The Archbishop of Canterbury has returned from a pastoral visit to the Anglican Church in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where he learned about the inspirational work of the church in helping individuals and communities rebuild their lives after the trauma of years of conflict.
Dr Williams was able to meet a group of young men in Bunia who had been taken from school to join the militia, but who had been brought back to their families by a church organisation called ‘AGAPE’, which had transformed their lives through faith and compassion. It was evident from their personal testimonies that the real priority for them was to complete their education, with many returning to secondary school to continue their studies, despite being a decade or more older than their classmates.
The Archbishop also travelled the village of Boga (which is the place where the Anglican Church in Congo was founded by the Ugandan evangelist, Apolo Kivebulaya).
He was greeted by the local chief and, after a service of celebration at St Apolo Cathedral, met with several hundred indigenous people (pygmies) who had come to tell their stories about being driven out of their forest homes and had already spent two years living in limbo – with little sign of an end to their displacement.
In the gardens of the Cathedral, Dr Williams talked with a group of women who had suffered serious atrocities at the hands of the militia and the accompanying stigma and isolation from their families and communities. The Anglican Church has responded to endemic sexual violence against women by establishing an Association of Women, working in collaboration with the Mothers’ Union to campaign against the violence and stigma and also with practical help in helping women reach to reach a health centre within 72 hours of an assault to receive preventative treatment for HIV.
Speaking about the visit, the Most Revd Henri Isingoma, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Congo, said:
“Your visit has strengthened the fraternal relations of communion between the Province de L’Eglise Anglicane du Congo and the other Provinces of the Anglican Communion. Here we have a saying ‘The true friend is the one we see in moments of distress.’ For the Congolese people you are a friend because of the pastoral care you have ministered to us as a spiritual father”.
At the closing stages of the visit, Dr Williams said:
“What I have been able to see of the work of the Anglican Church of Congo has been intensely moving and inspiring. This is a church which really makes a difference for the most damaged and vulnerable people in a society emerging – still precariously – from a period of terrible collective trauma. They need encouragement and support – but we need their vision and compassion even more”.
On the final day of his visit to Kenya, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, spent the morning in Kibera, one of Africa’s largest slums with a population of 700,000 living in an area of 600 acres.
Kibera has all the problems that are the result of extreme overcrowding and poverty – unemployment, extortion, and substance and alcohol abuse to name a few. The Archbishop was welcomed at the church of the Holy Trinity in Kibera where he was able to learn about the work of the Centre for Urban Mission whose aim is to transform the informal settlements through the ministry of the local churches. There followed a tour of several initiatives located within the precincts of Holy Trinity, including a tailoring project for vulnerable women, teaching them a skill with which they can turn their lives around and feed their families.
The Centre for Urban Mission also identified a need for after-school homework clubs as they found many of the children were trying to beat the clock and complete their homework before sunset – once darkness had come, they had no electric light to work from – as well as the issue of space with the homes in the slum being so overcrowded. The teachers at the school were very proud that they had taught two children from Kibera who had then gone on to study at university, a huge achievement in an area of such extreme poverty.
Speaking about his morning in Kibera, the Archbishop praised the remarkable work being done by the local churches:
“The work being done here is so inspiring because it shows what can be done when people are prepared to identify the problems that they face – not as someone else’s issue, not as doing good to someone else, but actually standing alongside as God in Christ stands alongside – that is the beginning and end of all real Christian mission and service.”
The Archbishop concluded his visit to Kibera by giving a homily at Holy Trinity Church in which he spoke about the meaning of Emmanuel – ‘God with us’, explaining how God is at work in every human being and every part of the universe, restoring hope to those whose situation may seem hopeless, and being ever present in the face of those we live amongst and serve.
Dr Williams was also taken around the corrugated iron classrooms of the church school, where children from the slums are given not only an education but also regular meals. Many of the children are left from a very young age to grow up on the streets as their parents leave in the early hours of the morning to try to get employment and food. Schools therefore provide a safe place as well as an education.