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Churches and schools in South Sudan are providing shelter to displaced populations after floods—caused by early seasonal rainfall— submerged their homes and farmland.

In Nigeria’s northwest state of Kaduna, Christians are bearing the brunt of insecurity and violence, as bandits attack homes, villages and churches, killing Christians and kidnapping others for ransom.

At the centre of the communal violence is religious persecution, territorial ambition and ethnic cleansing in the region where communities have settled along religious lines, according to Rev. John Joseph Hayab, the country director for the Global Peace Foundation, Nigeria.

 

H.E., Most Rev. Serafim (Kykkotis) of Zimbabwe is the metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Zimbabwe in eastern Africa, part of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa. He serves on the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive and central committees, and also on the WCC Climate Change Working Group.

African Church leaders are highlighting the need to tame the continent’s persistent post-harvest losses, as organizations point at rising food insecurity due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As the UN warns that the coronavirus pandemic is pushing millions to the brink if starvation in a “widespread famine of biblical proportions,” a senior Christian leader in Africa has emphasised that it is possible to beat hunger, a yoke that enslaves many in the continent.

Ecumenical partners in Africa convened by All Africa Conference of Churches, World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network, WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative and Advocacy, Christian Aid, and Side by Side gathered in Nairobi on World Prayer day 2020 to celebrate the achievements of women in Africa as well as to recognise men as allies. The gathering also observed the International Women’s Day under the theme #EachforEqual.

Church leaders in eastern Africa are calling for increased action against desert locusts which have terrorised the region since January this year.
Like scenes from the Book of Exodus, huge swarms of the insects have descended on the region, destroying farmlands and animal pastures. The outbreak is affecting seven East African countries, where such a scale of infestation was last seen seven decades ago. At stake is food security for millions of people.

Church and related organizations’ response to food crises globally may need to be strengthened following the findings of a new report which projects millions of people will be without food due climate change, conflict and insecurity.

As churches worldwide focus on the “Action Week for Food” in October, increasing numbers of people going hungry due to violent conflicts, failed harvests and rising food costs are compelling faith-based organizations to offer urgent intervention.

South Sudanese churches have welcomed the signing of a permanent ceasefire agreement by the main rivals, while cautioning that many other such pacts had also been dishonoured.

Most South Africans know of Brigalia Bam as chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), where she served from 1999 to 2011. Previously secretary general of the South African Council of Churches, and already an IEC commissioner, she was chosen by then-President Nelson Mandela from the list of parliamentary nominees for this critical role. In a country that had recently been on the brink of racial civil war, she guided South Africans with humour, tolerance and impartiality along the path of inclusive democracy.

At the WCC 10th Assembly in 2013, 19-year-old Shyreen Mvula captivated hundreds of people when she told her courageous story about how being born HIV-positive unfolded into a lifetime of struggling for justice.

The marketplace - also referred to as a “sokoni" - became an opportunity for faith and community-based institutions to share what they do to improve the lives of people around them.

This week world leaders are gathered in Davos under the very theme of “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World”. They do so at a time when we see poverty amongst plenty; hunger and thirst in the midst of abundance; shocking disparities in the quality of life between neighboring communities: real problems that the world has the potential and the possibilities to resolve.

The World Council of Churches - Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance endorses a newly expanded collaboration on HIV between the Medicine Patent Pool and Gilead. On 4 October, the MPP announced a licence with Gilead Sciences for bictegravir, a new integrase inhibitor part of a once-daily, single-tablet HIV regimen currently filed for regulatory approval at the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Union.

A research report released 3 August tells the story of small farmers in Mozambique who are ad-versely impacted by large-scale, foreign agricultural investments - and the alternative, ecumeni-cal vision of life-giving agriculture.

A conference discussing how to overcome hunger, and sustain justice and peace in the Horn of Africa, ended in Nairobi, Kenya on 29 June with faith leaders and partner organizations calling for urgent action to tackle famine, a frequent experience in the region.