RIMINI, Italy, AUG. 23, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Africa needs to rediscover the greatness of the human person and the beauty God has given to him, according to a nurse working with AIDS patients in Africa.
Rose Busingye, of Kampala, Uganda, said this Monday at the Meeting for Friendship Among the Peoples, organized by the Communion and Liberation Movement in Rimini, Italy.
She was a panelist on a discussion titled "A Hope for Africa."
The nurse warned that the greatest problem of the continent isn't poverty or a lack of infrastructure, but rather "the absence of reference points […] an ideal and a sense of the meaning of life is lacking."
She contended that this has caused a general insecurity in personal relationships.
Busingye said she combats this phenomenon by responding not only to the material needs of her patients, but trying to make them aware of their worth, which cannot be reduced even if they are sunk in misery."
To promote change, Busingye encourages not only children, but also their parents, to get an education.
She promotes more than just learning to read and write, and advocates an education in appreciating the beauty of the places and traditions of the local communities.
Busingye has helped women who broke rocks for a living to find more gratifying jobs, and to obtain microcredits to open their own businesses, and she has organized a long-distance adoption program for abandoned children.
"The hope of Africa," she said, "is the hope that all mankind needs: To know who one is."
