Malaria. AIDS. Poverty. Empowering women. These are among the issues people are confronting around the world today, with many wondering whether Christians have effective answers. A Washington D.C. meeting last week demonstrated that some are making an ef
Malaria. AIDS. Poverty. Empowering women. These are among the issues people are confronting around the world today, with many wondering whether Christians have effective answers. A Washington, D.C., meeting last week demonstrated that some are making an effort.
Communication directors from the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s 13 world regions visited the Washington National Cathedral and learned about the poverty and disease eradication efforts of the Cathedral College’s Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation. Canon John Peterson, the center’s director, and Jean Duff, managing director, hosted Adventist communicators for the briefing, which followed a tour of the 100-year-old cathedral.
Participants learned about the center’s effort to rid the African nation of Mozambique of malaria, said to be the leading cause of death there. On March 16, in a meeting convened by the global justice center, participants agreed to pledge necessary resources to fortify existing anti-malaria campaigns.
Working with religious leaders in Mozambique to identify areas of need, the Inter-religious Working Group, coordinated by the cathedral center, on which Seventh-day Adventists are represented, is scheduled to present an action plan when it meets again on April 19 in Maputo, a week before Africa Malaria Day.
Armando Panguene, ambassador of Mozambique to the United States, attended the meeting. The Right Rev. Dinis Sengulane, Anglican bishop of Lebombo; the Right Rev. Joao Machado, bishop of the United Methodist Church of Mozambique; and Mr. Hassan Makda, chairman of the Islamic Council of Mozambique joined the session via a telephone conference call.
In a presentation to the group, Dr. Allan Handysides, Health Ministries director at the Adventist Church’s world headquarters, said, “existing church congregation structure is well-suited to handle the logistics of distributing [malaria] bed nets,” as they are right at the grassroots level and represent the hurting community.
Jean Emmanuel Nlo Nlo, veteran Adventist pastor and communication director for the church’s West Africa region told the group of communicators to think of ways to stop malaria in children ages 4 to 12 living in the streets of some nations.
The Adventist communication group learned of other efforts by the global justice center to advance what the United Nations called “millennium development goals.” Among these are increasing the equality of women worldwide.
“I am absolutely convinced that until women are empowered, the mess that we made will not be cleaned up,” Canon Peterson told the group. “I’m thinking especially in terms of religious leadership.”
Peterson and Duff praised the Adventist Church for its communication abilities and for its network of hospitals, clinics and churches in Mozambique and in other parts of Africa. Peterson told ANN he was “extremely pleased with the eagerness of the Seventh-day Adventists to be a part” of the anti-malaria and anti-poverty efforts.
“Our involvement is representative of our mission to respond to the needs we all face. We all are affected by the dire situations. Our joint involvement in intentional information sharing, in quality media productions, inter-personal contacts, and in efforts to change the behavior of people, many of whom are participants in at-risk situations, will benefit all communities,” commented Rajmund Dabrowski, communication director for the Adventist world church, and convener of the church’s communication consultation.
“As Christians we are in the ‘message’ business. The message must be seen as an integral part of people’s religious and social activities, as well as that of organizations positioned to deal with all issues in society,” he added.