Undergraduate Projects/Long Essays
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Item The Christian Response to Sickness in The African Context: With Reference to Mbagathi District Hospital(Tangaza University College, 2004) Omen Va, GabrielI belong to the congregation of Camillians and our ministry is to serve the sick wherever they are. We usually do our pastoral work in the hospitals. Mbagathi District Hospital is situated along Mbagathi road, just near the city mortuary in Nairobi (Refer to the Map on Page 78). Most of the sick people there are suffering from highly infectious diseases e.g. tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Most of them are suffering from AIDS. Most of the sick there are very sick. It is very hard to get the relatives of the sick in this hospital visiting them. Some of them have been sick for quite along time. Most of the patients here are from the Nairobi slums as the treatment is a bit cheap and they can afford to pay from their meagre salaries. It is human nature that most of the people don't like to see somebody who is very sick. The hospital doesn't pay salaries which will motivate some Church ministers to go and work there. So most of the work done in Mbagathi is voluntary and without any pay. hence it is absolutely under the personal initiative and self-transcendent love of any good willed church minister. After being posted by my superior to exercise my pastoral ministry there. I have thought how I can use this opportunity to evangelize the sick there and also to empower more members of the community to work there as the patients are progressively increasing. In this hospital we have various categories of patients: there are some who are not evangelized, some who were evangelized but because of their sickness they have lost their hope and trust in God, some have lost their hope in life, some don't want even to hear the Word of God as they blame God for their sickness. My essay contains five chapters. Each chapter has an introduction, sub-topics and conclusion. I will explore my experience with the sick in Mbagathi district hospital. In the first chapter I will examine the uniqueness of each individual, the root causes of sickness. How people experience sickness in blaming others. God, themselves and the environment. The ministry of caring for the sick being one where one feels powerless and helpless. Sickness as a form of suffering. Then I will give the results of some intervieNAs which I carried among the sick people. In the second chapter I will look at the socio-cultural analysis of sickness. In this chapter I will look at the African understanding of sickness, traditional experience of sickness and suffering, sickness as a whole human experience. African understanding of health and disease and the teaching of the Catholic Church. In my essay's third chapter, I will discuss the theological understanding of sickness. In this chapter I will look at human sickness as a mystery. Jesus as a healer par excellence, the biblical both Old and New Testaments' understanding of sickness. In the fourth chapter, I will look at evangelization in the service of the sick. I will examine the hospital chaplaincy as an important means of evangelization. Jesus as our missionary model, accompanying the sick in terminal stages, the Church's mission. the spiritual pain of the sick, the ministry of healing. The prophet-healing African Independent churches, the healing in the ministry of Jesus and the sacraments of healing. In the last chapter, I will discuss the empowerment of the members of the community to offer their service to the sick. En this I will examine the missionary animation, the vow of poverty as a gateway to love the sick and the training of priests. I will terminate my essay with a general conclusion.Item The Parable Of The Good Samaritan: An Exegesis Of Luke 10:25-37— Its Theological Messages And Some Pastoral Applications In An African Context(Tangaza University College, 2003) Alinye, BernardAfrica is indeed in a horrible mess. Many of its countries are involved in either civil war or war with their neighbours. The population increases in number, while on the other hand the economy stagnates, or in some countries it even decreases. The extreme poverty of most Africans and the quick spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa seem to be one of the consequences of this dramatic situation. Moreover, as with any other society in the world we, Africans, are formed of a variety of influences that shape our way of thinking, acting and feeling. In other words we are fruits of a culture. Africa is indeed made up of different cultures. In spite of this diversity there are some common elements such as the gender issue in sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the African traditions transgress the rights of women. Being a son of this troubled society, it has always been my preoccupation to seek means and ways of freeing my brothers and sisters from this yoke which crushes them. My choice of this parable can be explained by the fact that the story of the Good Samaritan contains theological messages which are very relevant for all humankind and indeed for Africans today. Which are these theological messages? And how can these theological messages be assimilated by Christians in Africa? These are the main questions of this essay which [will try to answer in the following pages. This essay will be divided into three chapters. In the first chapter our attention will be centred on the socio-religious background of the parable of the Good Samaritan, which is important for us in order to grasp the different behaviour of the main characters of the parable. Our second chapter will be the exegetical analysis of Luke 10:25-37. We will first of all highlight the introductory questions related to the exegesis of the parable. Then in doing our exegesis, our attention will be focussed on the meaning of the actions of the different characters of this story, with a special accent on some key concepts such as: neighbour, love and compassion. The exegesis of the above text is very important because it will help us to draw the theological messages of the parable. Finally, in the last chapter we shall explicitly deal with different theological messages drawn from the parable and some possible pastoral applications in an African context.