WATER PRECIOUS GIFT
Water is a symbol of purity and freshness. The image on this issue’s cover reminds us of the importance of keeping our source of life clean. The Sustainable Development Goal 6 rightly aims to ensure access to water and sanitation for all; however, approximately 2.1 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water. One billion of these live in sub-Saharan Africa and make up 70% of its population–striking and unacceptable facts! Water is the source of life and every person should have enough clean water to live in a dignified way.
RADAR • COMBONI MISSIONARY SISTERS
Intercultural new General Council
BY Sr M. Marta Vargas CMS
THE COMBONI Missionary Sisters (CMS) have chosen a new General Council which will lead the Congregation for the next six years. At the end of the XXI General Chapter, held in Verona, Italy, during last October, Sr Anne Marie Quigg, from Scotland, was elected as the new General Superior.
In her new mission, she will be supported by four General Counsellors: Sr María de los Angeles Funes R., from Mexico; Sr Alicia Vacas Moro, from Spain; Sr Veronicah Wangui Mbui, from Kenya, and Sr Eleonora Reboldi from Italy.
This new General Council mirrors the reality of the world and the Congregation. One of the capitular sisters present at this meeting, Sr Verónica Vásquez, commented: “We have an intercultural Council and that says a lot: more and more the face of the Congregation is painted with many cultures and this demands from us a new way of being and staying in the world, with the challenge of accepting diversity as a richness without trying to standardize or homogenize, but to allow us to learn and grow.”
In times of challenges and reconfiguration, multiculturality is a sign of hope and unity. This is the desire of the new mandate, as Sr Anne Marie expressed after being elected: “We want to journey as a community, a community of discernment, which we hope will be able to journey with all the Congregation, and with all the other communities around the world”. (cf. Sr Anne Marie Quigg, General Superior of the Comboni Missionary Sisters, youtube.com).
In this spirit of communion, the Comboni Missionary Sisters concluded the Celebration of 150 years of their Foundation with renewed strength to continue writing the passionate history of the mission.
COP27 AND THE CURRENT GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS
THE FIRST Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) took place in Berlin, Germany in March 1995.
FLOODS IN SOUTH SUDAN AND THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
UNITY STATE of the Western Upper Nile region in the northern part of South Sudan has experienced floods over the past three years. The area was already badly affected by floods in 1964 and now it has occurred again.
SOUTH AFRICA’S INCREASING WATER STRESS REQUIRES URGENT INFORMED ACTIONS
The state of the country’s wastewater treatment and water treatment works are of major concern as 56% and 44% are in poor or critical condition, with 11% not functioning at all
GLOBAL HEALTH JOURNALS DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE FOR AFRICA
MORE THAN 250 health journals have joined forces by publishing an editorial aimed at convincing world leaders to deliver climate justice for Africa.