Community of Evangelical Churches of the Friends in the Congo
The Community of Evangelical Churches of the Friends in the Congo (in French, Communauté des Églises Évangéliques des Amis au Congo or CEEACO), informally known as Congo Yearly Meeting, is an association of evangelical Friends churches based in the Great Lakes region of Africa, mostly in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by Lake Tanganyika. Unlike most African yearly meetings, it was not founded by missionaries, but by Congolese Friends who had attended Quaker churches in Burundi, beginning in 1981.[1] Today Congo YM contains about 1000 Friends,[1] and affiliates with Evangelical Friends International.
Congo YM also participates in the African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI), which seeks to teach nonviolence and promote healing at a grassroots level, in part via the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP). The first AVP training in the country took place in July of 2005 in Bukavu, a city near the Rwandan border in the eastern province of South Kivu (Sud-Kivu in French).[2] The Change Agents Peace Program (CAPP) supported by Quaker Service Norway also works in the province as well as in North Kivu.[3] Congo YM also participated in the Third Quaker Consultation on Peaceful Prevention of Violent Conflict in Burundi in 2002.[4] The Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered from two major wars since the mid 1990s, and lower-level conflict continues to this day.
The headquarters of Congo YM are in a village called Abeka, in the Fizi region of South Kivu. About 500 people used to live there, but in the wars and conflicts that have occurred since 1996, many have fled the area due to an extreme levels of violence and aggravated rape. In 2005 about only 100 people remained, though some refugees may be returning.[5]
The Evangelical Friends Women's Association in Abeka has been building a trauma clinic for women, and was assisted by an African Great Lakes Initiative summer workcamp in 2006.[5]
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Contact information
Congo YM can be contacted care of the General Secretary and legal representative Mkoko Boseka at the following address:
- Congo Yearly Meeting
- Mkoko Boseka, Legal Representative
- BP 476
- Bujumbura
- BURUNDI[6]
The phone number is +0250 0845 6506 and the email address is cappcongo@yahoo.fr.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Friends Peace Teams African Great Lakes Initiative" by David Zarembka, a paper related to a workshop given at the April 2001 Quaker Peace Roundtable.
- ↑ "Congo" on the AGLI website.
- ↑ 2004 report on the Quaker Network for the Prevention of Violent Conflict website.
- ↑ Report on the Quaker Network for the Prevention of Violent Conflict website.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Bringing Peace and Joy to Abkea" by Mary Kay Jou, AGLI newsletter, fall 2005, pp. 19-20.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Quakers in Africa" from Britain YM.
