African United Methodists pray, raise funds for tsunami victims
|
Bishop Jo�o Somane Machado
|
Bishop Jo�o Somane Machado
|
Jan. 13, 2005A UMNS Report
By Kathy L. Gilbert* United
Methodists in Africa are raising money and praying for their brothers
and sisters in South Asia, who have suffered most of the deaths and
destruction from the earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The
Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami also struck the northeast coast of
Africa. According to reports, one person was killed in Seychelles, one
in Kenya and 13 in Tanzania. Somalia, the hardest-hit country in Africa,
lost nearly 300 lives. In a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean,
about 150,000 people are believed dead and many are still missing. "This
has been a very emotional time in Mozambique," said United Methodist
Bishop Joao Somane Machado. "People are giving of themselves, whatever
they can do." The
Inhambane Parish took up a collection Jan. 9 to help with the tsunami
relief, he said. Other districts are making donations and will send them
to the Mozambique Conference office. The Christian Council of
Mozambique is sending the donations to the Red Cross of Mozambique.
|
|
Bishop John Innis |
The Christian Council
organized an interdenominational prayer and worship service at the
Anglican Church in Maputo, and ambassadors and government leaders came
to worship, Machado said. "If our president had been in the country, he
would have been here as well, but he was not in Mozambique at the
time. It is not the amount that’s important, but the spirit of the
gift. The unity. We lit a candle and passed candlelight to
everyone in the whole church in memory of those lost."Mozambique,
one of the poorest countries in the world, has suffered from floods and
other disasters in the past. Located on the Indian Ocean, its people
know the destruction that water can cause, and they have empathy for
their sisters and brothers in South Asia. "But
even in Mozambique, we cannot imagine the power of this water and the
magnitude of the subsequent loss," Machado said. "We continue to pray
for God’s hand on the poorest of the poor as all work together to create
in God’s kingdom a different life." In
a special statement, Liberian United Methodist Bishop John G. Innis
called upon all United Methodists, Christians and Liberians in general
to hold a special prayer service in the hope that the tsunami victims
will experience healing, relief and recovery. "The
church is deeply saddened by the loss of lives and other horrific
consequences of the tsunami, and it joins the global efforts of United
Methodists to mobilize disaster relief for the millions of victims," he
said.
|
|
Bishop Eben Kanukayi Nhiwatiwa |
| No Long Caption Available for this Story |
"The hopes of
millions of people the world over, especially in Southeast Asia, for a
happy new year were dashed when the unprecedented deadly tsunami,
ocean-based earthquake, struck the coastlines of several Southeast Asian
countries, mainly Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, among others. The
destructive path of the tsunami even reached the coast of Africa, as
seen in Somalia," he said. Bishop
Eben K. Nhiwatiwa, who leads Zimbabwe’s United Methodists, said the
president of Zimbabwe has encouraged the nation to participate in the
relief effort. "We
are passing word to our church people," he said. "I will meet with my
cabinet on Jan 18-19, and we will discuss what we can do. We are very
much aware that the church must do something." *Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn. News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
|
Korean News
