Africa

No Longer in My Name: A Faith-Based Response to Faith-Based Intolerance

In over 76 countries, religion is used as a rationale to oppress people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Now is the time for people of faith to respond to faith-based intolerance and, on June 12, the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office and other organizations joined together to do just that. Over 100 people gathered in the United Nations Church Center for a screening of the film God Loves Uganda, a new documentary by filmmaker Roger Ross Williams about the importation of Western evangelical values into Uganda. Following the film, attendees listened to

testimony from a Ugandan refugee and engaged in a discussion about the film with five interfaith clergy members. The evening concluded with a message from Ugandan UU Minister Mark Kiyimba, urging everyone to support Ugandan faith leaders in their work for LGBTI equality. Click here to watch the video. The evening was greatly informative for all, and left everyone inspired to support Ugandan work for equality and to strive for change in their own countries.

The documentary God Loves Uganda premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2013, and has won numerous awards at film festivals. It tells the story of the International House of Prayer (IHOP), an evangelical Christian organization that sends missionaries around the world to spread the word of God. IHOP’s leaders have focused many of

their missionary efforts on Uganda, a place they believe is ripe with the possibility for spiritual renewal—in part because half of the population is under 15. IHOP sends young Americans to communities throughout Uganda, to build churches and minister to people and even provide social services, but the IHOP missionaries also spread their evangelical values, including homophobia. Widespread persecution of LGBTI people has forced many to flee the country and led to the murder of others, including gay activist David Kato, and has culminated in an American-influenced Anti-Homosexuality bill being introduced into the Ugandan parliament. The bill, often referred to as the “Kill the Gays” bill, would make homosexual behavior punishable by life imprisonment or even death. God Loves Uganda seeks to raise
awareness of what is happening not just in Uganda, but around the world, and is a powerful call for international support for LGBTI rights.

The evening opened with an introduction by Bruce Knotts, Director of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, who spoke about the importance of the film and of faith support for LGBTI rights. After the screening of God Loves Uganda, a refugee from Uganda gave a powerful testimony affirming the accuracy of the film and spoke about his experiences and the importance of international advocacy. A panel of clergy members—Rev. Eric Cherry from the Unitarian Universalist Association, Imam Daaiyee Abdullah from Muslims for Progressive Values, Pastor Joseph Tolton from Rehoboth Church, Rabbi Deborah Hirsch from Congregation Shaaray Tefila, and Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer from United Church of Christ—then answered questions posed by Mordechai Levovitz, event organizer and Co-Director of Jewish Orthodox Queer Youth, about the film and faith-based advocacy. Although the clergy members came from different religious traditions, their values and beliefs in equality were remarkably similar, and they all expressed the importance of supporting and getting involved in work for LGBTI equality.

After the event, many attendees expressed how much they appreciated the speakers’ testimonies, and how powerful they found the film. The evening truly brought together a community of faith and faith allies to support equality and interfaith activism, and showed that, if we join together, we can change the world. No Longer in My Name was cosponsored by the United Nations NGO Committee for Human Rights, the Unitarian Universalist Association, United Church of Christ, Muslims for Progressive Values, American Jewish World Service, Union of Reform Judaism, Jewish Orthodox Queer Youth, GLAAD, Bronx LGBTQ Center, and Love Beyond Borders.

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ntiedeman

June 18th, 2013

Africa, Interfaith, International News, LGBT, Uganda, UU-UNO, UUinternational.org

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You Are Welcome: Every Child is Our Child Site Visit

This year the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office sent three office members, UU-UNO Envoy Coordinator Kamila Jacob, New York University Social Work Intern Jacklyn Booth, and Fordham University Social Work Intern Anida Fregjaj to Ghana for the annual Every Child is Our Child Program Site Visit. This site visit was a unique opportunity for staff and interns to engage the community at different levels, to learn from the experiences of community leaders, families and children, and to bring these stories home. Following is the beginning of a collaboratively written diary of the experience. Read more about the relationships strengthened and built, the challenges that exist in the communities and the lessons brought back to share by clicking on each day below.

