Reps Circular
From Sheenagh Burrell, ALMA Communications Officer
almacomms@london.anglican.org T: Tuesdays: 020 7932 1231
Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,
This promises to be a bumper full circular – there is SO much news to share - all evidence of the deepening and growing bonds between ALMA partners.
The headlines are:
MOZAMBIQUE GENERAL ELECTIONS took place on Wednesday 28 October. For ongoing updates with regional figures, see Joe Hanlon Elections Bulletin – also available in Portuguese.
Results so far give President Guebuza more than 76% of the presidential vote, and his Frelimo party between 75% and 80% of parliament’s 250 seats.
STAND UP Result: 173,045,325 people Stood Up at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In Africa more than 37 million people took part, in Europe more than 2 million.
In Maputo Bishop Dinis led a Stand Up at St Barnabas Bagamoyo as Revd Juan Ramirez Rubio was licenced as Assistant Priest. In total 612 people took part. See photos on the News page
The Bishop of Kensington led the Stand Up at his Area Conference and encouraged the churches to do likewise on Sunday. 235 delegates took part.Archdeacon Agostino Burque also led a Stand Up in Inhambane Province and we know St John’s Stanmore, St Saviour’s South Hampstead, and Twyford School Fellowship Group did in London. Please send news of other Stand Up events so we can have an ALMA Tally.
See the Stand Against Poverty web site for the many inspiring stories and reports.
Father Nunes Pedro, ALMA Link Officer in Angola, is visiting London in November. ALMA Reps Meeting with Father Nunes on Tuesday 17th November 5.45 for 6pm at London Diocesan House.
This mailing contains:
28 October – Mozambican Elections
11-29 November – Father Nunes Pedro in London
15 November – Father Nunes preaching morning service St Nicholas Chiswick & evening service St Stephen’s Canonbury 6.30pm.
17 November – ALMA REPS MEETING with Father Nunes Room A, London Diocesan House 5.45 for light refreshments. 6-8pm Meeting. Please RSVP. A volunteer to look after refreshments would be wonderful …….
18-20 November – Father Nunes at partners In World Mission Conference with John Tasker
22 November – Father Nunes preaching morning service St Paul’s Winchmore Hill & 4pm Tea and talk followed by worship at St. Lawrence, Eastcote.
5 December – The Wave (see later in this circular)
27 January 2010 – ALMA REPS Meeting with Helen Doery and Liz Crichton from St Peter’s Notting Hill on their visit to Lebombo. Chaplaincy Time and Opportunity to collect Lent Appeal Resources for your parish.
5 February 2010 – UNICEF Day for Change (see later in this circular)
This is a key development and justice issue, which we have looked at in past circulars, but there are two new studies that may be helpful for us as ALMA Reps and Friends, and for helping our wider church communities engage with the reality of Climate Change.
i) A briefing paper from ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) ‘September 2009 Climate Change in Southern Africa’. The cover of the report is a picture of a storm brewing on Mozambique’s coast, there is a front piece quote from Mozambique’s President Armando Guebuza:
“Climate change can undermine our continuing efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals...Reducing the impact of climate change must involve greater commitment to the search for local solutions to the adversities arising from such phenomena as droughts or floods.”
as well as a case study from Mozambique: ‘Flooding and Drought in Mozambique’.
It leaves no doubt that the impact of climate change is real and already affecting our partners.
ii) ‘Climate change and Africa’s Natural Resources’ by William Minter and Anita Wheeler emphasises that Africa is predicted to ‘suffer consequences out of all proportion to its contribution to global warming, which is primarily caused by greenhouse gas emissions from wealthy countries’. Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change, notes the International Panel on Climate Change. Factors such as dependence on rain-fed agriculture and the impact of warming on the spread of disease reinforce multiple pre-existing stresses. Like AIDS, the threat is already here. The toll is rising. Even more damaging effects will play out over decades.
Yet global warming comes primarily from greenhouse gas emissions outside Africa. Much of Africa’s share, moreover, comes from extracting natural resources to be exported. According to the latest estimates, the entire African continent was responsible for only 3.7% of the world's annual CO2 emissions, compared to China with 21.5%, the United States with 20%, and the European Union with 14%.
Archbishop Rowan united with leaders of every world faith to sign a statement which emphasises that ‘tackling climate change is a moral imperative’.
Three suggested responses that we might make here in London are:
Bishop André sends news on ordinations.
Some of the candidates, who have completed the three year Ministry and Mission (Catechist) training, have been ordained as permanent deacons and some as temporary deacons to minister especially in rural areas where the church is growing but where the distance between parishes is huge – with some priests having to walk hundreds of miles. A retreat was held in Mucuba in October and there will be one in Luanda 28-29 November. Please pray for those being ordained and those on the Ministry and Mission training courses in Luanda, Uige and Benguela.
