AFJN Food Security Toolkit
Posted January 11th, 2012
Food security is an important and dynamic issue in the study of Africa. Familiarize yourself with the definitions, current issues, and how to advocate for food security using AFJN's Food Security Toolkit. Put together by AFJN interns, this toolkit is a clear and thorough introduction to understanding African food security and how it relates to foreign aid, trade, and climate change. Feel free to cite and use this toolkit to start a conversation with your community or church about food security--that's what it's all about!
ReliefWeb provides Food Security Snapshots, for up-to-date information on a country's food security. Click here to read Burundi's current food security status.
Urging Nonviolence in dealing with the Lord's Resistance Army
Posted January 11th, 2012. This article by Bahati Jacques from the Oct-Dec Edition of Around Africa, 2011.
On October 14, 2011, President Barack Obama sent a letter to Congress to inform law-makers that he had authorized the deployment of one hundred "combat equipped U.S. forces to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield." This decision is in compliance with US Public Law 111 172, the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, enacted on May 24, 2010.
For more than two decades Joseph Kony, the Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has been killing, abducting and raping children, men and women in Uganda, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Republic of South Sudan (RSS).
Read more: Urging Nonviolence in dealing with the Lord's Resistance Army
Africae Munus: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
Posted January 3rd, 2012. This article from the Oct-Dec 2011 edition of Around Africa, by Aniedi Okure, AFJN Executive Director
Encouragement for the Church in Africa and a challenge to the Universal Church
On November 19th, 2011, in the Republic of Benin in West Africa, Pope Benedict XVI published the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Africae Munus which means Africa's Commitment, marking the climax of the Second Synod of Bishops for Africa (2009). The exhortation builds on the theme of the First Synod of Bishops for Africa, Ecclesia in Africa (1994) which focused on the "Church as Family of God". It described the family as a place of belonging, dialogue and solidarity, a place where everyone feels welcomed and the uniqueness of each member is respected and nurtured. The Second Synod places special emphasis on the theological themes that are integral to the family of God – personal reconciliation, building a just social order and promoting peace through living the beatitudes. Africae Munus notes that the family is the place that propagates the "culture of forgiveness, peace and reconciliation" (#43).
Africae Munus is presented as a two part address. Part one which includes many elements of Ecclesia in Africa opens with "Behold I make all things new" and highlights what the Pope sees as a new dawn of Christian maturity on the African continent. Part two focuses on the constituent members of the Church – clergy, consecrated persons, men and women missionaries, lay pastoral leaders, the elderly, youth and children – and challenges Church leadership to recognize and embrace their gifts so as to give an appropriate and holistic response to the pastoral needs of the time, and to lead by example rather than just teaching.
Read more: Africae Munus: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation
