Green shoots of life in a fragile African land

CHURCH leaders in Ethiopia have appealed for continued support from the international community to strengthen the country's fragile peace, according to delegates just returned from a Council of Churches British and Ireland (CCBI) tour of the country.
Once the symbol of Africa's suffering, Ethiopia's needs have been overshadowed by events elsewhere. But despite the best harvest for 16 years, the population remains in absolute poverty, bankrupted by three decades of civil war.
Ethiopia's Orthodox Patriarch Abune Paulos said the populations's survival had been achieved through the generosity of people in other countries. "Western people collected money to feed the hungry children whom they had never met. This was very moving," he said.
But the Patriarch told the CCBI delegates that the wounds incurred by war and drought are slow to heal. "When the guns are silent, the interest is gone. Soundless poverty is killing many of our people and this is a stumbling block to the stabilisation of the country. One should not be surprised if there is new trouble if we fail to meet the basic needs of hungry people."
Two Church representatives from Britain and Ireland, Bishop John Ftawsthorne, auxiliary bishop of Liverpool, and the Revd Leslie Wallace, general secretary of the Irish Methodist Missionary Society, met with the Patriarch and other Ethiopian Church leaders.
The Church party, accompanied by Cathy Corcoran, head of projects at the Catholic aid agency, CAFOD, also met Ethiopia's Catholic Cardinal Paulos Tzadua
The visit was part of a larger ecumenical excursion to Africa organised by the CCBI . Other Church leaders toured Kenya and Mozambique.
According to Bishop Rawsthorne, the aim of the tour was to raise awareness in Britain about the African Churches. He stressed the importance of "listening with our eyes as well as our ears, and looking beyond the stereotypes of the continent that are presented to us".
Bishop Rawsthorne said Ethiopia's three Churches "were preaching a very strong social doctrine", and had a vital role to play in rebuilding the country.