The Contributors
SEEKING PEACE IN AFRICA
Stories from African Peacemakers


Dr. Agnes Regina Murei Abuom is Vice President of the World Conference of Religions for Peace. Formerly the Africa President for the World Council of Churches (WCC), as of 2006 she is a member of the WCC Executive Committee. She is also Executive Director of TAABCO Research and Development Consultants. Dr. Abuom’s specialties are economic justice and peace and reconciliation. She resides in Kenya, is a lay member of the Anglican Church, and served as Co-moderator of the Watu Wa Amani conference.

Million Belete attended the Watu Wa Amani conference as a representative of the Meserete Kristos Church, of which he was the first chairperson. He was active in the Mennonite World Conference from 1965 to 1978 and was president for one term. For some time he was involved with the Africa Mennonite and Brethren in Christ Fellowship. For a number of years he was the United Bible Societies Regional Secretary for Africa. He is now retired and living in Ethiopia.

Salamatu Joel Billi is an active woman in the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN), Church of the Brethren in Nigeria.

Mkoko Boseka is the legal representative of Communaute des Eglises Evangeliques des Amis au Congo (CEEACO), meaning Community of Evangelical Churches of the Friends in the Congo. He resides in the village of Abeka, the region of Fizi, the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is the location of the headquarters of the yearly meeting of CEEACO.

Adamu Buba is an evangelist for the EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). He was formerly Chief of Police in the city of Maiduguri in Borno State of northeastern Nigeria. For thirty-eight years he was a Muslim, then he converted to Christianity in 1999.

Bitrus V. Z. Debki come from the Kamwe (Higgi) people of northeastern Nigeria. For over six years he has served as a pastor of the Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, Church of the Brethren in Nigeria).

Dr. Fernando Enns is Professor of Theology and Director of the Institute for Peace Church Theology at the University of Hamburg in Germany. He is a pastor in the German Mennonite Church and vice-chairperson of the Association of Mennonite Congregations in Germany. Since 1998 he has been a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches. He was instrumental in the WCC’s action to adopt the current Decade to Overcome Violence at the Eighth WCC World Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1998, and he serves on the WCC’s reference group for the Decade. Dr. Enns holds a Doctor of Theology degree from the University of Heidelberg. He and his wife Renate reside in Hamburg, Germany.

Lon Fendall is the Director of the Center for Global Studies and the Center for Peace and Justice at George Fox University, in Newberg, Oregon. He has served as an academic dean at three colleges and as a staff member for Mark Hatfield, retired Republican Senator from Oregon. He is the author of Citzenship: A Christian Calling; and William Wilberforce: Abolitionist, Politician, and Writer. He is the co-author of Unlocking Horns: Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Burundi; and of At Home With the Poor.

Matthew Abdullahi Gali was formerly Pastor of the EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria), church in Kano in northwestesern Nigeria.

Rev. Filibus K. Gwama is from the Zalidiva tribe in Nigeria. He was born in 1944 in the area of Ngoshe, the local government of Gwoza, and the state of Borno. He has been a pastor with the EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) since 1966 and currently is president of EYN. He received his M.Div. from Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana, USA, in 1995.

Ahmed Ali Haile is a lecturer at Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya. He has a B.A. degree in Economics from Goshen (Ind.) College; the M.A.P.S. degree from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana; and the M.P.A. from Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana. He is from Somalia and now resides in Kenya.

Scott Holland teaches peace, public, and cross-cultural theology at Bethany Theological Seminary, in partnership with Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. He is contributing editor to Cross Currents: The Journal of the Association for Religion and Intellectual Life.

Dean Johnson is Assistant Dean, Director of Plowshares, and Assistant Professor of Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies at Goshen (Ind.) College, Goshen, Indiana. He holds an M.Div. from Bethany Theological Seminary and is currently enrolled in doctoral studies at Iliff School of Theology and the University of Denver (Col.). He directed the production of the DVD that documents the 2004 Watu Wa Amani Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ramazoni Kakozi is Director of the Department of Peace for the Community of Evangelical Churches of Friends in the Congo (DRC).

