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Engaging climate justice: WCC Eco-School

Students who recently completed the WCC Eco School in Crete, Greece, took time to compile their reflections on how the experience helped them hone their messages and actions related to climate justice and a transition to green energy. This is first of a series of blog entries from Eco School students.

Recognizing autism as a disability

As a parent of an autistic child, it is important for me not only to embrace and accept that my child has autism but also to raise awareness on autism. We are all called upon to champion acceptance, embrace, appreciate, and accept autistic people as valued members of the community. 

Women’s wellness and mental health as part of the mission of the church – a wounded healer’s balm

I received a call from a friend of mine - we both work as medical doctors and had earlier realised that our husbands, who are ministers in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa, had been friends for years —this is one of the reasons that drew us to each other.  She had been attending the February meeting of the Methodist Womens Prayer and Service Union (Manyano), Connexional Extended Executive Meeting. My friend said that the general president, Gretta Makhwenkwe, had appointed us to the Wellness Committee.

HIV stigma still not eradicated—but we can change our mindset

The HIV response has more than forty years now; timely and accessible medications are effective and ensure long healthy lives for people living with HIV. We have more prevention tools and strategies, we know much more about the virus, there are many organizations and websites with dedicated information; yet, HIV stigma persists in deep thinking, having serious consequences for the 38 million people living with HIV across the world.

No more women living with HIV dying with cervical cancer

As we come closer to the 16 Days of Activism, which begins on 25 November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women), includes 1 December (International Day dedicated to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection and mourning those who have died), and runs through 10 December (International Human Rights Day), I write this open letter to policymakers, faith leaders, and all stakeholders interested in the lives of women and girls.

Women suffering from fistula need urgent help

Rose Mantey qualified as a state registered nurse in Ghana in 1996, and completed training in midwifery in 2002. In 2005 she started working in a maternal and child health community clinic, attached to the Mercy Women’s Catholic Hospital in Mankessin, Ghana. 

Peace on the Korean Peninsula – NOW!

“We pray – Peace now – End the War!” This is the motto for the “Light of Peace” Prayer Campaign for the Korean Peninsula. “Peace now!” Now we are caught in the global coronavirus pandemic. The airtime in TV and radio is occupied by news related to the spread of the virus with many bad consequences for health and wealth of humankind. In this crisis we tend to forget other urgent needs. One of them is the call for peace for the Korean Peninsula.

We are under care, not at war

Ever since the dominant narrative in Italy and in the world about the pandemic has assumed a war terminology — that is, immediately after the health situation in any given country changes drastically for the worse — I have been looking for a different metaphor to describe adequately what we are living and suffering and at the same time to offer elements of hope and of sense for the days ahead.

The architect of the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century

There is a saying that “people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”. There are undoubtedly many things we could aspire to learn when it comes to the possibilities of learning from history and the people that left a legacy of their work, setting foundations for the future in which is now our present.

A harmful text on love?

“Yes, he abuses me, but you know, the Bible says I must bear all things” -

“There are many signs that he is cheating and exposing me to HIV, but he says that he is faithful and I should believe all thing in love.” -

And even:

“My father/pastor/teacher rapes me, but my family says that I should just endure it and not bring disgrace on our family/church/school.” -

This can never be the message that Paul wanted to send to the Corinthians or to those of us who read this today!

Taking a visible stand against gender-based violence in Uganda

Before I was born and as I grew up, there were many gender stereotypes that negatively affected women and girls. These included beating wives and not appreciating baby girls. In my culture, girls were deprived of education, because taking them to school was considered a waste of resources. Parents and the general communities looked at girls as sources of dowry (bride price) and so they were married off at an age of 14 -18 years.

It is time to stop the ‘Curse’

I am a 51 year old pastor who grew up in a Caribbean family which was punctuated with fights and beatings between my grandparents, my aunts and their husbands or boyfriends, my mother and my father, and my mother and my sister’s father. All on my mother’s side of the family. I made up my mind that that would not be me!

Solidarity with peaceful eco-resistance movements

“We are part of a struggle in defense of water, life, and mother earth,” people from the Peaceful Resistance Movement of La Puya told us. La Puya is a campsite at the entrance of the El Tambor gold mine in Guatemala, built by some local people five years ago after Kappes, Cassiday and Associates (KCA) – a U.S. based company, tried to bring in equipment to start mining.

Hungry for food, hungry for justice, hungry for peace

October 16 is the World Food Day, and from October 15 to October 21, we celebrate the Churches' Week of Action on Food. So it is an appropriate time to reflect on the scandal and the shame that each night, one person in nine of all humanity goes to sleep hungry. 38 million more people than the previous year are hungry, bringing the number up to 815 million, reversing the 10-year trend of gradual reduction in hunger.

A church that cares for its youth in the midst of HIV and AIDS

The old chapel of the United Evangelical Church "Anglican Community in Angola" in the neighborhood of Golf 1 in Luanda turned out to be quite small for the large number of students from the church's district school. 200 of them had come to attend a workshop on "HIV and AIDS amongst Adolescents and Youth: The Church´s Responsibility" on 2 August, organized by the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy (WCC-EHAIA) team.

Prophetic voices and the AIDS epidemic

Now, perhaps more than at any time in the history of the AIDS epidemic, the world needs strong prophetic voices from Christians as well as from people of other faiths. HIV and AIDS have faded from public consciousness. For a variety of reasons, most people don’t think about AIDS much anymore. Perhaps they think the war is already over, that the scientific and medical advances of the last few decades have solved the problem. Perhaps they think that the epidemic only affects other people, people we don’t need to care about. Perhaps it’s just fatigue, with other issues pushing AIDS aside. Whatever the cause, the lack of attention and awareness may lead us to make some serious mistakes with some even more serious consequences.