Anglican Communion News Service - Digest News

The Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane, is about to make good on a commitment he made last year to send donations from the Anglican Church in Southern Africa to Tsunami-affected countries.

At an inter-faith prayer service for the victims of the Tsunami at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town on the 29 December last year, Archbishop Ndungane appealed to all Anglicans to make donations to this fund. To date the church has raised 1.1 million rand.

"I thank God for the generosity of Anglicans in Southern Africa. We will ensure that all these contributions go towards helping and healing those people devastated by the tragedy," said the Archbishop. "Unfortunately we do not have the capacity to thank everybody who donated, as there were so many, but I want them to know how grateful we are," he said.

Archbishop Ndungane is to leave for Somalia on Tuesday 18 January together with Dr Molefe Tsele, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches. The visit is being co-ordinated by Bishop Mvume Dandala, General Secretary of the All Africa Council of Churches who is based in Nairobi.

The Archbishop is to view the damage in Somalia for himself and donate part of the money to disaster relief there, where the fishing industry - vital to the livelihood of many Somalis - has been badly affected. The money will be disbursed through the All Africa Council of Churches, as there is no Anglican infrastructure in that country.

The rest of the amount raised will be divided between churches in other countries affected, including the Anglican Church of North India, whose diocese of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands lost eight priests, many parishioners and a number of church buildings in the disaster.