Bicycles for 30 Catechists in Ethiopia

On Sundays, catechists often have to travel many hours on foot to reach villages where there is no priest to celebrate Holy Mass. That way they can at least pray with the local people and instruct them in the Catholic Faith. Can you help with supplying bicycles to make this travel easier?

The Apostolic Vicariate of Gambella lies in the extreme west of Ethiopia. On the frontier with South Sudan, it is a remote and underdeveloped region where there is widespread poverty. Many of the children are visibly malnourished, and there are recurrent intertribal conflicts, especially between the more settled, farming tribes and the nomadic herders. The cattle eat the farmers’ crops, and the farmers are taking away the traditional grazing lands of the herders.Support this Project

In this conflict over scarce resources, clashes can be frequent and violent. In recent times, there have also been clashes between the local population and refugees of the Nuer tribespeople from South Sudan. According to the UNHCR, there are currently over 330,000 refugees from South Sudan in the area – almost as many people as the existing population of Gambella.

In early 2016, there was violent unrest here, with numerous deaths. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church is working strenuously for peace and reconciliation and is the only force in this region – a potential powder keg – that is capable of combating the violence, hatred and rising anger.

There are many people in this region who have still never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. Many of them are open to the faith, well disposed to the activity of the Church and eager to receive baptism. But the region is remote and the villages widely scattered. There are too few priests, and so catechists play a vital role, both in preparing people for baptism and in promoting the process of peace and reconciliation.

On Sundays, these catechists often have to travel many hours on foot to reach the villages where there is no priest to celebrate Holy Mass. That way they can at least pray with the local people and instruct them in the Catholic Faith.

ACN has promised $8,400 to equip some 30 of these catechists with a bicycle each. This will help them to save time and energy and enable them to better carry out their vital and precious service. They will be able to reach more villages and to devote themselves still more intensively to the work of evangelization.

Will you give to provide bicycles for catechists in this remote and impoverished region of Ethiopia?

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Code: 118-07-29

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