I have just returned from a speaking engagement in Africa where I was invited to be a part of the Catholic Health Summit in Abuja Nigeria, from October 23th-24th.
It was a very unexpected and brief (4-days) visit to my home-country and now that I have returned to my little home in England, I am glad to say that it was a wonderfully fruitful journey.
The event I went for, which was planned and organized by the most excellent Health Secretary of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria , Dr Emmanuel Okechukwu, was the first National Catholic Health summit and it turned out to be tremendously successful because it brought together hundreds of faithful and caring people (lay and religious) who are lovingly serving the weakest of the weak and the poorest of the poor through the Catholic Healthcare missions across my country.
I was humbled by the love and devotion of these wonderful people and I was very honoured to give my little speech on the need to resist organizations like International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International who are now persistently offering Nigeria, Abortion and artificial contraception as a part of comprehensive healthcare.
I also spoke about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) that are expiring in 2015 and how the rabid and radical Sexual and Reproductive Heath advocates are working hard to package and incorporate into the next set of Development Goals, legalized abortion as a “universal right” for women.
How glad and grateful I was to have been given the platform and opportunity to raise my voice against the inordinate and objectionable world-wide push for contraception and abortion at this important event where there were 6 Nigerian Catholic Bishops in attendance as well as a senator, a representative of the nation’s health secretary/minister, the national representative for world bank, the national representative for CRS, the national director of Caritas, the national president of the Catholic Women’s Organisation (a powerful body of women that is about 2 million strong) and 400 catholic healthcare providers.
I suspect that some people were not that enthused at my speech but they were minority because the Bishops, some of the other Catholic leaders and the healthcare workers themselves seemed excited and happy to hear my humble words.
And afterwards many of them came to tell me of their own difficult challenges with agencies and organizations that try to impose contraception as the gold standard care for women and condoms as the almighty preventive care for HIV.
In fact, a religious sister in charge of a HIV care unit told me how she was offered $40,000 to pilot a condom campaign, she refused and they took their money elsewhere. Another religious sister who is a senior nurse in a rural hospital was offered some money as well to incorporate artificial contraception in her unit, she told the agency that she promotes only Natural Family Planning (NFP) and of course they took their money away as no dime would be given to NFP. How can they be so bold and desperate as to approach religious sisters?
Things are getting very very hot in my country because the likes of MSI, Gates Foundation, USAID, UKAID and IPPF are pouring in so much money to lure people over and I fear that some of our leaders are falling at the blinding green of the dollar notes because many more people , especially from our government health agencies, seemed desensitized to the idea of legalized Abortion and certainly comfortable with the promotion of contraception as a good and necessary part of healthcare for African women.
This is why we were very excited to unveil and announce at this same summit, the next major upcoming Pro-Life Conference which is the International Pro-Life Conference Abuja 2014 (IPCA-2014).
Yes indeed! Culture of Life Africa has been asked by His Eminence John Cardinal Onayekan of the Abuja Archdiocese to collaborate with Action Family Foundation in order to facilitate a pro-life conference and March for Life in May 2014 which we hope will draw many many people from near and far at this critical time when the proponents of the Culture of Death are making bold strides in various parts of Africa.
At IPCA-2014 we will all get a chance to speak up for the sanctity of Life from the moment of conception to natural death, resist the inordinate propagation of contraception in Africa, reassert our unflinching support for marriage between one man and one woman, promote chastity and the dignity of human sexuality, in short, it will be a gathering where the pro-life people of Nigeria will lay the solid foundation upon which to build up an authentic Culture of Life and Civilization of Love .
Your prayer support is really needed for the planning and preparation for this grand pro-life event IPCA-2014!!!
Uju at the Catholic Health Summit with Mrs Agnes Erogunaye- the National President of the Catholic Women’s Organisation (a formidable organisation which is about 2 million strong)
At the Summit with some wonderful women who are rendering selfless and excellent service to healthcare in Nigeria. Second from the right is Mrs Nnodi (Principal of a Catholic training college for nurses)
A cross-section of the Summit. Notice all the religious nuns in Habit… They are all leading nurses, doctors and health coordinators who spend most of their lives in the most rural and poorest villages where they provide authentic healthcare that does not include condoms or contraceptives! Thank God for the Catholic Healthcare missions in Africa!!!
Some cultural entertainment at the summit – the breath-taking Atilogwu dance sometimes feels like watching an extreme sport!
More cultural dance , a really joyful woman dancing with a clay pot full of water balanced on her shoulder. She danced like this for about 15 minutes! Always a pleasure to see the effervescence of African women. Radical feminism where is thy victory? Where is thy sting?