Kamila Jacob, Jacklyn Booth and Anida Fregjaj

The car ride from Accra to Odumase, where the Every Child is Our Child (ECOC) program is located, provided the first opportunity for us to observe our surroundings. As we moved from the urban region to more rural spaces, the potholes began to act as streetlights. Slowly, the poverty became more apparent and we were struck by the socio-economic disparity surrounding us as we drove through the landscape. A huge walled-in mansion on one-side of the road, what seemed to be a pile of aluminum and clay rubbish (but was actually a home) on the other. And yet, the marketing and display of the shops alongside the roads was impressive; it was easily accessible, organized, and aesthetically pleasing. Again our eyes traveled to the half completed construction sites, some looking abandoned (with plant life starting to take over) while others sheltered families. We couldn’t wait to start our journey in Odumase.

Our day by day diary:

Day 1: Saturday: Meeting with the Queen Mothers and ECOC Children

Day 2: Sunday: Ghanaian Spiritual Culture and Engaging Families and Communities

Day 3: Monday: Visiting ECOC Schools and Exploring Universal Education through the eyes of Teachers

Day 4: Tuesday: Spending Time with two students Grace and Macy; Meeting the ECOC Board

Day 5: Wednesday: Expanding Knowledge of HIV/AIDS Intervention in Ghana: Local and National Levels

Day 6: Thursday: Departing Thoughts and Future Work

Burundi Unitarians Respond to Devastating Market Fire in Bujumbura

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On January 27th a devastating market fire razed thousands of businesses in Bujumbura, Burundi, effectively straining the country’s economy for weeks, if not months to come. The minister of the Unitarian Church in Bujumbura, Rev. Fulgence Ndagijamana, shared the following information. ~~People’s Church in Kalamazoo, MI is coordinating contributions to the church to support its response to the devastation:~~ Update: The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is now coordinating contributions. Contributions sent to the Kalamazoo church will be delivered to Burundi via ICUU. Online you can donate with credit cards or from your bank account via PayPal to treasurer@icuu.net or checks may be sent to the ICUU Finance Department, att: Susan Greeberg, PO BOx 300, Hastings on Hudson, NY 10706 USA.

Rev. Fulgence Ndagijamana in the Bujumbura Market, November 2012.

It’s 7 Am on Sunday morning (January 27, 2013). Many people are still sleeping and others are getting ready to go to different churches. I get a text message from Nepo, one of our church members. The text is very short “Pastor, the central market is burning”! Under chock, I made a few phone calls to check on the people I know who work in the market or who have relatives or parents working there. Some were not aware and others were already in town hoping against hope to save something!I kept working on the last details of my sermon and I left for church at 9am. As I was driving outside the gate, I could see a huge black cloud and people say it was over 20 meters high. I met neighbours who under chock were just watching the fire 6,5 kms away. (more…)

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Rev. Eric Cherry

January 30th, 2013

Africa

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Dire Situation for Gays in Uganda

Last week in Uganda the piece of legislation known to the world as the “Kill the Gays Bill” passed in Ugandan parliamentary committee. The bill can be voted into law any day and the Ugandan House Speaker has promised to pass the bill as a “Christmas gift” to the Ugandan people. Since 2008 when Uganda was inundated by high profile western Christian fundamentalists who preached against homosexuality in large conferences, a growing homophobic sentiment has taken hold in Uganda. Harsher punishments for homosexuals have overwhelming majority support in both Ugandan public opinion and government. This bill would represent a barbaric regression for Uganda’s human rights record. Besides directly punishing homosexuals, sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) advocates and LGBT allies, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance warns that the bill would have a disastrous impact on the country’s HIV response.

The Bill
The bill proposes harsher punishments for homosexual acts, advocacy and even allies. The original bill calls for the death penalty or life prison sentence for “aggravated homosexuality” –defined as when one of the participants is HIV-Positive, or considered a “serial offender”. The bill also prohibits any public support for LGBT rights. Concepts like pride, anti-gay bullying, gay safe sex initiatives or LGBT outreach would all be illegal. The bill also criminalizes those who do not report homosexuals. Parents, teachers and even priests would be punished if they don’t report someone who tells them that they are gay. Landlords who rent to gay people would face up to three years in prison. Finally, and most insidiously, the bill exonerates those who kill gay people if they feel threatened; promoting the kind of mob killings and lynchings that lead to the death of Ugandan Gay Activist David Kato last year. (more…)

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kjacob

November 30th, 2012

Africa, Uganda, UU-UNO

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Exploring Faith-Based Social Justice in Burundi

The following post was written by Rev. Eric Cherry, director of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s International Office. Cherry was one of the leaders of the UUSC-UUA Supporter Journey to Tanzania and Burundi.

