SAFCAM Communique #26 

SAFCAM Communique #26                  14 November 2020 

Dear Subscribers

There are so many issues in the news which would deserve some comment this week.

The Covid-19 tsunami is raising corona-phobia and lockdowns in many parts of the world despite plenty of hopeful news regarding vaccines. Thank God again that Africa is being spared the worst of this pandemic.

The USA elections fiasco – with an incumbent refusing to concede defeat, and allegations of elections not having been free and fair due to voting irregularities and vote-counting fraud – is a consolation to us in some way. Africa is not alone in risking the sticky label that it is a continent consisting of “Banana Republics”.

SARS usually stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. But in the last month #EndSARS has become the banner for Young People in Nigeria using Social Media to protest against police brutality, with SARS standing for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, which has become a rogue branch of the Nigerian police. The #EndSARS protest has in fact become the biggest movement for change by young people in Nigeria’s history. George Floyd became an icon in the crusade against unwarranted police discrimination worldwide. How many icons should be sparking BLM campaigns or rather All Lives Matters in Africa? At least the young Nigerians are growing more aware of the responsibility as CITIZENS! (See the interesting article on the Safcam.org website)

The people of the Tigray region of Ethiopia are suffering a terrible repression having rebelled against their unfair discrimination and neglect by the central government. Please spare a prayer or two for our confreres in the communities of Adigrat, Adua, Makalle and Shire. With the government blocking all communication channels, there is no news from them.

The Vatican ‘Theodore McCarrick’ report has made the headlines and the Church has again been accused of trying to defend itself of any guilt regarding crimes committed by high ranking clerics.

But the Church cannot be accused of not expressing sorrow and compassion for the victims, or of trying to hide the facts of this case. A detailed report of over 400 pages, all shameful deeds included, is available online for anyone to read.

Typhoons in the Philippines and elsewhere on the planet are continually causing devastation and death. Some jump to conclusions that the end of the world is nigh! We are nearing the end of the liturgical year and the readings remind us of the Parousia, but we don’t think we need worry that we will see the final countdown in our earthly lifetime.

And finally, more tragic news which the world media is turning a blind eye to, except Zenit:

Jihadist Horror in Mozambique - Beheadings Confirmed by Police - NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Extremists linked to Daesh (ISIS) beheaded more than 50 people in the past week.

News of the beheadings have been confirmed by police. The violence is the latest in a string of more than 600 attacks in the Cabo Delgado province, where up to 2,000 people have died and 310,000 have been made homeless.

Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Sister Blanca Nubia Zapata said the attackers, from a group calling itself Islamic State in Central Africa, are forcing people from their homes. “It seems as though they are trying to evict the entire population of the northern part of Cabo Delgado province, expelling the ordinary people without the slightest vestige of compassion. Over 12,000 people have arrived here in the past two weeks. We can’t keep up. Women and children are arriving, and older people who have been walking for days. Some have died on the way, on the roads, and the forest tracks… All the people want to do is to get away from there. They are simply terrified. Many of the families have asked our help, and we have rescued the families of the children at the school with immense difficulty, with private vehicles and the help of third parties.”

Reports say the militants turned a football pitch in the village of Muidumbe into an “execution ground” and that more than 15 children and other young people were killed. Regina Lynch, ACN International head of projects, said: “…Hardly any international attention is being paid to this long-running tragedy over many long and painful months. They have burnt down churches and destroyed convents, and also abducted religious sisters. But almost nobody has paid any attention to this jihadist violence in Africa, which is affecting everybody, both Christians and Muslims alike.”

There could be many more issues to draw our attention to and to add to our prayer intention lists, but that’s enough for this week, isn’t it!

 As usual we suggest something to look at, if you have time, on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/-Xk2acFPLbw  - Bosco Bytes – Fr Glenford Lowe shares the encounter of Don Bosco with Michael Rua.

God bless,

Camiel and Francois