West Africa
African spiritualities are attracting Black Americans as a source of pride and identity
By Fiona André — March 21, 2024
(RNS) — Ancestral veneration, Haitian Vodou, Brazilian Candomblé, Cuban Santería and Ifá have gained attention among Black adults, who see it as an occasion to reconnect with their heritage and celebrate their Blackness.
How the word ‘voodoo’ became a racial slur
By Danielle N. Boaz — January 24, 2024
(The Conversation) — Shows, movies and day-to-day language promote myths about voodoo that reinforce more than a century of stereotypes and discrimination, writes a scholar of Africana studies.
Pope Francis calls for peaceful end to the Niger crisis
By Associated Press — August 22, 2023
VATICAN CITY (AP) — He called on the international community “to find a peaceful solution as soon as possible, for the good of all.”
Survivors remember Ebola epidemic as Samaritan’s Purse releases documentary
By Emily McFarlan Miller — March 30, 2017
MONROVIA, LIBERIA (RNS) 'Facing Darkness,' a documentary produced by Samaritan’s Purse recounting its work in Liberia during the Ebola epidemic, will show in select theaters Thursday (March 30) and return for encore showings on April 10.
General Butt Naked’s humanitarian rebirth tests Liberia’s forgiveness
By RNS staff — October 26, 2016
MONROVIA (Reuters) Everyone likes a good redemption story, and there are few more remarkable than that of notorious Liberian warlord 'General Butt Naked.'
To battle Ebola, churches and mosques fight superstition, alter rituals
By Fredrick Nzwili — August 22, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) Traditional healers or herbalists outnumber biomedical workers in rural areas of Africa. These healers use ritual and herbal remedies to treat Ebola in areas where suspicion of modern medicine persists.
Is Ebola a curse from God? Some African Christian leaders think so
By Fredrick Nzwili — August 11, 2014
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) In Liberia, more than 100 Christian leaders meeting in early August declared that God was angry and Ebola a plague. They called for prayers to seek God’s forgiveness.
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