American Friends Service Committee (Philadelphia)
6 February 2004
Philadelphia — Tour Goes to Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and other Communities to Highlight Africa's AIDS Crisis, Debt Burden, Economic Rights and its Implications on U.S. Policy
The AIDS crisis, Africa's crushing debt burden, and the importance of good governance for peace and stability will take center stage as the Bridging the Divide: The Africa Peace with Justice Educational Tour makes stops in communities across the United States.
The Africa Peace Tour is part of Toward a New Africa - the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Africa Initiative, which builds stronger links between U.S. communities and the people of Africa. African leaders from varied political, academic and activist backgrounds will address the most pressing and widespread challenges affecting the continent. The American Friends Service Committee is an international social justice organization working in 22 countries of the world.
The Peace Tour visits churches, schools and other locations in Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama during the month of February. Past speakers have included individuals from Sudan, Algeria, Mozambique, Liberia, Mauritania, Uganda, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo including former Rwandan Prime Minister, Faustin Twagiramungu; and Boubacar Ould Messaoud, an anti-slavery activist leading a struggle on behalf of thousands of people in the African country of Mauritania.
"Africa and many U.S. communities are similarly marginalized by national economic policies that transfer resources away from poor working people," states Imani Countess, national coordinator of Toward a New Africa. "To stop the trend, we must build stronger links between our communities."
This year's speakers include Father Rick Bauer, a Maryknoll priest working with African populations stricken by AIDS; Baba Galleh Jallow, an African journalist forced to seek political asylum in the U.S., and Brenda Mofya, AFSC's Quaker International Affairs representative based in South Africa.
Born in Zambia, Brenda Mofya served as a student lawyer with the Zambia Civic Education Association and later did post-graduate research on gender at the International Women's University in Germany. In addition she has worked with several southern African organizations, including the Southern African Legal Aid and Assistance Network (SALAAN), the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections, Ecumenical Service for Advocacy Work on Southern Africa, and the UN Commission on Human Rights
Father Rick Bauer has been working with people with AIDS in Nambia since 1982. From 1996 he was the director of PASADA a large social service and medical clinic for people with AIDS in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 2003 he moved to Namibia and is the director of Catholic AIDS Action of the Namibian Catholic Bishop's Conference. Catholic AIDS Action provides homebased care for people with AIDS, support for orphans and vulnerable children, prevention education, voluntary counseling and testing, and most recently is working with Catholic Health Services and the Namibian Ministry of Health in the role out of anti-retroviral therapy in Namibia. He was ordained in 1985 and is a priest with the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
For the nine years preceding his engagement at the AFSC, Baba Galleh Jallow had been a journalist, editing two major newspapers in his home country of Gambia and working with the Washington, DC-based online media group, AllAfrica.com. He is the founder editor of Gambia's private bi-weekly newspaper, The Independent. Continuous harassment and a string of arrests and detentions by Gambia's military government, which culminated in the arrests of his parents, forced him to leave his country to seek political asylum in the United States.
"Like many of us, Africans are concerned about preventing violence, stopping the flow of arms into their communities, using natural and human resources fairly, and improving economic conditions," Imani Countess said, "Global action and local concern must join together to become a force that US policymakers cannot ignore."
The AFSC Africa Initiative is designed to educate U.S. citizens about issues of violence, war, militarization, illness and oppression that affect the African people. It works toward the formation of a U.S. foreign policy that will promote the economic and political well-being of the continent.
This month, the Initiative launched its Life Over Debt campaign, bringing activists from across the country to will meet with key Congressional leaders in Washington to make them more aware of the connection between Africa's onerous debt and its escalating health crises.
Six thousand Africans die daily as a result of HIV/AIDS. Another 40 million face chronic food shortages, while millions have perished as a result of conflict. Yet, despite Africa's multiple crises, the continent transfers almost $15 billion dollars a year to rich nations in the West - payment on external debt. The shift of money from the poorest of the poor to the richest is unjust, as well as morally and ethically wrong.
Africa has only 5 percent of the developing world's income, yet it carries about two thirds of the debt - over $300 billion. Africa's debt is odious and illegitimate. Even though African nations are fighting the AIDS pandemic, recovering from regional conflict, and facing drought and famine, they pay wealthy countries in the global north $1.51 in debt service for every $1 in aid they receive.
"A holocaust is sweeping through Africa, claiming millions of lives. Can Americans afford to be silent?" Brenda Mofya emphasizes. "The average African country spends three times more of its scarce resources on repaying debt than it does on providing basic services. Millions of people lack access to primary education, preventative health care, adequate food and safe drinking water. It is not just morally wrong; it is also poor economics."
With national headquarters in Philadelphia and regional offices in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Des Moines, New York City, Pasadena, San Francisco, Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Seattle, Washington, The American Friends Service Committee works for peace, justice and reconciliation in 22 countries of the world. Founded in 1917 to provide conscientious objectors with an opportunity to aid civilian victims during World War I, AFSC is grounded in Quaker beliefs respecting the dignity and worth of every person. AFSC has programs in the United States, and in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East that focus on issues related to economic justice, peace-building and demilitarization, social justice, and youth. In 1947, the AFSC and the British Friends Service Council received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends, for humanitarian service, work for reconciliation, and the spirit in which these were carried out.
For more information on Toward a New Africa, or the American Friends Service Committee, please visit our web site at www.afsc.org. For additional information or for a complete schedule, contact Katie Brownrigg at the American Friends Service Committee Southeastern Regional Office at 404-586- 0460 extension 13.
The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
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