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URI CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE—2005 |
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Written by URI Cooperation Circles
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Thursday, 06 October 2005 |
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Page 7 of 20
Uganda. Despina Namwembe.
The International Day of peace in Uganda was celebrated well by most CCs. CCs organized differently along different thematic areas which emphasised peace.
According to Sheikh Musa Khalil the sub-regional contact person for northern Uganda, the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative conducted candle light interfaith prayers on the eve of 21st. Many people from this region came for bull roasting and shared some good moments and merry making which is unusual in northern Uganda. Sheikh Khalil confirms that for several hours peace was evident on many people's faces, thus the war in this region which had been in existence for more than 20 years seemed like history. The following day, there was an interfaith peace walk concluded by prayers at the boma grounds. Sheikh Khalil said the concluding prayers and also spoke highly about URI and its contribution to peace.
Universal Ministries CC, Stewardship Ministries CC and Affinet CC hail from the same sub region. These merged their activities. These celebrated under the theme of "Empowering the orphaned child. a key to national development". Uganda has over 2 million orphans mostly due to HIV and the War. The CC contact persons invited most of the religious leaders in their sub-region and also invited government officials. The Member of Parliament for the area was also present. Bishop Jackson Matovu who is the URI contact person for Stewardship Ministries CC said that peace can not be enjoyed when orphans have no clear future ahead of them. Later the orphans who are being looked after by the cc leadership exhibited their art and crafts, also those who are undertaking skills in tailoring, carpentry, etc. exhibited. Rev. Michael Lubowa of Universal Ministries is on a missionary tour in London.
Youth Interfaith Mission and Interfaith Youth Partnership CCs also came together under the umbrella of URI and decided to conduct a youth work camp for northern Uganda refugees who had been resettled in Mukono district (southern Uganda). The youths collected used clothes, shoes, hand bags, etc., for these refugees and also offered manual labour to do general cleaning and offered food to them.
Pamoja CC members did not directly participate in the celebrations but are still undertaking skills training courses in alternatives to violence at Makerere University. They want to utilize these skills together with the URI Interfaith Peacebuilding Guide to train other CC members in peace building.
I attended interfaith peace prayers at Wampewo grounds in Kampala. Our country has transitioned into multi-party politics and tension is building up already. Most people are fearful of what might happen in the next year’s elections. The last time this country had similar type of politics was in the late 70s and early 80s; there was a lot of chaos and loss of lives. Religious leaders therefore prayed for peace in this transitional period. They also prayed for harmonious co-existence mostly among the Christians and the Moslems. There had been an earlier clash among Christians and Moslems simply because according to the Christians, the Moslems had misinterpreted some of the verses in the Bible. Some of those who initiated the fighting are already in prison. As a URI representative I was requested to offer a reading concerning peace. I did this and requested the congregation to repeat after me at the end: "May peace prevail on earth."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 15 February 2006 )
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