Dr. Ogara of Kenya joins CWS Mission Relationships and Witness Committee

April 2, 2008

Dr. William Ogara of Kenya, a new addition to the Mission Relationships and Witness Committee of Church World Service, is looking forward to his work with the global humanitarian agency.

"I'm quite excited about it just to see what we can learn and share. No one has all the knowledge, so I am looking forward to seeing what contribution I can make coming from Africa where we have so much experience, but also so many challenges," Dr. Ogara said on a recent visit to CWS's New York City headquarters.

Ogara, who is a senior consultant with CORAT Africa, a Christian organization in Kenya that facilitates church development throughout the continent, will be part of a committee whose work also includes shepherding the agency's missiological reflection process over the next four years.

That process, according to Cheryl Dudley, CWS interim director of Mission Relationships and Witness and senior advisor to the executive director, "will engage the agency's leadership in the study of mission and of discovering anew the faith that grounds our work and witness. For CWS, it will include reflecting on the part we play as an ecumenical humanitarian agency in responding to the vast opportunities for service across the globe."

Church World Service works with local partner agencies in Africa--and around the world--on development projects ranging from increasing access to clean water to empowering women and girls.

That the agency recognizes the mutually beneficial nature of its mission engagement is very important to Ogara.

"We need to have the humility on both sides, in America and in Africa, to understand and appreciate what can learn from each other. No one has all the answers or all the experience. You bring something to Africa and we bring something to you, and so it is about learning from each other and sharing as we come this way, about mutuality."

A member of the Anglican Church of Kenya, where he is national treasurer of the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund, Ogara also serves on the finance committee of CWS partner organization the All Africa Conference of Churches.