Senegal apology for Christ 'slur'

 

Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade has apologized to the Christian minority for comparing a controversial statue to Jesus Christ.

Archbishop of Dakar Theodore Adrien Sarr said the comments had "humiliated" Catholics, leading to angry protests by hundreds of Christian youths in Dakar.

Mr Wade made the comments after imams condemned the statue as "idolatrous".

The $27m North Korean-built "African Renaissance" statue has also been criticised as a waste of money.

Senegal has a long history of tolerance between majority Muslims and the influential Christian community, who make up some 6% of the population.
“ We were shaken and humiliated by the comparison which the head of state made between the monument to African renaissance and the representations found in our churches ”
Theodore Adrien Sarr Archbishop of Dakar

But the BBC's Tidiane Sy in Dakar says there have been recent warnings that this could be at risk.

Three respected groups have called on the government to be cautious about how it handles religious issues.

President Wade sent his influential son, Karim, who is also a cabinet minister, to deliver a personal apology to Archbishop Sarr after the stone-throwing Christian youths clashed with security forces outside Dakar cathedral on Wednesday.

The archbishop had said: "We were shaken and humiliated by the comparison which the head of state made between the monument to African renaissance and the representations found in our churches."

President Wade had sought to deflect the criticism of his statue on religious grounds by comparing it to the statues of Jesus Christ found in churches.

He hopes that the statue will attract more tourists to the country but many Senegalese feel the money could be better spent.

The statue, intended to symbolize the fight against racism, was Mr Wade's idea and he says he will personally take 35% of the revenue it generates, with the rest going to the state.

When completed early in 2010, it will be bigger than the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8435805.stm

Published: 2009/12/31 10:20:28 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Liberia: Belle Yella Opens to the World

28 December 2009
The people of Belle Yellah, in Gbarpolu County, received perhaps the greatest Christmas gift of their lifetime when President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf led an array of Government officials and the Ambassadors of the United States and China to fulfill a promise that she would spend the 2009 Christmas with the people of this northwestern forest town.

What made the Belle Yellah visit even more historic is the fact that, for the first time in the history of Liberia, a town once famous for its political prisons, where past governments locked up opponents and hardened criminals, was poised to be linked to the rest of the country by a motor road being constructed by the Government of Liberia.

The Liberian President had assured the County's most famous son, Paramount Chief Old Man Jallah Lone, now 106 years old, and other prominent people of Gbarpolu that, come what may, she would spent the Christmas in their town, not by way of a helicopter, but by road. "If the road doesn't reach Belle Yellah in time for the Christmas, we will walk, wherever the road stops, to get to Belle Yellah," the President repeated recently in a holiday message and in subsequent interviews.

The President's comments to walk to Belle Yellah may not have been taken literally by many. They were wrong, because the President actually walked for more than an hour and a half to reach the town, when it became clear that the Ministry of Public Works construction crew would not be able to connect Belle Yellah by road on Christmas Day.

With Government officials and her diplomatic guests following, the President walked through the dense Belle forest, crossing creeks, connected sometimes only by makeshift bridges that challenged even those who use them regularly.

"How far is Belle Yellah from here?" was the question most frequently asked by the officials, determined to spend Christmas in the town. Depending on who the question was addressed to, the responses were different. "It's just 30 minutes; you're not too far." One villager was very precise. "It will take 23 minutes," he said, confidently. In reality, the stretch was longer than everyone anticipated. Those who could walk faster took an hour, others a little longer. But in the end it didn't matter; the goal was to get to Belle Yellah, a town charged with euphoria and anticipation.

At about 4:15 p.m., the crowd, ecstatic, erupted in cheers and songs. It appeared that the President and her entourage had made the stretch. But that was not the case. A motorbike had made it through, the first in the history of the town. Most of the inhabitants, especially the younger generation, had never seen a motorbike, let alone a vehicle. A young man rubbed the dust off the motorbike with his finger and licked it, in appreciation for the historic event he was witnessing.

Meanwhile, the crowd continued to surge, anticipating the arrival of the President and her delegation, which arrived, finally, at about 6:15 p.m. to the delight of the town's residents who sang, danced, and chanted slogans in welcoming the President to "prisoner's creek," so-called because it was used by male prisoners as a place to shower.

Women spread their lappas on the ground as the President and her entourage walked to the recently constructed meeting place for an official program. County officials, led by Superintendant Gertrude Larmine and the Legislative Caucus, were present, and lavished praises on the President for fulfilling her promise to spend the Christmas with them.

