Picture credit: Bible Society / Clare Kendall
It started with dancing, singing and prayer. But the youth conference that heralded the opening of the African Biblical Leadership Initiative prefaced far more serious debates.
Today, three hundred young people from across Kenya gathered for a youth conference in Nairobi.
The main conference begins tomorrow and is set to draw some 600 people from 10 African nations to its opening ceremony.
It is set to debate key issues facing Africa today including corruption and ethnic strife.
The event is backed by the British and Foreign Bible Society. On the eve of the conference, its CEO Paul Williams, said, ‘ABLI raises the awareness among the Christian community in Africa of the public dimension of the Bible to transform not only our personal lives, but our public life together.’
This he said, could affect ‘relationships, government’ as well as corruption.
According to a survey from Transparency International last year, the majority of Africans (58 per cent) say that corruption is on the rise. In South Africa, this figure stood at 83 per cent.
And some 75 million Africans reported paying a bribe in the last year.
Paul Williams said, ‘My hope is that ABLI will raise awareness of scripture to the point where people act on it which will lead to change.’
The ABLI Ambassador, David Hammond, echoed his words. He said, ‘Corruption is a big, big issue. But the Bible can tackle this issue. Our vision is seeing Africa having its roots in scripture.’
The Vice President of Kenya, William Ruto, will open the conference tomorrow. The forum runs until Thursday.
Picture credit: Bible Society / Clare Kendall
Hazel Southam
