[ Aid to the Church in Need ]
|
|
Posted by ACN News on 17/8/2009, 3:55 pm Link: www.aidtochurch.org
Message modified by board administrator 21/8/2009, 9:18 am
ACN News
Democratic Republic of Congo – Clinton visit at last brings some attention to a forgotten region
By Eva-Maria Kolmann and John Pontifex
HILLARY Clinton’s call for sexual violence in the Congo to stop has been endorsed by a leading Catholic charity helping in the region.
Christine du Coudray, head of Aid to the Church in Need’s Africa Desk welcomed US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton’s visit to the crisis-torn Kivu region in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Her visit refocused the world’s attention on a region that had been, to an unbelievable extent, forgotten,” said Miss du Coudray.
Mrs Clinton spoke out against rape and other sexual violence committed by the army and rebel groups – according to the UN more than 7,500 cases of sexual violence were reported in 2008.
Miss du Coudray said that despite the vast numbers of UN troops stationed in the country they frequently arrive too late to make any difference when rebels struck.
She said: “This is the recurring complaint of the ordinary Congolese people, who have again and again been victims of massacres, mass rape and bestial atrocities of every kind.”
ACN’s Africa projects co-ordinator added: “For the rest of the time, in their ordinary daily lives, the people only have the Catholic Church to help them.”
Miss du Coudray reported that the UN does not support to families taking in refugees from war-torn areas.
Underlining how their only source of help is the local Catholic Church, she said: “Such acts of genuine neighbourly charity are not encouraged [by the UN] and the host families get no help with feeding the refugees.”
(Chrsitine du Coudray, ACN Project Officer for Africa)
Sister Espérance Hamuli, the superior of the Ursuline Sisters, described how religious orders have risen to the challenge of helping those affected by ongoing violence in DR Congo.
She said: “We want to rescue the young people who are in danger of being wiped out, and we want to cry out still louder on behalf of those who have no voice, so that our people can know that there is a way out of their suffering, a way to life and not only of violence.”
Sister Hamuli is one of 37 superiors of women’s religious congregations in the region who, with help from ACN, are coordinating their work with the suffering and traumatised population.
Miss du Coudray reported how one Sister told ACN: “We are in solidarity with the people. When they are tortured, we sisters are also tortured; if solidarity means dying with them, we die with them; if it means living with them, we live with them.”
Miss du Coudray described the Religious Sisters’ presence as “a kind of martyrdom.”
In a country where children frequently fight in rebel militia, ACN is supporting much needed projects providing basic education for children.
Miss du Coudray said: “Children who do not get the chance to go to school not only have no future, but are frequently also exploited as child soldiers.”
ACN is also supporting pastoral outreach to soldiers, to promote respect for human life and dignity.
(A nun from the order of the Daughters of the Resurrection amongst the people they care for)
“In a region plagued by veritable orgies of violence, this kind of apostolate can truly save human lives,” Miss du Coudray insisted.
With many people in DR Congo traumatised by rape and other atrocities, she described the urgent need to help individuals rediscover their sense of self-worth and human dignity.
Miss du Coudray stressed that ACN is almost alone in this region in its commitment to a genuine “culture of life.”
“Many NGOs think they are helping by offering women abortions, the ‘morning-after pill’ and artificial contraceptives,” she said.
“But Africans see these ideas as alien to them. They understand at once that this is not a culture of life, but rather a culture of death.”
Last year ACN supported the work of the Catholic Church in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a total of over $3.6 million.
Editor’s Notes:
Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.
For more information, contact please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148.
Responses are not allowed!
HOME
| NEWS & FEATURES
| ABOUT US |
HISTORY
| ONLINE STORE |
ONLINE
DONATIONS
DONATE NOW - HOW TO DONATE |
SUPPORT | THE
MIRROR | BEQUESTS |
MASS
OFFERINGS |
CONTACT
Aid
to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418
911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org
web: www.aidtochurch.org