Service-Learning trips through the UUSCJ are a terrific way for UUs to get to know the social justice strategies and methods of partners around the world. Many of the partners that UUCSJ interacts with through S-L trips are secular in their approach. But, some of them are faith-based – and even Unitarian/Universalist. In those cases, the experience for trip participants offers a unique opportunity to connect spiritual practice and faith with outreach ministries. And, introducing the team of UUCSJ service-learners in East Africa to the leaders and members of the Unitarian Church of Burundi was a great example of that connection.. Together we explored the ways that Unitarianism is pursuing social justice work in Burundi.

The Unitarian Church in Burundi was established by Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana in 2002 as a liberal religious alternative to the dominant Roman Catholic presence in Burundi. Rev. Fulgence is, in fact, a former Dominican novitiate who discovered Unitarianism while studying in seminary. After leaving seminary and pursuing a correspondence with a Unitarian minister in the UK he was inspired to start the church in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.

Since then the congregation has grown in strength, numbers, and outreach ministries. In 2011 the congregation dedicated the first Unitarian church building constructed in an African country in decades. And it serves as a home for their church services, as well as a meeting place for activists.

The outreach work of the church has taken many forms including:

Capacity Building and Advocacy work with Burundi’s Batwa community
Domestic Violence prevention through workshops and other intervention
Supporting Micro-finance initiatives
Partnering with a local School
Establishing scholarship programs for University students
Leading a coalition of Unitarian churches in development in Francophone African Countries

All of the congregation’s work is done in the context of the slow recovery – and the struggle for truth and reconciliation – taking place in Burundi following its Civil War. Burundi needs liberal religious leaders, and the Unitarian Church in Bujumbura is serving that role.

During the visit we were inspired by meetings with a former combatant who now operates a small restaurant, and a team of women who are operating a vegetable stall at the women’s market in the city – all beneficiaries of the church’s micro-finance initiative.

We also visited the local school that the church is partnering with. Here, nearly 2000 primary school students have found a secure place to begin their educational journeys. Through assistance from its partners, the Unitarian Church has helped the school bring electricity to its classrooms – and will now attempt to set up a water system for the school.

Participants in the University scholarship program also met with us. They explained how nearly all of them were the first people in their family to attend University, and that completing a degree is the fastest way to escape poverty in Burundi. We were inspired by the path they have chosen.

And, on Sunday, we gathered for church with 60-70 Burundian Unitarians. The singing was fantastic, the prayers were social-justice centered, and the sermon by Rev. Fulgence was prophetic. He took a text from Jeremiah which advised those surrounded by devastation to build up their cities, and display show signs of hope. The members of the Unitarian church clearly appreciated and embrace his message. We visiting friends are challenged to do the same as we return to our homes.

Cross-posted from the UU College of Social Justice blog.

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November 19th, 2012

Africa, Service Learning, UU College of Social Justice

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Love, Dedication, and the Constitution of Tanzania

The following post was written by Patricia Jones, manager of UUSC’s Environmental Justice Program. She is currently coleading the UUSC-UUA Supporter Journey to Tanzania and Burundi.

The Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP) is hosting a UUSC-UUA delegation of supporters in Dar es Salaam this week. Participants will join TGNP in their work on the constitutional process in the country. Tanzania’s political parties passed a very controversial law in 2012 that sounded the starting bell for the country to adopt a new constitution by the end of 2014. You may think three years is enough time. TGNP and civil society do not.

