As well as dealing with the consequences of a brutal nine-year civil war, which has left much of the country in ruins, Syrians are now facing the scourge of Covid-19 which is now rampant in refugee camps.
According to doctors, the number of positive Covid-19 cases rose tenfold in the Idlib region last month.
Doctors in the country are dealing with a severe shortage of medicines and even hospital beds are in short supply.
According to aid agencies, a lack of testing will help the infection rate shoot up in the coming months.
In an effort to help alleviate the situation, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent 8.8 tons of protecting and medical materials to Syria this week to help in the battle against the pandemic.
The consignment included personal protection gear for health employees as well as medication and medical tools.
Last month, Syria Relief was forced to officially declare the COVID-19 situation in the country as being an “emergency.”
The NGO called on urgent support from the international community and donations from the general public to help fight the spiralling crisis.
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap. has described the news of his creation as a Cardinal as “a recognition of the Word of God, more than of the person.”
Pope Francis announced the Preacher to the Papal Household’s creation as Cardinal at the Angelus on Sunday.
In an interview with Vatican News’ Benedetta Capelli, Cardinal-elect Cantalamessa praised God for his nomination and linked it closely to the Word of God.
He said he was full of admiration for those who listened to his preaching.
“To think that a Pope – like John Paul II, Benedict, and Francis – would find time to listen to a poor, simple Capuchin is an example that they give to the Church of esteem for the Word of God,” said Fr. Cantalamessa. “In a certain sense, it is they who are preaching to me.”
Sign of unity and dialogue
The 86-year-old Italian added that – notwithstanding orders to the contrary – he plans to continue his mission of preaching to the Papal Household, starting with the upcoming Advent preaching series.
He said he was surprised to have received so many outpourings of support and affection from people around the world, including several Jewish friends.
“I was greatly pleased,” Fr. Cantalamessa said. “It has always been one of my passions to promote unity and dialogue.”
He noted that their expressions of support are a confirmation for him of “signs of a reawakening that has little to do with me.”
“It’s an aspect related to the great efforts of Pope Francis to build bridges,” he said.
Joy to support Pope through prayer
Fr. Cantalamessa went on to describe his vision of the Cardinalate and what role he has to play as a non-voting member of the College of Cardinals.
“Since this title is more honorary than effective for me,” he said, “my goal and joy are to be able to be near the Pope and to support him through prayer and the Word.”
And for his part, Cardinal-elect Cantalamessa repeated Pope Francis’ invitation for all the faithful to pray for him and those who have received new roles of responsibility in the Church.
The European Union (EU) has said it is backing Nigeria’s candidate and the country’s former Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to head the World Trade Organisation (WTO), sending a signal of trust in Africa.
An EU official disclosed this to Reuters yesterday.
Okonjo-Iweala and South Korean trade minister, Yoo Myung-hee, are vying to be the first female leader in the WTO’s 25-year history, replacing Brazilian Roberto Azevedo, who quit a year earlier than expected at the end of August.
The EU governments had before the final stage of the race for the WTO leadership race expressed support for Okonjo-Iweala and the South Korean candidate, Yoo Myung-hee.
Indeed, the latest EU’s support for Okonjo-Iweala is considered a strong signal to reinforce the multilateral order and a sign of mutual trust between the bloc and Africa, the official said.
The WTO faces dual challenges: criticism from US President Donald Trump’s administration which froze its appeals body by blocking its appointment of judges, and worsening US-China trade relations.
Okonjo-Iweala, 66, an economist and development specialist, had urged the WTO to help poorer countries access COVID-19 drugs and vaccines.
According to analysts, Okonjo-Iweala’s high professional/personal qualities, international contacts and impeccable records as Nigeria’s former Finance minister/Foreign Affairs minister and as former managing director of the World Bank, stand her high above the other contestant.
She is a renowned global finance expert, an economist and international development professional with over 30 years of experience, having worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America.
She is presently the Chair of the Board of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. Since its creation in 2000, GAVI has immunised over 760 million children across the globe. She also sits on the boards of Standard Chartered Plc and Twitter Inc.
She was recently appointed African Union Special Envoy to mobilise international financial support in the fight against COVID-19, as well as Envoy for the World Health Organisation’s access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, a few months ago appointed Okonjo-Iweala to serve as a member of her newly-established External Advisory Group.
In addition, Okonjo-Iweala served twice as Nigeria’s Finance minister, from 2003-2006 and 2011-2015 and briefly as Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister in 2006, the first woman to hold both positions.
As Finance minister, Okonjo-Iweala steered Nigeria through the varying degree of reforms, particularly on macroeconomic, trade, financial and real sector issues.
As Managing Director (Operations) of the World Bank, her several portfolios included oversight responsibility for the World Bank’s $81 billion operational portfolio in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.
Okonjo-Iweala spearheaded several World Bank initiatives to assist low-income countries during the 2008-2009 food crises and later in the trying period of the global financial crisis.
