A representative from a Kenya-based church organization visited the Presbyterian Mission Agency on Monday to discuss the plight facing South Sudanese refugees. The Rev. Nicta M. Lubaale, general secretary of the Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC), was hosted by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.
Ten South Sudanese humanitarian aid workers disappeared April 26 outside of Yei in South Sudan’s Central Equatoria region. Among the missing are two staff members from ACROSS, a global partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world with some of the highest chronic childhood malnutrition anywhere. The Fiangonan’i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (FJKM), the PC(USA) partner denomination in Madagascar, believes that as Christians, we should help our neighbors both spiritually and physically. Reducing poverty and improving food security are important components of FJKM’s outreach efforts.
Videos, recently broadcast on CNN, show the brutal torture of migrants from Sub-Saharan African nations. Men are whipped and burned, begging their families for ransom. With increasing political instability in Libya, forced labor and human trafficking are growing.
The Rev. Robert I. “Bob” Rasmussen, a mission co-worker in Malawi from January 1986 until his retirement in August 1992, passed away at his home in Michigan on Thursday, Jan. 25, at age 90. After he retired, Rasmussen and his wife Edith returned to Malawi many times, sometimes for months at a time, to train pastors and to preach and teach.
It has been 10 years since I stepped off an Ethiopian Airlines flight and placed my feet on Kenyan soil. However, the impact of my Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) experience has left me feeling, at times, as if it were yesterday. I don’t remember how I came to know about the YAV program. I vaguely remember filling out an application. What I do remember is my interview with Phyllis Byrd and my excitement about the possibility of serving for a year on the continent of Africa. I vividly remember her stern and stoic demeanor and my desire to convey how much I needed this experience.
Marie ‘Breezy’ Lusted, a Presbyterian mission co-worker and long-term volunteer, served as a nurse and Bible translator in Ethiopia for 56 years. She passed away in North Carolina on October 29 at the age 85. Her sisters, Ruth and Anita, a niece, Cindy, and a close friend were at her bedside.
On the day PC(USA) member Francis Ntowe’s sister was buried, there were six other funerals in her small community in Cameroon. “One of them was a pastor, and all of them had died from HIV/AIDS,” he said. “Every single one.”
Reconciliation is a sacred space where weary bodies are refreshed and troubled souls are soothed, where the roar of oppression is silenced and the calm of compassion resounds.
Presbyterian mission co-workers Jeff and Christi Boyd developed a floor and board game several years ago to help U.S. Presbyterians appreciate the joint efforts of students, parents, communities and churches to improve education in Africa. The game also prompts players to ponder the plight of African children.