Adolphe Komuesa Kalunga is the national president and legal representative of the Congo Mennonite Community, the largest of three Mennonite denominations in the Congo (DRC). He is a pastor and a theologian who teaches at the Christian University of Kinshasa, Congo.

B. Bruce Khumalo is a Brethren in Christ Church (BICC) pastor in Zimbabwe. He has served in the following ministry involvements: Theological Education by Extension (TEE) instructor and translator; Bible school lecturer and principal; President of all Principals for the African Mennonite colleges; BICC representative to the Mennonite World Conference; Executive Secretary and Treasurer for the Africa Mennonite and BICC Fellowship; national executive of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ); provincial chair of EFZ; and pastor of a rural BIC church. He was trained in Haggai Institute, Singapore, and Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, Ohio. He and his wife Kezineth have five children—four boys and a girl.

Malesi Kinaro is founder of Friends in Peace and Community Development, a Christian peace organization working in western Kenya. Currently she is working as the executive director of a youth empowerment organization in Kenya known as the Uzima Foundation. She is also Coordinator of Friends for Peace and Community Development, which is bringing the Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) workshops to western Kenya. She is an evangelist/counselor at Ngong Road monthly Meeting of the Nairobi Yearly Meeting of the Friends church in Kenya. She was formerly General Secretary of the Friends World Committee for Consultation—Africa Section.

Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, of the Methodist Church in Kenya, was elected General Secretary of the World Council of Churches in August 2003 and took up his new post in January 2004. Earlier in 2003 he served as director and special representative for Africa of the WCC. Before coming to the WCC, Dr. Kobia was general secretary of Kenya’s National Council of Churches. From 1978 to 1984 he was WCC executive secretary of Urban Rural Mission and also served as secretary of the WCC Africa Task Force. In 1992 Kobia chaired Kenya’s National Election Monitoring Unit, chaired peace talks for Sudan (1991), helped found the Nairobi Peace Group and the Fellowship of Councils of Churches in Eastern and Southern Africa, was vice-moderator of the Commission of the WCC Programme to Combat Racism (1984-91), chaired the Frontier Internship in Mission International Coordination Committee (1981-85), and helped reorganize the Zimbabwe Christian Council after independence (1980-81).

Pascal Tshisola Kulungu is Director of the Center of Peace Building, Leadership, and Good Governance based in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. He is also the Financial Director at Christian University of Kinshasa. In addition, Mr. Kulungu serves as trainer in the area of leadership and good governance, conflict resolution, mediation, and reconciliation. Formerly he served the Congolese Mennonite church as a headmaster and a hospital administrator. He holds a three-year diploma in English and African Culture from Superior Institute in Kikwit; a B.A. in Business Administration and Conflict Studies, and an M.A. in Administrative Leadership and Peace Building from Fresno (Calif.) Pacific University. Mr. Kulungu is married to Therese S. Kulungu. Theyhave six children—four boys and two girls.

Deenabandhu Manchala, a Lutheran pastor and a theologian from India, is Executive Secretary responsible for theological reflection on peace for the Decade to Overcome Violence through the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland.

Steven Mang’ana is a Bishop with the Kanisa la Mennonite Tanzania, Eastern Diocese Dar es Salaam. He holds a diploma in Bible Studies from RBM Bible College, Thika, Kenya, in collaboration with Rosedale Bible College, USA. He has served the Mennonite Church as a deacon, pastor, and as a diocesan secretary.

Donald Miller is an ordained minister of the Church of the Brethren and Emeritus Professor of Christian Education and Ethics at Bethany Theological Seminary in Richmond, Indiana, where he taught for twenty-five years. From 1986-96 he was General Secretary of the General Board of the Church of the Brethren and a member of the Heads of Communion of the National Council of Church of Christ in the U.S. He was also a member of the Central Committee of the World Council of Church 1991-98. He has a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Religion from Harvard University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and an M.Div. from Bethany Theological Seminary. Miller was co-moderator of the Watu Wa Amani Conference.

