(Nairobi) – "I am glad to see that the majority of the Catholic participants are members of the international Caritas network, which, with its 500 delegates, gives visibility to our experience and work, spread all over the world". Speaking to SIR is the archbishop of Kisumu (Kenya), mgr. Zacheus Okot, president of Caritas Amecea, an acronym which stands for the presence of Caritas in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea. Along with the ecumenical platform with which the Caritas network has organised its participation in the Forum, the number of Christians is as many as 650, not to mention the missionaries, nuns and other Christian organisations. Mgr. Okot, who is attending the World Social Forum taking place in Nairobi until 25th January, hopes the event will help Caritas "come out into the open more, so as to be more and more the witness of the Gospel, though its social work in all dioceses and parishes, where there are poor people, outcasts, refugees and where peace must be reinstated". From such a Forum, he goes on, "we can ask our governments to allocate a higher portion of their budgets to organisations like Caritas, that work to eradicate poverty”. (to be continued)
