Adventists and Muslims Resolve Land Dispute in Ghana

A Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Ghana has had an on-going land dispute with neighboring Muslims, reports Adventist Today (link). The conflict became violent in mid-February when 12 Muslim youth apparently incited a group of more than 1,000 Muslims to destroy the Adventist property. Excerpt from Adventist Today:

The initial investigation revealed that twelve Muslim youth “spearheaded the misunderstanding between the two religious groups,” reported GNA. The Daily Guide described the destruction of property on February 13, reporting that a crowd of more than 1,000 Muslim young people “stormed the SDA church premises near the Atebubu Government Hospital on Friday afternoon after the mid-day prayers with guns and offensive weapons.” The crowd then “set the newly built mission house ablaze and further brought down the walls around the church and demolished the temple.”

The destroyed mission house “accommodated close to 20 teacher trainees who are doing their teaching practice in the school. They lost valuable items such as laptops, cellular phones, books and certificates, among others,” reported Ghana Nation. (link)

After a regional security council mediation, both sides have signed a peace pact. Adventist leaders forgave the youth and gave the disputed land to the Muslims. In return, the Muslim leaders said they will build a new mission house for the Adventists elsewhere.

SOURCES

• Muslims and Christians at Atebubu smoke peace-pipe (Ghana News Agency, 23 Feb 2015)
• Security Council orders arrest of 12 suspects at Atebubu (Ghana News Agency, 23 Feb 2015)
• Muslim Youth Burn Church At Atebubu (Daily Guide, 14 Feb 2015)
• SDA abandons church after Muslim youth attack (Ghana Nation, 16 Feb 2015)

Featured blog image credit: "Flag of Ghana". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Ghana.svg#mediaviewer/File:Flag_of_Ghana.svg.

Adventist Physicians Confront Ebola

Two Adventist doctors--Gillian Seton and James Appel (a member on the APF Advisory Board)--who have been screening potential Ebola patients at Cooper Hospital in Liberia, are currently in the United States. Dr. Seton plans to return to Liberia, while Appel will be returning to Chad where he has worked for more than a decade. We feature Appel's book, Nasara, on the APF resource page.

Here is a non-exhaustive round-up of the considerable media coverage they have received:

LLU Alumni Deliver Health Care at Ebola Stricken Region (ANN, 15 Aug 2014)

Dr. Gillian Seton, a 2008 graduate of Loma Linda, has served since February at Cooper Adventist Hospital in Liberia as a participant in the university’s Deferred Mission Appointment program. The program, developed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, provides financial support to medical and dental students committed to overseas mission service.

Another physician, Dr. James Appel, a 2000 Loma Linda graduate, is expected to arrive this week in Liberia to provide medical care alongside Seton at Cooper Adventist Hospital. Appel has spent the last decade as a family medicine physician in the north-central African country of Chad. (article link)

Back from Africa, Loma Linda University Med School Grads Discuss Ebola (Steinberg, The Sun, 28 Oct 2014)

Seton and Dr. James Appel were in Loma Linda recently to attend the Global Healthcare Conference at Loma Linda University and speak to community members.

Lack of protective gear, few sinks for handwashing and little training in infectious disease control combine to make hospital work in West Africa dangerous, as this year’s outbreak Ebola takes its toll, according to Loma Linda University medical school graduates back from the continent.

“I am very disappointed by the American public’s reaction (to the Ebola threat),” said Seton, 33. “It makes me very angry.”

Seton and Appel bristle at the notion that Ebola can spread like a wildfire.

“The only way to get Ebola is if someone vomits on you, defecates on you, urinates on you or bleeds on you,” Seton said in an interview. (article link)

James Appel Documents Journey to Liberia (Appel, Adventist Health International)

Loma Linda University grads staying in Ebola-plagued region (Steinberg, The Sun, 17 Aug 2014)

In Face of Ebola, California-Trained Doctor Treats Patients in Liberia (Aliferis, State of Health, 21 Aug 2014)

Colorado doctor helping the sick in Ebola-stricken Africa (Illescas, Denver Post, 24 Aug 2014)

Dispatches from Ebola-Hit Liberia (Appel, Spectrum, 8 Sept 2014)

Loma Linda physicians: U.S. Ebola preparedness inadequate (Steinberg, The Sun, 25 Oct 2014)

Headlines: Gillian Seton Says Ebola Epidemic Exaggerates Risks (Dietrich, Spectrum, 28 Oct 2014)

6 QUESTIONS: Missionary doctor returns from epicenter of Ebola outbreak (Kleckner, KULR 8, 30 Oct 2014)

Adventist Videos on Ebola

NAD Social Media Campaign - The Ebola Crisis in West Africa (NAD). "The North American Division is starting a social media based funding campaign to support the fight against Ebola in West Africa. Adventist Health International manages two hospitals in Sierra Leone and Liberia. They are working to provide much needed health care for the people of this region. Please support the dedicated medial professionals and staff who are putting their own lives on the line to provide relief to those suffering in West Africa."

[vimeo 108797800 w=500 h=281] <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/108797800">NAD Social Media Campaign - The Ebola Crisis in West Africa</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/nadadventist">NAD Adventist</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Adventism, Ebola, and You (3ABN). "Due to soaring interest in our 3ABN Today Live program, “Adventism, Ebola, and You,” we have just posted this two-hour program on YouTube. Viewers can watch this fascinating interview with Dr. Peter Landless, director of Health Ministries for the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, as well as Dr. James Appel, and Dr. Gillian Seton, who have just returned from caring for patients at the Cooper Adventist Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia."

Part 1 (YouTube)

Part 2 (YouTube)

ANN: Celebrating Religious Freedom in Zimbabwe

"More than 4,000 Seventh-day Adventist youth marched from Harare city center to join over 30,000 Adventists at Glamis stadium to celebrate religious liberty in Zimbabwe on June 21," reports the Adventist News Network (ANN, 23 July 2014, link). "The Zimbabwe prisons band played for the Pathfinders who carried banners reading 'Celebrating Religious Liberty in Zimbabwe.'”

Excerpts:

The Guest of Honor, Minister of State in The President’s office Harare Province, Cde Miriam Chikukwa, spoke on government’s commitment to protect the constitution that guarantees religious liberty.

Paul Charles, Communication director for the denomination’s Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division, told the gathering that the purpose of the function was for the Seventh-day Adventists to express their profound appreciation to the government of Zimbabwe for the religious freedom the church was enjoying. He urged the Adventists to respect those from other religions and denominations.

“The reason why we love each other, even though we do not know each other is that in you I see the image of God and in me you see the image of God,” Charles said.

View the entire article here.

Guttschuss on Sectarian Violence in Central Nigeria

In December 2013, Eric Guttschuss (APF board member and Andrews University graduate) wrote a report for Human Rights Watch on the sectarian violence in central Nigeria--"Leave Everything to God."

This 146-page report which includes a photo essay, is based on interviews with more than 180 witnesses and victims of violence in Plateau and Kaduna states, as well as police investigators, prosecutors, defense lawyers, judges, and community leaders. A Human Rights Watch researcher conducted site visits to scenes of major violence, sometimes just days after a massacre, collected and analyzed court documents, and attended some of the court proceedings in Jos, the capital of Plateau State. (Human Rights Watch)

The report can be downloaded as a PDF here.