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In a statement on 21 April, the Youth Office of the Sudan Council of Churches reflected on the difficult situation in the nation.

The Mothers Union from the Church of Uganda (Buganda region) in collaboration with the World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy and Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance programmes have been finding strength and inspiration during the 16 Days campaign against sexual and gender-based violence. 

As a crowd of more than 300 gathered, the St Paul’s University School of Theology officially launched Thursdays in Black, pledging to build an Africa without violence and to join together on a pilgrimage of justice, peace, and reconciliation.

Rev. Dr Fidon Mwombeki, general secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches, urged youth to work for the prosperity of Africa, as he reminded them that the continent was their future home.

As part of an ongoing campaign on youth and patriotism, the All Africa Conference of Churches has convened a pre-congress meeting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to prepare for a continental youth assembly later next year.

Christian educators and other church leaders in Togo are eagerly turning the pages of a new resource for children, a curriculum entitled “Because God Loves Me—Affirming My Value in Christ,” published by the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The South Sudan Council of Churches is inviting churches to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, observed globally on 19 June. The council published a series of messages available for use in worship services over the weekend.

Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”

Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”

Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Michael Blair is general secretary of the General Council for The United Church of Canada. He is also a member of the World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

In a video released on 22 October, Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, are promoting awareness of domestic violence and offering support.

In a message on 15 October, Rev. Dr David Tswaedi, executive director of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, lamented that the voices of survivors and victims of gender-based violence have been muted, due to stigma and the perceived power of the perpetrators.

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.