On the other hand, Yoo is South Korea’s trade minister. During her 25-year career in government, she helped expand her country’s trade network through bilateral accords with the US, China and the UK.
(Photo: REUTERS / Bate Felix Tabi Tabe)The torched remains of a Baptist Church are seen in Mabass, northern Cameroon near the Nigerian border, February 16, 2015. Boko Haram militants kidnapped some 80 people from the village, according to the Cameroon army.
World Council of Churches interim head Rev. Ioan Sauca has joined global Christians and the United Nations in expressing horror at the brutal attack on schoolchildren in Cameron in which assailants slaughtered at least eight students with firearms and machetes.
The children were killed at the Mother Francisca International Academy in Kumba, Cameroon, on Oct. 24.
Unidentified gunmen killed at least eight children in their classroom with guns and machetes, while 12 others were injured.
“The WCC joins with the churches and all people of good will in Cameroon and around the world in condemning this abhorrent act, in commiserating with the families and communities affected, and in praying for the healing of the wounded children,” said Sauca.
Cameroonian church leaders reacted to the recent bloodshed with outrage and demands for action.
Bishop Agapitus Nfon of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kumba lamented the loss of the young lives in the same statement.
‘BLOOD OF OUR CHILDREN’
“How much of the blood of our children need to be shed before something concrete and immediate is done? How long will the powers that be and are capable of restoring peace and tranquility in the distressed North West and South West Regions sit and wait?”
The attacked was strongly conemned at the UN in Geneva by a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani.
She said that the population continues to pay a heavy price in the ongoing crisis in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon and described the attack as “vile”.
“Serious human rights violations and abuses continue to be reported, involving both security and defense forces and armed separatist groups amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Shandasani.
“The killing and maiming of children as well as attacks on educational facilities constitute serious violations of international law and the perpetrators must be held accountable with due regard for international human rights standards.”
She also said that the Cameroonian authorities have an obligation to protect access to education.
No group has claimed responsibility though local authorities have accused separatist fighters of targeting the school, CNN reported.
People have been raising awareness of the incident on social media under the hashtag #EndAnglophoneCrisis.
LINGUISTIC CRISIS
This was a reference to ongoing movements which advocate a separation between English-speaking Cameroon from the French-speaking part of the country. Separatists in Anglophone regions have been fighting with government forces and government-backed militias for several years.
Both sides faced accusations of violence against civilians, which began in 2016 after residents in the country’s Anglophone provinces, where 20 percent of Cameroon’s population live, protested the government led by French speakers.
The Anglophone conflict has internally displaced more than 670,000 people in affected areas, while 60,000 Cameroonians have fled escalating violence to neighboring Nigeria, according to the United Nations’ estimates in February.
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, the Rev. Fonki Samuel Forba, on Oct. 25 prayed for justice for the victims and accountability for those responsible.
“May those behind these gruesome killings of God’s children be imprisoned by the judge of the human conscience even before they are found out, prosecuted and sentenced,” he said.
The WCC appealed for renewed efforts for a comprehensive and more inclusive dialogue to address the current security, humanitarian and human rights challenges in the affected regions.
“The WCC stands in solidarity with and offers its support and accompaniment to the churches of Cameroon as they seek to fulfil their essential ministry for justice, peace and human dignity and rights,” said the council.
Photo: Deputy President William Ruto at a past church function in Western Kenya, he has conducted several harambees in aid of churches in Mt Kenya, Western and Kisii region.
By Wandia Njoya via FB There’s faith, there’s culture, there’s theology, and there’s politics. They are all related, but they are not the same. Faith is the religious belief that spurs action. But how that belief is celebrated and what action is inspired by that belief are decided by culture. In other words, people of the same faith are going to take different actions based on the cultures they are in. Theology is the intellectual articulation of how that interpretation is done. In other words, theology explains faith by examining faith through culture, sociolgy, politics, economics and other disciplines.
Politics is the social decision making process about power and resources. So if faith is used to determine or contest decisions on resources and power, then faith becomes political.
Now, imperialists are interested in power and resources, which is politics. But they cannot come out openly and say “We want your resources and the power to dictate what you do.” If they did so, you would not welcome them but meet them with pangas. So what do imperialists do? They hide their intentions by mixing up faith and culture, so that you are so busy talking about identity that you forget what is happening politically. The European missionaries said that African cultures were anti-Christian because African cultures were the barrier to imperial penetration. But by the 1950s, Americans had learned that Africans were not going to accept that argument any more. So what did they do?
They lauded African cultures as vehicles of Christian faith, and also suppressed theology. They said that all ethnic cultures are equal in Christianity, and Christianity is a supra-culture where we all bring our ethnic expressions as equals.