They were particularly grateful to the President for undertaking the construction of the 25-mile stretch of road linking Bopolu to Belle Yellah. "You have fulfilled the vision of our forefathers," District No.3 Representative, Dixon Yarseah, said. He regretted that the area was marginalized by past governments, but was now hopeful that, with the construction of a motor road linking Belle Yellah to the rest of the country, the area would now attract more development.

The President thanked the citizens for the warm welcome, and reiterated that her visit was in fulfillment of a promise to the people of Belle Yellah that she would spend the Christmas with them. She apologized for the delay in reaching the town, but assured them they would spend Christmas night together.

The Liberian President also thanked all those who had made the trip, taking time from their families to spend Christmas in Belle Yellah. She was particularly full of praises for the Minister of Public Works and his engineering crew for their hard work. "We intend to turn Belle Yellah into a place of hope from a place of horror," the President told journalists later in an interview.

The decision by the President to spend the night in Belle Yellah took many residents by surprise since accommodation, especially for a President, poses some challenges, which the President acknowledged. "We will all stay up, tell stories, and dance as it is done when a stranger comes to your town and there are no sleeping places," the President suggested.

It was worth the wait because, as the night progressed, and with the President keeping her word and staying awake, enjoying the traditional music and dance, came word that the road crew was about to enter the town. The news spread like wildfire, and like an army of ants, residents, with their flashlights, began to move towards the construction site to witness, firsthand, the history that was unfolding before their very eyes.

Yes, it was, indeed, true, because not only was the sound of the heavy-duty equipment becoming increasingly louder, but lights from the caterpillars and the Presidential fleet of vehicles began beaming through the forests, becoming visible.

"This is not true, I cannot believe this," exclaimed an older woman as she struggled to join others who had begun to make their way to prisoner's creek, which stood as the only remaining hurdle to the entry of the first motor vehicle ever to enter Belle Yellah.

At 3:15 a.m., the first vehicle, a caterpillar, followed by a fleet of vehicles, roared into Belle Yellah as its residents chanted. It was reported that a woman, no doubt overwhelmed by the event, fainted. This could not be independently confirmed.

As the convoy approached, a middle-aged man, lying in the middle of the road, in disbelief, screamed: "I want the caterpillar to walk over me."

"Who way-say, Ellen way-say; Who way-say, Ellen way-say," chanted the residents, of all age groups, as they hugged one another and welcomed the convoy into Belle Yellah - the first entry of a motor vehicle, a dream - which the President described as a fulfillment of a promise to the people of Gbarpolu to end the isolation of the town and bring development to the area.

Copyright © 2009 Liberia Government. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
AllAfrica - All the Time

What Christmas was all about (in case you have forgotten already)

Liberian head's Christmas in jail

 

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf says she is going to spend Christmas Day at an old maximum security prison in the jungle.

Bella Yalla prison is in the remote north of Liberia, where political prisoners were kept and often tortured.

During her visit the prison will be renamed and transformed into a museum.

The BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh says her visit is intended to mark the end of the use of torture in Liberia, which is recovering from years of civil war.

Our reporter says during the conflict the government used to fly political prisoners to Bella Yalla prison in the Belle Forest.

He says some of those detained were political colleagues of Mrs Johnson-Sirleaf.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8428923.stm

Published: 2009/12/23 17:11:44 GMT

© BBC MMIX

Merry Christmas

“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”- Luke 2:11-14 NIV

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

But, I also would like to remind you that while we enjoy this season, there are so many people who are really hurting these days.

You don't need to look very far. Right in our neighborhoods there are people who are really hurting. Then if you look in your state, the urban areas, and the small towns, sins ugly head rears everywhere. And then we have world wide issues, persecution,hunger,war...this list could go on....

Yesterday as I was in Walmart, I couldn't help to think about the abundance we are surrounded with. One of the things that always turns my stomach, especially after returning from a developing country, is the rows and aisles of 'stuff'.

I saw people who had carts full of 'stuff' that will be given as a 'gift' and only to be forgotten in days, if not hours of receiving.

What did you get for Christmas last year? 

There's only one gift that will last forever. That happened over two thousand years ago. And it came in a manger, in the form of a savior, Jesus Christ.

My prayer is that all people would acknowledge the real meaning of Christmas. That is what motivates our work. Yes we care about the social issues, but ultimately it is that each person would acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and savior that motivates us.

That's what Christmas is all about for me.

Merry Christmas!

One Person at a time....

