998, Bishop
Chang-Him has been a member of the Anglican Consultative Council and several
Primates' Meetings.

The Province of the Indian Ocean, covering Madagascar, Mauritius, and
Seychelles, was founded in 1973, and represents 120,000 Anglicans.

Bishop's New Year message

Bishop Chang-Him has been instrumental in efforts towards peace and
reconciliation throughout Seychelles. In a New Year message to the people of
Seychelles, he said that there is still "much work in terms of fence-mending
and bridge-building to be done" and urged people to "listen to one another"
and "keep the lines of communication open".

The full text of Bishop Chang-Him's New Year message follows:

"It is good that we have adopted two major festivals which fall so close to
each other and which have become very much part of our tradition and culture,
Christmas and the New Year. Christmas has always been nationally acclaimed
and celebrated as a religious festival par excellence and the New Year as a
more secular, international event. Yet, the New Year, with the letters 'A D'
(Anno Domini - in the year of Our Lord) after it can never escape the fact
that this global, calendrical occurrence has as its raison d'jtre the birth,
the coming of Christ, which has marked history into 'before' and 'after' His
entry into this world.

"If at Christmas the emphasis was on light, peace, hope, the family, love,
the New Year has more to do with plans, resolutions, a new chapter, a journey
which begins or continues.

"In our greetings at this festive time, we have adopted the adjective 'merry'
before Christmas and 'prosperous' before New Year. Every nation, without
exception, aspires to become prosperous. In turn prosperity and nation
building need to go hand in hand to ensure stability and growth. 

"The general feeling as we approached the end of 2003, was that there was
much work in terms of fence-mending and bridge-building to be done. Disunity
among a small nation can easily spread and weaken the very fibre of that
nation. The 'prosperous New Year' that we wish one another can only
materialise in a climate of peace, unity and tolerance. This is a question of
will in the first place. Do we wish to hear and understand what the other
person or group is saying, and why what is said is being said? 

"Unless there is a change of heart and a sincere desire to bridge existing
gaps and remove labels that have crystallised our differences instead of
challenging our viewpoints, any national motto for the New Year that seeks to
inspire or unify the nation in its efforts will only remain noble but empty
slogans.

"There are only two ways ahead, either we listen to one another and keep the
lines of communication open or we go our separate ways and become contestants
and non-prosperous.

"May God bless, heal and continue to guide our nation and our world during
this coming year."

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