Back to most recent news releases • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Email this story

Church World Service Africa Summit Delegates Brief Members of Congress on Continent's Concerns

South African professor Maake Masango, executive committee member of the AACC, tells members of Congress in Washington on Tuesday (July 18) that faith leaders on the continent and in the U.S. have a responsibility to speak for those who have no voices. Photo: Rick Reinhard Photography

July 19, 2006

Washington, DC -- The faith community has a responsibility to speak for those whose tongues are silenced, for whatever reason, said South African professor Maake Masango of the United Presbyterian Church and the executive committee of the committee of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

"Where there are people broken; where there are people who are oppressed; people who have no voices; the church ought to rise to the occasion and begin to be a voice to the voiceless," said Masango.

Addressing the ongoing political, economic, and social crisis in South Africa's neighbor, Zimbabwe, Masango told the panel that the issue needs to be addressed not just as a Zimbabwean problem but also as one "that affects the first world who have interests there."

Masango is part of a delegation of African faith leaders from 23 countries in the U.S. capital to attend the July 18 - 21 Interfaith Summit on Africa, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, sponsored by New York-based Church World Service and Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches.

He is one of several delegates who spoke before the Tuesday congressional human rights caucus briefing, chaired by Rep. Diane Watson.

Watson said she was "amazed that our colleagues know so little about the continent of Africa." Citing a need for custom, not cookie cutter solutions, Watson pointed out that "Western democracy is not always the solution. When we try to overlay our form of democracy on a country we create conflict."

In testimony to the panel, Church World Service Executive Director John L. McCullough, urged that Africa not be "sidelined" and stressed how important it is that "religious leaders be recognized as persons who have a substantive contribution to make in the discourse around issues of human rights and protection of people as they seek to live their lives in ways in which we believe that God intends for all of us to be able to."

The purpose of the Summit is to bring together African faith leaders and their U.S. counterparts to discuss some of the problems that plague Africa, to strengthen interfaith ties, and to provide a forum for the Africans to express their concerns to U.S. policymakers.

Other presenters at the briefing spoke about issues ranging from discrimination against followers of the Baha'i religion in South Africa, to Liberia's successful climb out of the chaos of war. The testimony was laced with the recognition that the faith community often provides services that normally would be provided by the government and that interfaith cooperation strengthens its ability to respond to people who increasingly look to their churches, temples and mosques for everything from guidance to justice and for material assistance in times of need.

The bottom line for all the presenters was that Washington use its considerable influence to support the efforts of African faith leaders in confronting the problems--many of them intensified by outside interference and draining of the continent's resources by rich nations--that African countries face.

Masango likened the situation to a person who spreads the germs of a cold with no regard for the health of those who are infected by it: "We are also asking for those who are privileged, like you, who make legislation, who when you cough we catch the cold, that you also create a medication that will make you not cough all the time because we suffer through your coughing."

Major topics to be discussed in Summit plenaries and workshops include peace and reconciliation, water, hunger and food security, HIV/AIDS, malaria, women's rights, economic sustainability, and displaced persons.

Masango and McCullough were joined at the briefing by Dr. Agnes Abuom, vice president, World Conference of Religions for Peace; Sheikh Kafumba Konneh, National Muslim Council of Liberia; Tahirih Matthee, chair, Council of the Baha’is of the Western Cape, South Africa; the Rev. Nyansanku-ni-Nku, president, All Africa Conference of Churches; Dr. Nandini Patel, chair, Hindu Council of Malawi; and His Holiness Abune Paulos, Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, who also gave testimony.

Read more on the Summit on Africa

PLEASE NOTE ONSITE MEDIA CONTACTS 7/15/06 - 7/21/06
Lesley Crosson, (347) 513-4030
Jan Dragin, (339) 236-0679

Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;

Back to most recent news releases • Browse archive: 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • Email this story