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During April and May 2005 I
spent 6 weeks in Africa — Kenya,
South Africa and Namibia. Thus
you will not be too surprised to
discover that a large part of this
edition comprises articles on this
impressive continent — an
immense land peopled by an
energetic and gifted people. |
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| Fr Adrian Meaney MSC | ||||||
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| Namibia |
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| I was invited by the MSC Sisters
to give 2 retreats to their
communities in South West Africa and at the
same time to meet with the remote communities
we were assisting.
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| To my amazement and
delight, I was taken to the
barren Kalahari Desert.
Here we met the Bushmen
or Sam people whose way
of life has remained
unchanged for thousands of
years. They are known as
the original inhabitants of Africa, and because of their careful | ||||||||||
| use of nature have been described as the world ’s greatest conservations. | |||||||||||
| Years ago, I watched the |
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humorous movie ‘The Gods Must be Crazy’. I
was amused and attracted
by the simple child like goodness of the Bushmen
and the clicking sound of their language. But never did I dream that I would actually visit
them in their desert homeland.
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But thanks to the MSC who have worked with these people for dozensz
of years, such a meeting was made possible.
And the purpose of our visit was to assist with
water projects – made possible by the generosity
of our Australian benefactors. | |||||||||||
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It is in Africa that the number of Christians is
growing more rapidly than in any other
continent. At present South America and
Europe have a greater number of Christians, but
it is estimated that soon Africa will overtake
them both.
Our media, more often than not, presentsmainly the problems that plague contemporary Africa. Perhaps only the travel advertisements remind us of the breathtaking landscapes, the mighty rivers with their waterfalls, the unique cultures with music, dance, dress etc.But let us not forget the family |
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Of course there are places of extreme poverty,
endless warfare, millions of refugees,
uncontrollable HIV/Aids, even slavery, as well
as missions without adequate water supply, poor communications and inadequate supplies etc. Of course there are |
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