The equation of faith with culture and worldview is the most effective trick American Christianity has played on us. By calling Christianity culture, they forced Kenyan Christians to avoid political issues out of care to maintain a fake cultural “unity.” So Americans are able to bring American cultural products like worship styles, homeschooling and neoliberalism, but we were not allowed to say that this was because of US political and economic dominance. We were pressured to accept them as culturally neutral, or at least, give an African version of them. There was no langauge with which to question the political or theological dimensions of those cultural products. And then discussions of economics and politics have been suppressed by suppressing theology.
That’s how the Kenyan church remains the pillar of the neocolonial Kenyan state. The church suppresses theology in order to close off any spaces for asking political and economic questions. And then with biblicism, Christians can tell you that we cannot raise political and social questions because that is outside the bible.
Theology was crushed by intellectual laziness. The church went along with private sector in shouting about arts and humanities as useless, precisely because they knew that arts and humanities would question what the church was doing politically and economically. And that is why Kenyan churches have no language with which to ask questions about harambee donations from politicians.
How does one get out of this stalemate? Not by misinterpreting Marx’s statement on “opium of the masses” or by arguing there is no God or that Christianity is colonial. That’s escapism. We have to fight fire with fire and return theology to the public sphere. We have to insist on theology: a discussion of faith in its context. We have to do the actual work of studying the context.
You can start by reading about the African independent churches, historical figures like Elijah Masinde and Simon Kibangu, and what Steve Biko said about black theology. Read the histories of Christianity that you will never be told about in church or in school.
The Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that what was happening, in response to the #ENDSARS protests of the youths in the country, was like “first aid” -to buy time. He has since urged the Federal Government to address a much larger problem, with sincerity.
“Maybe we should all be having an ‘#End Corruption’ Or ‘#End Sectionalism,’… protest marches. The problem to comprehensively address is: What kind of institution (in this case, the police) system of governance, or federal structure and even society gave birth to such a monster and try to address it sincerely. You may scrap SARS, but the deficient and ailing structure will generate other such Frankenstein monsters,” Bishop Badejo declared.
While noting that the challenges of the country go beyond the SARS Police unit, Bishop Badejo stressed the need for the total restructuring of the country’s police force, some government agencies as well as the country’s governance structures.
“The call for the reform of the entire police force makes sense. But then you can stretch it further and show me how many institutions of governance in Nigeria or even the civil service are free of blame with respect to oppressing citizens and taking them for granted,” wondered Bishop Badejo.
Criminality thrives in the absence of the rule of law
The Bishop added, “Wherever the rule of law has been made comatose, the ground becomes fertile for banditry and criminality even among highly trained officers and citizens. That, am afraid, might be very appropriate about Nigeria, our country,” said the Bishop of Oyo
Bishop Badejo further noted that the recent protests were necessary though unfortunately, later hijacked by elements who were bent on destroying property and causing anarchy.
Pent-up anger
“The protest in itself is good, especially as we seemed to have an unresponsive government which now seems to have been forced awake. However, I support concerns that the protests were infiltrated, if not hijacked by devious people who have no clear idea what a protest should be like and who really don’t care. They just want to destroy,” Bishop Badejo said.
Bishop Badejo continued, “This, however, is because there has been so much pent up anger against so many occurrences in the country that many people are not ready to reason with anybody. All they want is an opportunity to lash out in vengeful action. This is not good for our nation. I have said it severally that we all, not just the youth, must take responsibility for demanding accountability from our government institutions and politicians, not just the police.”
Protests must end in negotiation and dialogue
“Let the government deploy all legitimate means to secure dialogue. I like what the Governors of Lagos and Oyo are doing with as much openness as possible. That is a good model to follow in all our institutions. Name names, take action to assuage hurts, and bring the guilty to book,” said Bishop Badejo.
The bright yellow van of the Volunteer Ministers from the Church of Scientology Budapest was once more filled to the brim with supplies. This time, the Volunteer Ministers headed east to the town of Csökmő where the mayor and the president of the local Roma association worked with the volunteers to distribute food and cleaning supplies to those in need.
In September, with an increase in COVID-19 in the country, Hungary closed its borders to visitors, but the number of cases of the virus continues to surge. When a coronavirus case was diagnosed in the town of Csökmő, residents became frightened about its possible spread. Nearly a fifth of the town lives below the poverty line. They lack adequate food and the resources to procure basic hygiene products.
With donations from Scientologists and supplies from the Red Cross, Volunteer Ministers brought a ton of hand sanitizer, cleaning products and food for all 653 at-risk residents to ensure they get through this challenging time safe and well.
In addition to providing food and supplies, Volunteer Ministers ensure communities know how to protect themselves from the virus. As soon as the pandemic began, the most effective measures were researched for ensuring the safety of Scientology staff and parishioners, and these were implemented internationally as protocols under the direction of Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige.
The Scientology Volunteers of Hungary are headquartered at the Church of Scientology Budapest, whose new home was dedicated in 2016 by Mr. Miscavige. The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard.
