Working at Home to Improve the Conditions of Women, Children and Youth

On October 10, the Women’s Division and Mission Personnel unit of the General Board of Global Ministries commissioned a pilot group of nine missionaries who will be concentrating work in their home regions and with the grassroots to improve the lives of women, children and youth in targeted priority areas specified by the women and youth themselves.

Raised in Cameroon, Catherine Akale is going back to her home country to work across the Sub-Saharan region on social and economic justice issues facing women. As feminists in the North speak about the "third-wave" of the feminist movement, Ms. Akale says that African women have not even reached the first wave.

"Gender segregation is embedded in church and social structures," says Ms. Akale. To address this, she will be consulting with other women in the region to identify the major issues of concern women face.

Ms. Akale sees empowerment of women in Africa coming through education. "We will begin seminars and workshops hopefully enabling women to be on an equal ground with men in church, society, economics and employment," says Ms. Akale.

Ms. Akale admits that initial resistance may come from the male church leadership who might not want an awareness of equal rights and equal opportunities to be hammered too strongly, fearing loss of their leadership. "That’s why I would like to work around those fears, taking on some of the cultural issues of respect, and show that even within that, there’s room for women to participate on an equal basis within the institutions, society, households, and wherever there are talented women."

. Violence against women will be a major challenge, according to Ms. Akale.

"Most African cultures have conditioned women to be secretive about intra-family violence," says Ms. Akale. "The cultural aspect of violence is another issue. Because many women are economically dependent on men, if there is a violation of their rights, there is a fear of losing security and contact with one’s own family."

John Yambasu will be working in Sub-Sahara Africa also, with United Methodists, Methodists, and ecumenically in youth leadership development and networking.

For 15 years, Mr. Yambasu has been working for youth in Africa. Organizing programs to help empower youth impacts his own life and gives him a broader perspective, according to Mr. Yabasu.

"When the war broke out in Sierra Leone, there was a response to the children and youth affected in war," says Mr. Yambasu. Because of this response, Mr. Yambasu developed the Child Rescue Center in Sierra Leone, an orphanage for 40 children. The center housed children who fought in the war, had been abducted, and were homeless. As the center expanded to care for the children’s needs, a clinic was built to provide medical treatment to all of the children, including children of teenage mothers who were raped during the war. Now, the center provides free education for 100 children at the primary school level.

"When we look at the African continent today, it is one that is full of crisis. If it is not war, it is political unrest, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, and disease, the most critical of which is the AIDS crisis," says Mr. Yambasu. "In all of these crises, young people play the most active roll. They are also the perpetrators and victims. If any difference is to be made on the continent, we need to begin preparing our young people to be able to make a positive impact on the continent."

By working collectively, Mr. Yambasu with others plans dialogues, programs and activities that will provide a ministry for youth and influence them to take their plans on addressing these issues back to their churches and countries.

Roseangela Oliveira’s mission will be with other women in Latin America as they train women for participation in all levels of the church, on issues like violence, health, women’s human rights, and organizing women for mission.

One of the ways to train women on these issues is through Schools of Mission, according to Ms. Oliveira. Organized by the Methodist women’s organization of Brazil, and in partnership with Bennett College, the school of mission has taken subjects of health, spirituality, and violence against women, and moved the trainings into the local units.

"The women’s organization is doing their own leadership development, which is new for us in Brazil. They are working on women’s issues. Training used to be just a tool to relate to some of the ministries in the church. Now the women’s organizations are organizing the leadership to discuss their lives, be aware of what’s going on in society, see how they can participate in women’s campaigns, etc.," says Ms. Oliveira. "We will help them participate with women across Latin America to network, gain new experiences, and support work they are already doing."

All nine of the members of this pilot group are experienced in mission and five of them have been recipients of Women’s Division scholarships.

"This has been a process to enable what the regional missionaries. From the working conferences to consultations at Assembly, and numerous other interchanges, women and youth from around the world have made known areas of need for resourcing. The sending forth of these GBGM regional missionaries is a response to their requests for accompaniment," says Louise Fawcett, team leader for International Ministries with women, children and youth. "It is our plan that this is the beginning and could be a model for the future."

The Women’s Division represents United Methodist Women, a one-million member organization whose purpose is to foster spiritual growth, develop leaders and advocate for justice. Members raise more than $20 million a year for programs and projects related to women, children and youth in the United States and in more than 100 countries around the world.