This article was downloaded by: [Emory University] On: 14 April 2012, At: 10:52 Publisher: Routledge Informa

Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Review of Faith & International Affairs

Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfia20

EXPERIENCING UNITY IN THE DIVERSITY OF GLOBAL SERVICE

Angelique Walker-Smith Available online: 20 Feb 2012

To cite this article: Angelique Walker-Smith (2012): EXPERIENCING UNITY IN THE DIVERSITY OF GLOBAL SERVICE, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 10:1, 65-66 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15570274.2012.648395

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

EXPERIENCING UNITY IN THE DIVERSITY OF GLOBAL SERVICE

By Angelique Walker-Smith
Downloaded by [Emory University] at 10:52 14 April 2012

s a child growing up in Cedarville, Ohio, I often wandered into my fathers study and pretended to be the mature reader that he was. I can still remember stumbling onto Lerone Bennetts book, Before the Mayower, and trying to truly understand it. My father was a student at Cedarville Bible College and Central State University. His library was lled with books appropriate for a student training to become a pastor and a secondary education teacher. At the same time, his library reected an Afro-centric orientation. He grew up in the African American slums of Cleveland, where race was a liability for future success. His background informed his evangelical vision of being a pastor and educator and encouraged his embrace of his African heritage in every aspect of his work and study. He made sure that this affection for Africa was shared with his children; he fostered our awareness of Africa in church and in our daily life at home. Therefore, it is not surprising that at an early age I was already dreaming about meeting my rst African brother or sister. While I was still quite young, that dream became a reality. A new Nigerian student named Iyo arrived at Cedarville Bible College. He quickly became a friend of the family and it gave me delight to see my parents and him enjoying each others company. There were always devotional conversations, prayers, and laughter whenever he and our family were together. One

day after a dinner fellowship at our house, Iyo was tragically killed in a car accident not far from our home. I wondered if I would ever be privileged again to meet an African brother or sister who would enrich our lives the way that Iyo had. I joined my parents in praying for that possibility. Much to our familys delight, it did happen again, but this time the fellowship included a family. Not long after Iyos passing, Pastor and Mrs. Joseph Weah arrived from Liberia with their children, who were approximately my age. They, too, were quickly friends of our family. I can still hear Pastor Weah and my father laughing loudly in the living room while my mother and Sister Weah chatted joyfully about their children while sewing or cooking. I believe it was these early experiences of deep Christian warmth and affection with our Liberian and Nigerian friends, and the graciousness and hospitality of my parents, that instilled in me a sense of Christian mission and love for Africa at a very young age. I knew very early in my life that my faith walk would not be complete without Mother Africa and Africans playing a continuous role in my life. Later, my exposure to Pan African studies at Kent State University nurtured my intellect and
Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is Executive Director of the Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis and a Baptist minister afliated with the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc. She served as a volunteer (Sudan 1983) and group leader (Sierra Leone 1984, Lesotho 1985) with Operation Crossroads Africa.

the review of faith & international affairs | 65

experiencing unity in the diversity of global service

curiosity about Africa. I spent considerable time at the Pan African Studies Institute, where members of the African diaspora and Africans learned to be in community together and where creative and intellectual expression was encouraged. While I was completing my last year at Yale University Divinity School, I applied to a program called Operation Crossroads Africa (OCA). I was chosen as a volunteer to go to Sudan, specically to the Darfur region in the predominantly Muslim part of the country. That summer was transformative in many ways. I learned to wear traditional Sudanese dress for young married women, assist my OCA group leader as best I could, participate in late night conversations with my Sudanese counterparts, and assist with the construction of a youth center sponsored by the Sudanese government, local Sudanese counterparts, and OCA. In order to get to Darfur, we traveled as a group with our Sudanese counterparts for seven days and six nights in an old English train built in 1943. We passed through many hospitable villages, where the residents offered us tea (during days where the temperature ranged from 100110 degrees). When the train broke down (which happened several times) the Sudanese people in the villages and on the train lifted our spirits with conversation, singing, and food. Today I still have enormous appreciation for the hospitality and love shown to strangers like me by the Sudanese people. From the time we left Khartoum on our journey to Darfur until the time we returned to Khartoum at the end of our eight-week OCA project, we had limited communication with the world beyond our local setting. The OCA group and our local Sudanese counterparts were a selfcontained community for eight weeks. Our project work, conversations, trips to the market, and daily meals together provided the framework of our community, and within that framework we enjoyed many opportunities for discussions of cultural, political, and faith-related matters. We also prayed together. Everyone was called to prayer ve times a day when the call to prayer rang out from the mosque. This devotional time

became a sacred time not only for our Sudanese hosts but for our group. In addition, because I was a married woman, the Sudanese women shared many cultural traditions with me experienced by women living behind the veil. For example, the women adorned me with henna art on my legs, arms, and feeta practice reserved exclusively for married women. I also learned about many Sudanese traditions that were akin to traditional Christian values from my own upbringingvalues related to marriage, family, and cultural concerns of women. This summer of practical engagement, living with the Sudanese people and my American and Jamaican OCA group members, was a unique context of creative tension, faith-oriented reection, and cultural awareness. My 1983 OCA experience in Sudan laid the foundation for my subsequent ministerial and global service. This has included two additional OCA experiences (as a group leader in Sierra Leone in 1984 and in Lesotho in 1985) and extensive ecumenical involvement globally through venues such as the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches. In all of my global and domestic ecumenical and ministerial activities, I have carried with me the valuable lessons I learned in Sudan about interfaith and cross-cultural respect and cooperation and the importance of those attributes to authentic Christian mission and witness. Crossroads gave me a foundational framework to be a community organizer and Christian leader who seeks to listen to those I may not agree with or do not understand, and to be more available to persons representing difference. I would characterize this in Christian terms as the willingness to be led by the Holy Spirit rather than by my own instinctswhich is a virtue that encourages humility. Although I continue to learn this virtue, I can also say that my willingness to embrace this gift has served me well in the broken neighborhoods, churches, and diverse faith communities in which Ive ministered. I did not know Dr. James Robinson, founder of OCA, but I feel my experience is a testimony to what he intended in his vision of volunteer service as a calling to serve God and neighbor. v

Downloaded by [Emory University] at 10:52 14 April 2012

66 | spring 2012