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Africa Rising! A Catholic Relief Services Campaign for Change in Africa
By Chris Spoons
By Chris Spoons
Africa Rising, Hope and Healing! is a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) campaign that calls for solidarity and action. It calls for all people to affirm human dignity, responsibility and social justice. Through the mobilization of people in the U.S., CRS hopes to bring attention to the issues Africa is facing and facilitate policy changes in government, international financial institutions and corporations that support development.
The Africa Rising campaign focuses on two main issues: peacebuilding and assisting those who live with HIV/AIDS.
When tensions between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda erupted into genocidal attacks in 1994 (resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans), CRS reoriented its mission to look at peacebuilding as a way to provide aid. Now the agency works with local partners in Africa to look at the root sources of conflict, develop opportunities and networks for reconciliation, and engage new leaders in the community for building and supporting peace.
When tensions between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda erupted into genocidal attacks in 1994 (resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans), CRS reoriented its mission to look at peacebuilding as a way to provide aid. Now the agency works with local partners in Africa to look at the root sources of conflict, develop opportunities and networks for reconciliation, and engage new leaders in the community for building and supporting peace.
Sub-Saharan Africa, with only 10% of the world's population, is home to 70% of HIV-positive people and accounts for 95% of the AIDS orphans worldwide. Every week, nearly 30,000 people die from HIV/AIDS and every eight seconds, another person is diagnosed with HIV. CRS is providing community-based counseling, medicine and orphan care.
CRS recently sponsored a trip for Catholic journalists to Ghana in the western region of Africa to see these programs firsthand. Over the next few weeks, page two of Weekly Update will introduce readers to some of these projects.
CRS recently sponsored a trip for Catholic journalists to Ghana in the western region of Africa to see these programs firsthand. Over the next few weeks, page two of Weekly Update will introduce readers to some of these projects.
Getting to Know the Republic of Ghana
The Republic of Ghana covers a land area of 238,537 square kilometers, with a population of 18.6 million people distributed among 52 distinct indigenous ethnic groups. Seventy-
Ghana was the first country in Sub-