Yesterday we met with the founding members of TGNP and learned about their groundbreaking programs to raise awareness, mobilize grassroots constituents to demand their rights, and change law and policy to make the rights of women and men more real. The current constitution was adopted in 1977 and amended during the years since, but it contradicts itself, especially concerning the equality of men and women. In Tanzania, women may not inherit property, and marriage age for girls is 14 and for boys is 18 — but the constitution provides that all Tanzanian children have the right to education to the fullest of their potential. These “gaps,” as the Tanzanians call them, are just some of the issues TGNP is working to change. They want to see the human rights of the people — including the right to water, to health, and to education — more clearly expressed.

But they first had to reform the law that guides the process. In Tanzania, the constitution, all the laws, and the court decisions are in English. English is taught in secondary school, so Tanzanians who complete primary school only (to age 14) do not learn English. TGNP and their coalition partners at the Civil Society Constitutional Forum (CSCF) worked to require that the constitutional process be conducted in Swahili, the language the vast majority of Tanzanians use in daily life.

TGNP and CSCF are conducting civic education on the constitutional process. However, that is another “gap,” as they point out. The law passed by both ruling and opposition parties limits and regulates civic education. TGNP and CSCF must apply to conduct civic education on the constitution, disclose their funding for the program, and have the content authorized by the Constitutional Review Commission. If they violate this process, they could be fined 5 million Tanzanian shillings or be jailed for 3 years. This while the political parties are openly passing out talking points during the “open forums,” the first step in the constitutional process.

During our delegation visit, we saw boxes of the current constitution in Swahili at the CSCF offices we visited. They had printed them and are now distributing them. TGNP and CSCF want the time table changed; they want to slow the process down so people can learn about their constitution and what is at stake, and then be able to form their own opinions. The parties want to have the constitution wrapped before the 2015 elections.

Who knows what other surprises are waiting in the wings. Possibly land reform that would give away large parts of Tanzania to major foreign farming firms? That would privatize water rights? Diana, the director of CSCF, assured us they will include the human right to water. She had been without water in her home for the past week.

The delegation was inspired by the dedication, insightful analysis, persistence, and what cofounding member Subari termed the “love” that they express through their work. I agree, Subari, it is one of the highest expressions of love to dedicate your time and heart to changing the highest law of the land, the constitution.

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international

November 14th, 2012

Africa, Service Learning, UU College of Social Justice

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Eager Anticipation: Prepping for Trip to Africa

The following post was written by Evan Seitz, senior associate for service-learning programs with the UU College of Social Justice.

I am not graceful when preparing for trips. I fret about everything from which type of trail mix to bring to whether our hosts will meet me at the airport. However, for the upcoming UUA-UUSC supporter journey to Tanzania and Burundi my usual pre-trip jitters have been largely replaced by eager anticipation. I have never been to Africa, and I can’t wait to visit two great partners: the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP), based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Assembly of Christian Unitarians of Burundi (ACUB) based in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Tanzania is currently rewriting its constitution and our partner TGNP is working on including language on the human right to water in that new constitution. Our delegation will be meeting with TGNP leaders to hear firsthand their stories on this process. We will also be visiting community partners of TGNP that have struggled to access safe, sufficient, affordable water for daily human consumption. At the end of our visit with TGNP, we will be visiting a representative of the Tanzanian Water Ministry to express our hope for a successful inclusion of the right to water in the new constitution.

In Burundi, we will be meeting Rev. Ndagijimana Fulgence, the minister of the newest Unitarian Church on the African continent. ACUB has an active social outreach ministry, and we will be meeting with community members who have benefited from this service. There will also be plenty of time to meet with members of the congregation. I am personally most excited about attending the service on Sunday; it will be only my second Unitarian service outside of the United States.

I am also looking forward to spending eight days with a stellar group of supporters and social justice activists. The seven delegation members come from all regions of the United States and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. Joining me as trip leaders are my colleague Eric Cherry, director of the UUA’s International Office, and Patricia Jones, manager of UUSC’s Environmental Justice Program. Return for more updates from me and other delegation members as this exciting journey unfolds.

Cross-posted from the UU College of Social Justice’s blog.

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November 7th, 2012

Africa, Service Learning, UU College of Social Justice

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From Elmina Castle: Undoing Racism

Charles DuMond in the Cape Coast Castle male slave dungeon

Charles Dumond is a member of the UUA delegation that is currently visiting the “Every Child is Our Child” program partners of the UU-UNO in Ghana. In this blogpost he shares reflections following visits to schools near the Cape Coast and Elmina Castle near Accra.

