Bachelor of Arts in Theology

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    The Liberation Of Youth In Crisis In Kabete Juvenile Remand Home, Nairobi
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Minja, Joseph
    It was in August 1999 that I came to Nairobi - Kenya for my theological studies at Tangaza College. I had been in Embu, teaching at Don Bosco Boys' Secondary School in Eastern Province. The majority of the students were from nearby families while a few were from distant homes. I was enthusiastic while teaching those boys considering that there will be a future for them. As a young Salesian, I got consolation that what I was doing was right and fulfilling my desire of working among the youth. When I came to Nairobi, I immediately entered into another field of apostolate. Out of curiosity and interest I asked for permission from my rector to work with the street youth at Kabete Juvenile Remand Home. Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to work there together with one of my companions on weekends as a normal apostolate schedule. My first day in Kabete Juvenile Remand Home was the last Sunday of August 1999. 1 was taken up by many realities. First, I thought the building structure looked like a prison. It was square shaped in appearance with one narrow iron gate and four small rooms. I was informed later that those four rooms were the dormitories. A number of boys were staying inside three of the dormitories while girls occupied one. On our arrival, we met one of the social workers who was on duty that day and he allowed us in the courtyard. As we were standing introducing ourselves, I started to become restless because of the effect of the odour around the place. After a few minutes the boys and girls were released from the dormitories and they came out. Most of them looked shy and appeared as if they were criminals. They were in khaki uniforms. The majority of them were really shabby, if not all, and stank because of the dirty clothes they were wearing. As we greeted and started shaking hands with them one could easily notice the dirtiness around their hands, faces and other visible parts of their bodies. It appeared that they rarely took a bath because of the shortage of water. Some of them had rashes on the body and they kept scratching themselves while looking at us. It was a shocking experience for me. Deep inside, I was asking several questions. Some of those questions remain in me and I am still searching for answers today. For instance, I asked myself, why is the place like Kabete Juvenile Remand Home been called 'Home' at all? Why should the children aging 6 — 18 be locked in the so called 'dormitories' during the day hours, the time they are supposed to be studying in the classrooms, playing or interacting with other children around their families? Why should the children be forced into a congested place where they endanger their lives by contracting sicknesses from each other? What happened to their parents and is there any possibility of changing their lives and becoming like the youth whom I taught in Embu? The above questions, among others, have forced me to reflect more on those children. The situation has led me to take the Kabete Juvenile Remand Home youth to be a pastoral issue that has to be faced not only by me but also by the entire society. Yes, those youth need social liberation. According to the African Agreement on Rights of Children rule number 19, states that, (my translation) every child has the right to enjoy the care of its parents. There is no child who is supposed to live far from the family except where it is stated so by the law for the welfare of the child. I
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    Mission - The Instrument of Liberation
    (Tangaza University College, 2003) Don Bosco, Mawdsley, J.
    From my childhood, I have had a special attraction, a thirst, for justice. I was born into a caste minded society. There was pressure in relating to people, in making friends. Am I allowed to relate with this person or not? Is this person of the same caste as I, or is she or he from a higher or lower caste? These were constant questions I had to face. Though I loved to relate with everybody, it was not easy. If I related with everybody what would be the consequences? Whether the person would be accepted by my family or whether I would be accepted in that person's family, was my fear. I could see caste tension everywhere. It extended throughout society, starting with families, and spreading to Temples, Churches, market places and even to the cinemas. Great discrimination existed between the rich and the poor, the high caste and the low. There was also a gap between people from different States (regions) of the country. People from one state had some reservations about relating with people from another state. This is more or less an ethnic problem. These discriminations not only existed in secular society but also among the religious. The caste system found nourishment in the seminaries and in religious communities. The bishops were chosen according to the caste of the majority. The minority, obviously, had no voice.. These discriminations and injustice also existed outside India. I found them also in the Philippines. There was great division between the rich and the poor,
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    Liberating Africa: A Missionary Challenge
    (Tangaza University College, 2000) Alegbemi, Martin Kehinde
    Standing on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, panning round, one sees a continent in distress. Looking north, south, cast and west, one sees and hears of hunger, war, famine, starvation, killings, domestic violence, unemployment and chains of other social evils. Although Africa is in pain, she is also a continent with hope, one blessed with lots of natural and human resources. Africa has survived very hard and difficult times and longs for a better tomorrow. With Christ's ever redeeming presence continually shining on her, she can hope for a brighter future. Seeing in Christ's mission the liberation of the human race, we can say that Christianity essentially seeks to liberate and bring about a day of salvation. The question is what role can Christianity play in the teligious, socio-political and economic distress facing this continent? This poses a challenge to the missionary nature of the Church. The challenge is that of relevance. Christianity has to wake up to the day to day life of the people in its mission as well as in its theology. It is the aim of this paper to present a response to this challenge. The overall objective is an arrival at a necessary theological foundation that empowers one to face the challenge of a preferential option for the poor within an African context. As such, we need a theology that is people-centred and one that will empower us to face this challenge. It should be a theology that calls God's people into 'being- for —freedom' in the world. We hope to arrive at an African liberating and missionary theology, which will be of great relevance to the people's situation, as well as being an essential tool for future missionaries. The tenets arrived at, should as much as possible be relevant to situations that need an option br the poor even outside Africa. One of the common approaches is to take Africa as a small entity with basically the same problem. This approach is both right and wrong. Basically, Africa is a suffering continent. We shall get as much as possible relevant inputs from any of the countries. It is hoped that whatever conclusions we arrive at might in one way or another be applicable to various African countries. As a launch of our response, chapter one of the work will be on 'Liberation Theology: A new way of doing theology'. Since the approach of this work is to see the Christian liberating rol- in the complex situation of Africa, such a role ought to be based on a theology. Our choice of Liberation theology is not because it is a recent theology in its systematic form, but as a theology that is down to earth in that, it focuses on the daily life of the people. We shall examine its content, development, and its methodology, its missionary dimension and how it can be a paradigm of African liberation. Accepting liberation theology from our first chapter, chapter two will examine the faces of Africa. I lere, we shall examine the situation of Africa by applying the 'see' as the first of the trilogy of liberating praxis. This will involve a search into the religious situation, sustainable development, and the political situation. We shall end this chapter by posing the need for 'judge' to unravel the root cause of African degradation. Chapter three as the application of 'judge', the second of the trilogy will begin with a social analysis and theological reflection. With those two considerations, we shall posit the structure of sin as the root cause of African degradation. Upon that will follow an attempt at identifying the various areas of the challenges so as to be able to act concretely. The identification will range from theology and inculturation to issues of gender and development. The areas identified will form the ground for our missionary response in the next chapter. Providing concrete solutions from a missionary perspective which, is also the application of 'act', the last of the trilogy of liberating praxis is what this last chapter hopes to arrive at. Our response will be a positing that. the solution to African problems is far beyond the numerous international conferences, political systems, economic policies, international organisation and numerous 1\1(i0s. An integral and full emancipation is possible with the uprooting of the structure of sin. The uprooting will be possible through recourse to Jesus as the master liberator and a positing of various ideas and channels. The conclusion will be an attempt at laying a foundation for an African liberating and missionary theology.