Anglican presence in Burundi makes a difference

From Canada-

“I WANT TO tell you how I lost my arms.”

That is the opening line of a feature article on page 1, and the words are spoken by Francine Nijimbere, a 26-year-old mother living in Burundi. Her story is both alarming and tragic, almost incomprehensible to our Western sensibilities.

Anglican Journal staff writer Marites Sison spent time visiting Burundi, accompanying a delegation from the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF). Her stories and photographs appeared in the April Journal, on the Journal Web site, and will conclude with this edition.

This isn’t, however, an editorial about the 13 years of civil war in Burundi nor of the brutality that has claimed thousands of lives. This editorial is about the Anglican church’s response to Burundi and the other “Burundis” in the world.

Amazingly, most of the pictures of the women, men and children who welcomed Archbishop Fred Hiltz, PWRDF director Cheryl Curtis and others consist of joy-filled, life-loving, God-glorifying faces. One would expect faces that reflect despair amid a life of poverty; hopelessness in a world filled with HIV-AIDS; anger in the daily reality of violence against women.

The rest-

http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2009/135/may/05/article/anglican-presence-in-burundi-makes-a-difference/?cHash=5d9da52e21