“True reconciliation consists of more than forgetting the past.” — Nelson Mandela

On Friday, our last today together as a delegation, we traveled to Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle. Both of these structures played significant roles in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Last year, several of us at UU San Mateo began working through “Building the World We Dream About: A Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults.” One of my personal challenges was reconciling the knowledge of my ancestors as slaveholders with my life today.

As we toured the castles, both the heat and the history were unrelenting. We stood in slave dungeons with limited or no ventilation. The guide explained the torture and abuse the prisoners endured before being shipped away from their homeland. You can read books or watch films and know that the slave trade was wrong. When you stand in the dungeon and sweat soaks your clothes, you connect with history in a physical and personal way.

I wondered about the parallels to today. What about our current immigration policy? In 100 years, how will our descendants look at the forced separation of immigrant families, deportations, and ICE detention facilities?

One of the plaques at Cape Coast Castle says:

In Everlasting Memory

Of the anguish of our ancestors

May those who died rest in peace

May those who return find their roots

May humanity never again perpetrate

Such injustice against humanity

We, the living, vow to uphold this

May we all uphold it.

Posted by:
Rev. Eric Cherry

May 14th, 2012

Africa, Morales visits Ghana, Service Learning, UU-UNO

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From Odumase, Ghana: Education is Medicine

Lorella Hess is a member of the UUA delegation that is currently visiting the “Every Child is Our Child” program partners of the UU-UNO in Ghana. In this blogpost she shares reflections following visits to schools near Odumase.

Conditions in these schools are primitive. The structures are basic and, in some cases, falling apart. Textbooks are battered and in painfully short supply. And still the teachers and headmasters know education is the best chance these children will have to improve their lives.

The Queen Mothers know it, too, which is why they have partnered with UU-UNO to get the children’s school expenses paid.

It is easy to care about these children, and for all the poverty and loss in their young lives they have the look of people who know they are loved.
Signs in the classroom read “Rest is Medicine.” “Cleanliness is Medicine.” “Vegetables are Medicine.” Good advice for leading a healthy life.

But the subtext underlying everything we have seen here is that Education is one of the medicines these children need most of all.

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Rev. Eric Cherry

May 11th, 2012

Africa, Morales visits Ghana, seminarians, UU-UNO

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From the gray van – Ghana: Odumase to Accra

Our first day in Ghana was filled with formalities as we met The Royals. We had audiences with the Paramount Queen Mother, many more queen mothers and the King of the Krobo people We packed into small cinder block rooms or spread out under welcome shade wherever we could find it Standing wasn’t allowed. Krobo hospitality made chairs magically appear-a big task for 13 visitors. The royals have created loving communities that care deeply for the orphaned and vulnerable children of this area.

UUs partner with the Queen Mothers to provide education for more than 95 children – an important contribution when you consider the over 1000 children they are serving. These children attend three different schools. We were mobbed by what seemed to be a million smiling faces when we arrived at their schools the next day to see this project in action. We learned of their struggles: one computer for more than 400 students, buildings made of mud that could be washed away in a heavy rain, teachers who do not live locally due to conditions of extreme poverty, the need for meal programs, local libraries and more. We met students who play soccer, who giggle and tell secrets., who want to be teachers, bankers, nurses, lawyers. They are bright, engaging and are just Iike the kids at our neighborhood schools in the US They zoom outside for recess, they sing, they act in plays and they do homework…sometimes.

We are writing this on an ipad in the van on the way back to Accra tonight. We are wearing shirts and wrapped in skirts handmade from fabric deigned by the Queen Mothers. They dressed us after cooking a feast for us- all more examples of their strong belief that we are not so different, that we are one family. Indeed we were treated as family. Just before we climbed into our vans, Manya Esther, the Deputy Paramount Queen Mother and director of the ECOC program, put a bracelet on our wrists. The beads were hand painted with images of the flags from Ghana and the US -friendship bracelets-so we will not forget our family in northeast Ghana.