AFRICA CENTER FOR PEACE
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Rev. Gabriel Odima, President; M.A., Public Administration Bishop William Wantland, Vice-President; L.L.B., D.D., Chaplain to Senate, Oklahoma Dr. Leo deSouza, Secretary; M.D., F.R.C.S., formerly senior consulting surgeon at Mulago Hospital/Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.   STAFF                                                                    VOLUNTEERS             Rev. Gabriel Odima, Executive Director       Grant Davies,  Rwanda Research Asst.               MaryAnne Hoekstra, Program Director         Naomi Bloom, Zimbabwe Research Asst.                                                                          Ann Emerson, Tanzania Research Asst.                                                                        Joe Schermann, Kenya & Madagascar                                                                        Research Asst.                                                                        Valerie Kirk, D.R. Congo Research Asst.                                                                        Barb Haner, Malawi Research Asst.

Africa Center for Peace and Democracy began in 1982 when Dr. Charles Mock, a medical missionary from Virginia, Minnesota, facilitated measles vaccinations for 600,000 children in Uganda.  After having completed this great achievement, Dr. Mock saw the need to expand and focus on other areas.  This effort led to the creation of Mobile Outreach Ministry, which was co-founded by Rev. Gabriel Odima, a native Ugandan.  Within six years, services expanded to address the needs of education and public health.  from 1982 to 1998, Mobile Outreach Ministry provided over 350 scholarships to students in Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda.  From 1990 to 1999, over 1 million books were donated to schools throughout Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Swaziland.  To assist in providing clean water, we also drilled water wells in local communities. In 1991, we witnessed a growing need for transportation in Africa.  Becase we wanted to play a role in alleviating transportation problems, we entered into a partnership with Trust Company in Japan, a motor vehicle company.  Together with this company we were able to provide over 5,000 vehicles to individuals, NGO's, schools, hospitals, and local community projects for a low cost-sharing across East, Central, and Southern Africa.  These affordable vehicles assisted people in increasing mobility and productivity in their respective programs. During this time, as staff continued to reach out to the local people, we began to see the growing importance and long term sustainability of peace building in the region.  We realized that when there is deadly conflict, no amount of clean water, education, or transportation can help.  We began our Conflict Management and Peace Building Program and within the first year organized a peace conference in Lusaka, Zambia for senior religious leaders from the region.  Due to the growing importance of peace in the region, we recently decided to phase out our transportation program and focus all of our time and energy on our Conflict Management and Peace Building Program.  Wanting to better define our mission and goals, we changed our name to Africa Center for Peace and Democracy. We work in Central, East, and Southern Africa.  Currently we are focusing on the Great Lakes Region with a special emphasis on the crisis in Uganda.

 

Africa Center for Peace and Democracy 2499 Rice Street, Suite #230 St. Paul, Minnesota 55113 Phone: (651) 765-2656, (651) 765-6345            Fax: (651) 484-8983 Email: africacenterpd@aol.com