Newshound on Angola:
Stand Up news has already been given in the headlines of this circular – there is no doubt that Lebombo leads the ALMA tally! Perhaps we can all be challenged by this marvellous response and start planning how we are going to mark STAND UP 2010 in our parishes, schools and communities.
We pray that the Lebombo family weekend and MU conference will be joyful occasions.
Helen Doery and Liz Crichton from St Peter’s Notting Hill have just returned from a very successful visit to their link parish in Inhambane province - Santa Monica, Homoine where Archdeacon Agostos Burque showed them around his extended parish. Helen and Liz are going to share something of their full and life giving visit at the January Reps meeting. As well as their own link parish they also visited the ALMA’s Children project at Chihunzuine, the Cathedral at Macienne and Maxixe.
Please do remember Bishop Mark and Helen in prayer as they return to a Lichinga without Oscar and with two colleagues so seriously ill.
The work of Dr Peg Cumberland who runs the Lakeshore Community Health programme has been in the news. You can read of her team’s work on reducing maternal mortality along the Lakeshore – a longer version on IPS News and a summary on the Kaiser Family Foundation site.
You might remember that earlier this year St Mary’s Brookfield and the Medical Orchestra started the fundraising for a community health post inland from the Lakeshore at Mandambuzi: Peg’s information on this will shortly be on the website in the Projects section. This is really inspiring work, a model of community based development, and well worth reading about.
Donald Arden has asked me to alert you to the danger Lakeshore communities in Niassa, Malawi and Tanzania face by the mining of uranium in Northern Malawi. This article from Mines and Communities provides some background.
a) 2009 LENT APPEAL NEWS THANK YOU everyone! The 2009 Lent Appeal has exceeded its target! A grand total of £63,337.15p has been raised for Water projects, so each of our partner Dioceses will have £21,000 to invest in Living Water. The Development Support Monitor 2009 ‘Africa in Our Hands’ states: ‘Meeting the MDGs on water and sanitation further requires a deliberate approach to scaling up safe water access points especially in rural areas’. In due course we will be able to share news of the ‘fruits’ of the 2009 Appeal.
b) 2008 LENT APPEAL UPDATE. It’s wonderful to report that the Lent Appeal School in Messumba is finished and that it will be officially opened on 15 November at the Diocesan Family weekend. The Angolan Lent Appeal School in Nsosso is also progressing well, as shown in the pictures .
c) ADVANCE NOTICE LENT APPEAL 2010 (from Diocesan Mailing)
Transforming Lives … ALMA’s Children
The 2010 Diocese of London Lent Appeal for ALMA will be supporting ‘ALMA’s Children’.
Since 2001 the ‘ALMA’s Children’ fund has enabled our partner dioceses in Angola, Lebombo and Niassa (in Mozambique) to respond to one of the greatest challenges they face: ministry to young people – when over 50% of the population is under the age of 18. ‘ALMA’s Children’ has supported work with orphaned and vulnerable children, the building of schools and nurseries, and funding health centres and health education. London’s Lenten discipline in 2010 can play an important part in transforming the lives of even more children and also in contributing to the dynamic witness of our partners.
Practical details: The Lent Appeal Poster will be available to view in the next mailing and the Lent Appeal Card by December. There will be a Lent Appeal area on the Diocesan website linked to both the ALMA and the Transformative sites. Additional resources, worship suggestions and stories will be available online. As normal all parishes will receive a set of materials including a gift aid envelope and a resources order form by post in early January. From 19 January pre-ordered resources will be available for collection from Diocesan House.
Please do everything you can to encourage your parish to be part of the 2010 Lent Appeal.
d) Two Other Agencies with ‘actions’ involving Mozambique
e) Shipping Information
Chris Owens from St Peter and St Paul Teddington shares his research on shipping:
‘I recently went through an exercise to ship 65kgs of collected clothing out to our link parishes in Mozambique (Pemba). After extensive research e.g. contacting lots of freight companies for costs, I eventually came across a company called Supreme Freight. They ship directly to the main ports of Mozambique and Angola. They quoted me a total of £260 (you don’t pay VAT) to pick up the 65kgs of clothing from source address and send onto Maputo. Total time for transit by ship takes approx 28 days. Prior to this quotes had been in the range of £360 - £560 and some only delivered by air at the more expensive rate. Obviously it's never going to be that cheap to send goods out to Africa and you may have come across less expensive companies in your time (would be pleased to hear about them), but I thought I would let you know about this company in case you are looking to send goods out in the near, medium or long term and aren't having much luck in sourcing a freight company The contact name I have is Gary Littlehales. I would also like to add that I thought his handling of the whole process from start to finish was very professional including excellent communication’.
Apologies that this circular is so long!
Sheenagh
Sheenagh Burrell ALMA Communications Officer Diocese of London
Email: almacomms@london.anglican.org
T: Tuesdays 020 7932 1231