PREAMBLE

We are the participants to the 3rd Consultation on Africa’s Contribution to the Religious and Spiritual Heritage of the World, convened by WCC and PCID in Addis Ababa Ethiopia from 13th to 17th September 2004;

We come to Ethiopia from 10 African countries, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and from the Diaspora Brazil, Iraq, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the USA. We come from different faith communities - Christian, Islamic and African Traditional Religions to deliberate;

We are in this 3rd Consultation on Africa’s Contribution to the Religious and Spiritual Heritage of the World motivated by the conviction that Africa has values that the world needs to heed;

The African world-view is built on the integration of all aspects of life in an interconnected and mutually dependent world, central elements of which are:

In this African worldview the whole is always seen in the part.

In and through dialogue we have found the following values that we hold in common
a. Sankofa
b. Ubuntu
c. Undugu

A: THE SANKOFA VALUE

The Sankofa (Akan, Ghana) is the motivation to look back in your traditions and pick the valuable and useful values to enhance and inform contemporary life.

The African worldview, values, hopes and visions of a sustainable human life are embedded in our languages and especially the proverbs. We believe that if we search our past, our beliefs and our traditional values, we can find African solutions to the problems of Africa and be able to face the challenges of Africa.

Africans do value the role of religion in life; as such we do need to see religion made operative in our social life. Political leaders need to recognise this and ensure that religions are given space to contribute to the common good. A central factor in traditional African religiosity is the recognition of the continued presence of our ancestors. We walk on the trails they blazed and they encouraged us to make the path smoother. As we go back to their world, we bring to bear on ours the values that can enhance and enrich our contemporary life. As we look back to our ancestors, so we look forward to our descendants, they need the opportunity to experience African religion and culture. Home, school and faith-based organizations are all to create space for this to happen.

B: THE UBUNTU VALUE

The Ubuntu (Zulu, South Africa) value is the respect for the humanity and dignity of men and women. Toward this end we have come to consensus on the sacredness and value of each human being. As a result of the examination of African traditions of hospitality and reciprocal family relationships, we affirm our commitment to social justice and the equality. Ubuntu is then the foundation upon which we articulate our values toward the sojourner, stranger, and toward each other. This is evident through our spiritual resilience and our continued faithful spiritual journey and witness.

C: THE UNDUGU VALUE

The Undugu (Swahili, East Africa) is an African richness of sisterhood and brotherhood that helps us to form a community driven by solidarity, forgiveness and compassion. Undugu envisions respect and equality. Children and the elderly are a great blessing in the African family. They are to be loved, protected and taken care of. The rights of elderly and children are enforced by the whole community. Consensus conserves peace within the community. The spiritual forgiveness has made us survive through hard times, while keeping peace with the other peoples.

CONCLUSION

We acknowledge that as leaders of people of living faiths, we have sometimes misused and abused our positions of influence and power to manipulate, oppress and dehumanise God’s people. We further acknowledge that we have not dealt adequately with the challenges of polygamy, childlessness, human sexuality and other crises, prevalent in our various families, including the current devastating pandemic of HIV/AIDS.

There is need to commit ourselves to the creation of space for dialogue, and we are therefore asking the WCC and the PCID to continue its initiatives towards this end. Dialogue should be a process and therefore other bodies such as the African Union and others in the Diaspora should be encouraged to promote it.

There is a need to conduct more studies on the role and empowerment of women in the African Culture and the African Traditional Religion(s). There is also need for Religion to deal with the crisis in the family.

Africa’s spiritual worldview with its values and strengths that has sustained Africans’ throughout their history can contribute to life together in peace, in justice and human dignity in the world and will continue to be promoted.

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