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Cholera call to action

14 Dec 2008 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday's first reading the prophet Isaiah proclaims glad tidings to the poor and liberty to captives. As the people of Zimbabwe, trapped in poverty and virtual political captivity, suffer a growing cholera crisis, world aid organizations and church and political leaders are starting to call for the forcible removal from power of President Robert Mugabe. The World Health Organization said Sunday that close to 14,000 cholera cases had been reported in the African nation, and 589 people had already died. This week the United Nations Children's Fund in Zimbabwe said it was preparing to deal with a possible 60,000 cases of cholera in coming weeks. Raila Odinga, the Kenyan prime minister, urged the African Union to call an emergency meeting to authorize sending troops into Zimbabwe and said Mugabe's actions deserved investigation by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, the second highest figure in the Church of England, said: "The time to remove them from power has come. Robert Mugabe and his henchmen must now take their rightful place in The Hague and answer for their actions." U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Zimbabwe's cholera outbreak endangered the whole of southern Africa. "I am still really appalled at the inability of the international community to deal with tyrants. Robert Mugabe should have gone a long time ago," she said. Zimbabwe Health Minister David Parirenyatwa spoke against politicizing the outbreak. "Cholera affects everyone and it does not chose between Zanu-PF and MDC supporters," he said, referring to Mugabe's party and the Movement for Democratic Change led by his rival Morgan Tsvangirai. Source: Articles by Tristan Stewart-Robertson for The Scotsman, Agence France Press, and Ekklesia.co.uk

zimbabwe condoleezza rice john sentamu international criminal court raila odinga united nations childrens fund world health organization robert mugabe cholera david parirenyatwa

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Hungering for a solution to food insecurity

11 Nov 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Hunger, thirst, and food shortages are upmost on the minds of the prophet Elijah and the widow he meets in the struggling town of Zarephath in this Sunday’s first reading. Much of southern Africa shares that concern these days, currently facing food shortages that have led to a sharp rise in food insecurity in the region.Lesotho, Malawi, and Zimbabwe are some of the countries where food insecurity is particularly high, according to a report from Food World News. Overall, more than 5.5 million people in the region have been affected."Southern Africa is facing a silent food-insecurity emergency," said Catherine Bragg, United Nations Deputy Humanitarian Chief, who visited Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe recently. Bragg was in the region on a five-day visit to review the food situation to work with the governments there to come up with a feasible solution."In Lesotho, about a third of the population does not have enough food to eat or sell. In Zimbabwe, 1.6 million people are expected to be food insecure, and many families are selling their own livestock to cope with this dire situation," she said.The uptick in food insecurity is attributed to floods and droughts in key food-growing regions in Southern Africa. Moreover, while South Africa has enough to export to its neighbors, the fact that it grows genetically modified food crops makes its food exports unwelcome in several African countries. High prices of food commodities in the global market have also led to a drop in food imports.The United Nations estimates that by 2050 at least 77 million more people will be going hungry than are doing so today. Part of the problem is the dominance of agriculture for export—"cash crops"—that take away from people the richest yielding agricultural land in many parts of the world. The U.N. has urged nations to cooperate to balance market forces with the basic human need for food. Source: An article by Sharon Robinson for Food World News

zimbabwe cash crops genetically modified food food exports catherine bragg malawi lesotho southern africa food shortages food insecurity south africa food world news

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Homily stories

06 Mar 2011 - Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

John Bradburne was a quietly heroic doer of God's peace. Bradburne, a Third Order Franciscan, was known as the "leper saint" for his work in Zimbabwe before his death in 1979. Bradburne was born in England in 1921. He served in the Indian Army during World War II, and afterward became a Roman Catholic while staying at an English abbey. His desire for solitude and prayer led him to contact a missionary friend in Africa and eventually go to that continent. Bradburne was invited to become "warden" of the Mutemwa Leprosy Camp, where at the time about 80 leprosy patients were living in primitive conditions. He offered them loving care and then, with the help of three others trained in medicine, medical care. But his uncompromising defense of the camp's residents made him enemies. After a conflict with the committee overseeing the camp, he was kicked out and ended up living in a tin hut, sneaking in at night to keep vigil with the dying, read to them in Shona from the Bible, give them Communion, and dig graves. In the 1970s the Zimbabwean war for independence came to the area of the settlement. Bradburne was arrested on the night of September 2 by guerrillas. He was set free two days later, but on his way back to the colony he was shot and killed. After his death it was discovered he had written more than 6,000 pages of poetry. Surely he rests in peace.

Authors Joel Schorn

john bradburne leper zimbabwe care

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