Where do we go to meet and invite younger folks to be part of the Africa Faith and Justice Network? Here in the USA we have approached university students over the past two years to engage them in advocacy for Northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Last year’s Northern Uganda Lobby Days attracted over 700 young people to come to DC and make their voices heard on the Hill. Three college campuses are now affiliated in some way with AFJN:  Notre Dame and St. Mary’s University in Notre Dame, IN and Loyola University of Chicago, IL.  Significant contacts have been extended to 4 other campuses:  University of Illinois, Chicago; Dayton University in Dayton, Ohio, Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio and American University here in DC.

But I keep hearing that little voice we all have inside saying, “Go to the source!” Our source is Africa and this past summer I was able to attend and present at the Pan African International Young Christian Student (YCS) Movement Council held in Kampala, Uganda in late July. It took place just before the IYCS World Council also in Kampala. The YCS movement was started by Fr. Joseph Cardijn in the late 1920’s as a way to engage students in Catholic Social Action as well as to be in solidarity with one another. The international movement, begun after World War II, is now 60 years old. Many of us who work in Africa know the YCS movement and it is alive and well in over 82 countries worldwide.

At the Pan African Council I met 50 enthusiastic, committed and faith-filled YCSers from 19 African countries. Their themes for this council were poverty eradication, peace building, capacity and skills building for accountability, education, climate change and HIV/AIDS education. Because so many of these issues fit with much of what we advocate for at AFJN, they immediately wanted to be a part of it. One of my purposes for this Africa trip was to connect with various East Africa Justice and Peace centers that are either part of diocesan structures or ministries of the many religious communities present in the region. I discovered that many former YCSers serve in these Justice and Peace offices because YCS forms their members to do the research, articulate the analysis of the situation and move to action.  At the council meeting I heard reports from various African countries, relating both to the challenges they face as students as well as the actions they take to engage in justice work.  Much is done with little means. Their faith informs their experience and they make justice happen in both big and small ways. I invited them to keep in contact with us and to share future reports so that we can use their efforts to strengthen our advocacy for Africa.

I have invited the newly elected IYCS General Secretary, Mr. Koffi Eduardo Koutsava of Togo, and two members of the Pan Africa YCS Team, Ms. Mary Wambui of Kenya and Fr. Pius Rutechura, the Pan African Chaplain as well as General Secretary of AMECEA  to join us at the 25th  Their presence will be a treat for all those coming.  Catch the enthusiasm and grace they have as we together advocate for Peace and Justice in Africa. Anniversary Celebrations and Conference.

-Fr. Rocco Puopolo, s.x., Executive Director