A Moment of Sorrow for the Lost Leaders of East Africa ...

A plane crashed last Tuesday in western Kenya, killing all four people on board, including a Kenyan Cabinet minister and an assistant minister. "Our country has lost leaders of immense potential at their prime age and with a promising future," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki announced. "Let us all remain united at this moment of sorrow as a nation." (See http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/10/kenya.crash/index.html
But perhaps in the midst of this moment of sorrow we should also remember the other “lost leaders” of East Africa who have died as well.

Let’s remember Hadiwa Mohammed, a nine month old girl who is a casualty of a sustained, four-year drought that is threatening the lives of 17 million people across East Africa. If she had received food, education and a chance at life, one can only imagine that she, too, might have been a leader of immense potential.

Let’s also remember Malyun Osman, a skeletal 2-year-old weighing about 12 pounds. Malyun is starving because her mother does not have the 70 cents per day needed to provide food supplements. We may never know what kind of leader Malyun could also have become. And at this moment, how many other future leaders of immense potential -- are being lost?

During this moment of sorrow, let us speak loudly ... letting the people of East Africa know they have not been forgotten. As one of our missionaries working in Nairobi, Fr. Ludwig Peschen, explains: “It is a privilege for us to be here these days -- near to people who are suffering so much. The most important thing is just to be here and reassure them that they are not alone.”