WCC general secretary to visit Nicaragua
An international ecumenical delegation led by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, will visit Nicaragua from 2 to 5 November.
The programme, which will combine a visit by the general secretary to WCC member churches in Nicaragua with an ecumenical solidarity visit within the framework of the Living Letters initiative of the Decade to Overcome Violence, will include events in the capital city Managua, Puerto Cabezas on the Caribbean Sea coast, and Granada.
Dr Kobia and the ecumenical delegation will participate in a Theological Forum on ecumenism and overcoming violence in Central America, and in ecumenical celebrations and meetings with church leaders, ecumenical organizations and representatives of civil society and government.
On Tuesday evening, 4 November, Dr Kobia will be presented with the Martin Luther King Order of Peace award by the Martin Luther King Institute at the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua. The Institute, which this year celebrates its 15th anniversary, played an active role in the process that led to the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming 2009 the International Year of Reconciliation.
The ecumenical delegation will travel to Nicaragua as a Living Letters delegation to communicate solidarity from the WCC community, which includes 349 churches throughout the world. The visit of the Living Letters delegation takes place in the context of the Decade to Overcome Violence 2001-2010 and in preparation for the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, in Jamaica, May 2011.
The ecumenical delegation:
- Ms Noemí Espinoza, vice moderator of the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Christian Reformed Church of Honduras
- Mr Ashley Hodgson, member of the international reference group for the WCC's Decade to Overcome Violence, Moravian Church in Nicaragua
- Ms Sanchita Kisku, member of the WCC's central committee, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in India
WCC staff:
- Rev. Dr Carlos E. Ham, WCC programme executive for Latin America and the Caribbean
- Mr Peter Williams, member of the WCC communication team
WCC member churches in Nicaragua
