Latter-day Saints Improving Lives in Africa

With the Book of Mormon musical opening in Melbourne next month, it is a good time to look at the true state of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Africa.

There are nearly half a million members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Africa, organized into sixteen hundred congregations, and those numbers are growing rapidly.

The Nyasa Times, a newspaper in Lilongwe, Malawi reported this month on a meeting with Church representatives and Mayor Willie Chapondera. There about three thousand Latter-day Saints in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa, with a third of the Church members living in Lilongwe.

The mayor commended the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints in Malawi for their enormous contributions to the country and the city in particular. He noted that churches bring about change in the way people conduct themselves and perceive things as well as the promotion of social services. “The church is at the center of every human being, through the church, societies are strengthened and united. Not only that, the church also through its various activities contributes to the country’s economy and by that, improves the lives of the citizenry.” He commended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for helping strengthen families, building morality and above all supporting the country in its quest to improve its economic stance. 

Meanwhile in Ghana, where there are over sixty thousand Latter-day Saints, the Church has recently contributed medical equipment and classroom furniture to people living in the Buduburam Refugee Camp of the Greater Accra Region.

Alex Tandou, from the Kasoa Stake Presidency expressed his feelings about the donations provided to the members of the Buduburam community. “These children will now have the opportunity to be contributors in society. Avenues will continue to open to them which otherwise would have been closed. We are told in the scriptures to help the weak. May the Lord bless us to find ways to serve them.”

And in Nigeria with over 140,000 Latter-day Saints, the Church recently donated medications, dwelling tents, solar powered street lighting and water pumping equipment to the inhabitants of the Abuja, Nigeria displaced persons camp. 

The camp leader Mr. Idriss Ibrahim expressed his appreciation, “This is the first time we are receiving such assistance from a church.”  He thanked the Church for setting a good example others can emulate. Mr. Ibrahim continued, “Your people have helped us often. They came to assist us to weed and clean the environment. May God bless you and reward you abundantly.”