Help That Makes a Difference: Change our Worldview

You want to read a good book regarding these topics? When Helping Hurts is a book you NEED to read if you are doing mission or development work.
Another one that is very helpful is Serving with Eyes Wide Open by David Livermore.

The goal is not to turn Kampala into Chicago. The goal is for both Kampala and Chicago to look more like the New Jerusalem.

Brian Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts

What's the biggest change needed in how charities and federal agencies deliver aid to developing nations? Brian Fikkert, co-author of When Helping Hurts, David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, and Dale Hanson Bourke, author of The Skeptic's Guide to Global Poverty, suggest the best way to help.

"We were happy in our village before you folks told us we were poor. We didn't have many things, but happiness doesn't come just from having more material things. What makes you think we want to become just like you?"

The audience, a group of American donors and development leaders, looked bewildered as Emily, a community development worker from Liberia, took her seat. Finally, one of the U.S. donors spoke up. "Yes, of course we share your goals, Emily. That's why we keep on bringing you more capital and technology." Emily listened helplessly, realizing that her message had fallen on deaf ears—again.

Americans are the richest people ever to walk the face of the earth, and we coexist with 2.6 billion people living on less than $2 per day. The situation is simply immoral. We must do more, but we must do it differently.

For the past 60 years, the majority of American assistance has flowed out of a materialistic worldview, which assumes that wealth is produced by material things, namely capital and technology. In this view, America is "developed." We have arrived, and they have not. The assumption is that if we provide them with more capital and technology, they will be able to be just like the U.S.—a country where families and communities are disintegrating, where addictions are on the rise, where mental and emotional illnesses are exploding, and where rampant consumerism is bankrupting all of us.

The need for more capital and better technology persists. People really do need improved access to clean water, better health care, decent education, and a living wage. But they, and we, need something far more profound. Whether we realize it or not, we all are longing for an intimate relationship with God, for a sense of dignity, for community and belonging, and for the ability to use our gifts and abilities to develop creation. The goal is not to turn Kampala into Chicago. The goal is for both Kampala and Chicago to look more like the New Jerusalem.

The practical implications for providing aid are enormous: Spend more resources on supporting people-empowering processes and less on bricks and mortar; help people to steward the gifts and resources they already have; include the materially poor as full participants in selecting, designing, implementing, and evaluating any intervention; build the capacity of indigenous churches and Christian organizations to work in highly relational, gospel-focused ways; promote the use of spiritual tools—prayer, meditation, fellowship, and Bible study—in addition to material tools in all poverty-alleviation efforts; and embrace that both they and we are fundamentally broken and in need of the healing that only Jesus Christ can bring. We are all developing nations.

ChristianityToday

Related Elsewhere:

Brian Fikkert is co-author of When Helping Hurts, is director of the Chalmers Center for Economic Development at Covenant College. David Beckmann and Dale Hanson Bourke also suggested the best way to help.

Previous Village Green sections have discussed technology and abortion.

africa and business

It's interesting when I talk about Africa to ill-informed, media induced and what I would call 'poverty p*rned' ( you know... images of starving children to open your pocketbooks) individuals.

Recently, I was talking with an interested party in buying our business and she asked me what I was going to do next. I never know how to answer this question because I'm not sure people can put their minds around it.
But, I told her that I was considering moving to Africa and that in the next few years we would be doing some ground work for that.
Her reply was interesting. She said something like " Isn't really impoverished over there...I mean how would you live?"
Hmmm....where does this preconceived notion come from?


And to be honest, the church and missions has added to this delusion. Of course there is poverty, corruption and lack of moral leadership. But, as I look around here in my US setting, I see the same.
We just have different forms of it.

But my view of Africa is changing. I see Africa as a continent with unlimited potential. I see Africa as a leader in world evangelization.
I see Africa as a continent that is far from its potential right now, but as the world recognizes this, things will change. China already has been investing in Africa. I have seen whole city streets in Senegal taken over by Chinese merchants in just a few years. I have seen the Chinese building roads in the DRC . But the US keeps talking about aid....and more aid....