Harold Miller served as Mennonite Central Committee’s co-representative to Sudan from 1999 to 2005.

Cathy Motuli Mputu is pastor of a Mennonite Brethren parish in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is also President of the Association of Women Peacemakers as well as Administrative Secretary for the Mission Department of the Mennonite Brethren Church Conference in Congo. She was born February 6, 1961, in Kinshasa, and she holds a bachelor’s degree in Missiology.

Nora Musundi is a member of the Friends Church in Kenya and a peace activist. In the 1990s she formed a distress committee for displaced persons that was supported by the Africa section of the Friends World Committee for Consultation. She organized a national prayer group for women whose peace activities received grants from Sharing the Worlds Resources and UNICEF.

Philippe Nakuwundi is a member of the Friends church in Burundi and a School Supervisor charged with Peace Education in Bujumbura, Burundi.

Albert Ndlovu is a pastor with the Brethren in Christ Church in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and has been a pastor for almost thirty years. He has served on a number of peace and justice committees. They include Grace to Heal; and the Zimbabwe Alliance and Association of Evangelical Christians in Africa—the Ethics, Peace, and Justice desk.

Patson Netha is the executive for the Association of Evangelicals in Africa. Located in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, his has been a strong voice for healing victims of politically motivated violence.

David Niyonzima is Pastor of Kamenge Friends Church in Burundi and Coordiator of Trauma Healing and Reconciliation Services (THARS).

Cecile Nyiramana works with the Women’s Department of the Rwanda Friends Yearly Meeting. She is the founder of the Women in Dialogue Group as a peacemaker who wanted to contribute to the Rwanda Reconciliation Process. She is also Kigali Quarterly Meeting Peace Committee President.

Toma Hamidu Ragnjiya is Peace Co-ordinator for EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria) with a focus on promoting peace and peaceful coexistence in the relationship between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria. He is a former president of EYN and has a degree in Conflict Resolution from Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Currently he is engaged in a doctoral project at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ohio, where he is working on the creation of a peace model that addresses the Christian/Muslim relations in Nigeria. He and his wife Kwanye have five children—two boys and three girls.

Dr. Ann Riggs holds a Ph. D. from the School of Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., and M.Div. and M.Th. degrees from the Divinity School, Duke University, North Carolina, a Methodist institution. She is coauthor of Introduction to Ecumenism (Paulist Press, 1998) and coeditor of the journal Quaker Theology. She has worked in the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, D.C., and currently serves as Associate General Secretary for Faith and Order of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Oliver Kisaka Simiyu is Deputy General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya. Earlier positions included over two years in secondary school education, and thirteen years in leadership development among students in universities and colleges. He has an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, Nairobi. Currently he is working on a proposal for a doctoral dissertation. He is married to Lynette F. Kisaka, and they have two girls.

Abraham Wuta Tizhe for the past twenty-three years has been a pastor for EYN (Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Since 2003 he has been Vice President of EYN. Under the Mission 21 administrative structure, he serves as African Continental Meeting Coordinator. From 1999 to 2003 he was EYN General Secretary. Rev. Tizhe holds an A.B. in Theology and has attended courses in administration/management, peace and advocacy for church leaders, and HIV/AIDS. Rev. Tizhe is from the Kamwe (Higgi) people and was born in 1956 in the Kuburshosho area of Michika Local Government Council of Adamawa State. He is married to Ladi A. Wuta, and they have four children—a girl and three boys.

Siaka Traore is a Mennonite pastor in Burkina Faso in West Africa and leads the Mennonite church in that country. He is also Chairman of the International Central Council of Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and is completing a five-year commitment with Mennonite Central Committee as Peace Program Director in West Africa. He came from a Muslim background before becoming a Christian.

Paulus Widjaja is a Mennonite professor, a member of the Faculty of Theology at Duta Wacana Christian University, Jogjakarta, Indonesia.

 

 
 

 

             
             
             
           

Copyright © 2007 by Cascadia Publishing House
11/14/07