AFRICA/NAMIBIA - “The local Church contributes towards national development in Namibia, oasis of stability in southern Africa” Catholic Bishops tell Fides

Friday, 10 June 2005

Rome (Fides Service)- “Namibia is an example of stability for the whole of Africa” a group of Namibian Catholic Bishops told Fides yesterday in an interview in the Vatican. Archbishop Liborius Ndumbukuti Nashenda of Windhoek, Bishop Klaus Lettner Diocesan administrator of Keetmanshoop and Bishop Joseph S. Shikongo OMI of the Apostolic Vicariate of Rundu are in Rome for their five yearly ad limina visit to pray at the tombs of Saints Peter and Paul, report to the Pope on the joys and troubles of their local Church and receive his encouragement and advice.
Namibia became independent in 1990 after a long civil war against South Africa’a occupying troops. “The country has enjoyed democracy and stability since then” the Bishops said. “Since 1990 we have had two Presidents democratically voted in elections with results accepted by all, including the opposition. This is no small achievement on a continent where a change in presidency often happens under dramatic circumstances”. However Namibia is in a part of Africa which is marked by civil strife. Some of these wars, such as the one in Angola for example, only ended a few years ago. This explains the presence here of about 21,000 refugees who fled wars in Angola, Democratic Congo, Republic of Congo, Burundi and Rwanda. “The local Catholic Church works closely with various international institutions and humanitarian organisations such as the Jesuit Refugee Service to provide assistance for refugees particularly in the field of education. The Church has primary and secondary schools in the different refugee camps” the Bishops told Fides.
“Thanks to its political stability the country can concentrate on development” the Bishops said. “Namibia is rich in natural resources, diamonds, copper and other minerals and it has expanding fishing and tourist industries. One major challenge is to have a better distribution of riches because there is a growing gap between most people living in conditions of poverty and a very small group of very rich people”.
Besides pastoral care and activities for evangelisation the local Catholic Church offers important social services in education, health-care and development. “We support a number of development programmes and are engaged in providing healthcare” the Bishops said. “The country’s 14 Catholic hospitals play a fundamental part in assisting people with AIDS which is a major problem in Namibia. In 1998 in collaboration with the German government and Catholic charity institutions the local Church launched a programme to assure anti-retroviral treatment for people with HIV+ and AIDS. In 2003 an estimated 20% of Namibians (more than 210,000) had AIDS and 16,000 died of it.
“At the level of education the Church runs 6 secondary schools, 21 primary schools and 28 kindergartens. The high quality of education offered at Catholics schools is highly appreciated, many of our pupils are non Catholics” the Bishops told Fides.
“These are outstanding achievements for the Catholic community which despite being a minority group consisting of only 21% of the population is important in this country. Other Christians include Anglicans, Lutherans and Methodists. Between 10-20% of Namibians still follow traditional African religions. “We have made progress in ecumenism particularly thanks to the national Council for Ecumenism of which the local Catholic church is also a member. We Christian Churches work together in social programmes mainly in providing health care and promoting economic development”. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 10/6/2005 righe 50 parole 566)


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