Here's a good block of text from a TIME magazine article; ( my thoughts in italics)

Perhaps the most compelling evidence that Africa is now a business destination is China's new love for it. While the old superpowers still agonize over Africa's poverty, the new one is captivated by its riches. Trade between Africa and China has grown an average of 30% in the past decade, topping $106 billion last year. Chinese engineers are at work across the continent, mining copper in Zambia and cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo and tapping oil in Angola. Nor is this merely exploitative. ( this is debatable )China bought its access by agreeing to create a new infrastructure for Africa, building roads, railways, hospitals and schools across the continent. The current crisis is not expected to affect China's march in Africa: on the contrary, with the West's plans in Africa on hold at best, Beijing views it as an opportunity to extend China's lead. "We will continue to have a vigorous aid program here, and Chinese companies will continue to invest as much as possible," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in South Africa in January. "It is a win-win solution." Dambisa Moyo, who wrote Dead Aid, says those who need convincing about Africa should ask themselves if they are convinced about China, "because if you back China, you're backing Africa." Ecobank CEO Ekpe says part of the explanation for China's zeal for Africa is a new way of looking at Africans. "[The Chinese] are not setting out to do good," he says. "They are setting out to do business. It's actually much less demeaning." ( How would you feel if people constantly come into your neighborhood and your house taking photos and looking at them as inferior human beings?)

And that gets to what, for Africans, is the emotional heart of the matter — and why joining the business world means so much. Though it rarely occurs to Westerners who've been instructed that Africa needs their help, charity is humiliating. Not emergency charity, of course: when disaster strikes, emergency aid is always welcome, whether in New Orleans or Papua New Guinea. But long-term charity, living life as a beggar, is degrading. Andrew Rugasira, 40, runs Good African Coffee, a Ugandan company he set up in 2004 to supply British supermarkets under the motto "Trade, not aid." He is emblematic of a new generation of African antiaid, antistate entrepreneurs. For Rugasira, aid not only "undermines the creativity to lift yourself out of poverty" but also "undermines the integrity and dignity of the people. It says, These are people who cannot figure out how to develop." Aid even manages to silence those it is meant to help. "African governments become accountable to Western donors," says Rugasira, "and Africa finds itself represented not by Africans but by Bono and Bob Geldof. I mean, how would America react if Amy Winehouse dropped in to advise them on the credit crisis?" (Oh man...that's a daggar!)

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1884779_1884782_1884769,00.html#ixzz0ZlSJ0oT7

So its time to reshape our ideas about Africa.

Let's think about a hand up...not a hand out.
Let's look at the potential of Africans. You'd be surprised.

Hello...Hello...Hello...my time at Echo Conference

I just returned from the 16th annual Echo conference held in Fort Myers, Florida. Overall it was a great experience and opportunity. I met and interacted with people that came from all over the world that had the same focus, to meet the needs of the majority world and fight hunger.

I am still processing all the info I took in. I was amazed that in every session, there was something that could apply to our approach in ministry. I was in my element.


I grew up on a farm in south central Wisconsin. There I have found memories of doing field work, feeding cattle, and most of all enjoying God's creation. I still wish it would have worked out for my dad to remain in the farming business for longer than it did. I am sure that my dad was always a farmer at heart. :)

Years later, I became an avid gardener, loving to get my hands back in the dirt. I began to learn more about plants and started thousands of plants from seed in my basement. I remember working with my dad and trading 'secrets' about gardening. I always dreamed of being 'part of a farm again'. Then came my business and life changed. I had 'no time' for it.

Now, in processing, I just returned from something that stirred up a deep love. Agriculture and plants. I believe it has come full circle. I heard about amazing farming techniques in the tropics. I heard about a missionary that has helped begin the transformation of Niger. Their approach of Farmer's Managed Agroforesty Farming System is truly making a difference. Niger is one of the poorest countries of the world. Food security here is vital.

I heard about weaving Ag development with participation of the community. What a novel idea! It's time to listen to the community in which we work and build off what they know. In my little experience on the field, I am convinced I will always know very little and the community knows a lot.

This is where development starts- Listening...Learning...Sharing

Exploration

Do you like exploring?
I do. I love visiting new places. I love looking under rocks. I like the old Forest Gump saying..."Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what your going to get"

That's where I am in life right now. After thirteen years of owning and running a small business, the season's are changing.
Is it a mid life thing at 48 years of age? Maybe. Is it in obedience to God? Yes.
You see eleven years ago I sat on a plane for the first time with my old pastor going to Romania on a cross cultural trip to visit a missionary we support as a church. This was the first time I was ever on a plane and I was flying all the way to Budapest, Hungary.
Little did I know, that on that trip, I would be introduced to Africa. The leader of that trip asked me during our time in Romania if I had any interest in going to Africa next February. I told him , I would talk to my wife and consider it in prayer.
Almost nine years later, I find myself selling my business and going full time into 'ministry' with an emphasis on community development and business as mission in West Africa.
The year 2010 looks to be full of challenges,changes and excitement for me.
I can't wait to see what is under the next rock!