UGANDA: Hellen Wangusa congratulated on appointment as UN Anglican Observer
Episcopal News Service. February 6, 2007 [020607-05]
Matthew Davies
The Anglican Church of Uganda has extended its congratulations to Hellen Wangusa who was installed February 4 as the Anglican Observer to the United Nations.
"We are honored to know that the wider church is recognizing and receiving the capable, committed, and competent Christian leaders the Church of Uganda is producing, such as Hellen, who can serve the wider church, and, indeed, the international community," the February 4 statement said.
Wangusa, former United Nations Africa coordinator of the Millennium Development Goals, was officially installed February 4 during the 11 a.m. Eucharist at New York's Trinity Church, Wall Street.
The Rev. Canon Aaron Mwesigye, provincial secretary of the Anglican Church of Uganda, said in the provincial statement, "We know and believe that Hellen will leave a strong legacy of faith-based and Biblically grounded advocacy within the scope of the UN's work."
Uganda's Anglican Archbishop, Henry Luke Orombi, who met with Wangusa recently during a brief visit to New York, said: "Hellen is a product of the East African Revival Movement. We are confident that God will use her ministry at the United Nations to witness to the unchanging gospel in a changing world and to offer the hope of transformation through the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Wangusa accepted the call to be the next Anglican Observer at the United Nations in October 2006 and officially took office on January 1, 2007. She serves as a staff member of the London Anglican Communion Office with her office based at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City, in close proximity to the United Nations.
In representing the Anglican Communion at the United Nations, Wangusa has a responsibility to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the secretary general of the Anglican Communion to provide regular briefings and a flow of accurate information on critical issues that come before the U.N. general assembly.
A lay woman from Uganda, Wangusa has worked as the National Women's coordinator for the Anglican Church of Uganda and was responsible for developing national programs and fundraising and managing a staff of 27 women.
From 1997-2004, Wangusa was coordinator of the African Women's Economic Policy Network (AWEPON), a faith-based women's organization in Africa that also coordinates the UN's Millennium Campaign for Eastern Africa. In this role, she advocated for policies that meet the needs of women, children and those from marginalized groups, and ensured that those most affected were central in influencing economic decision-making.
Wangusa will travel to Tanzania for the February 14-19 Primates Meeting and will be officially welcomed as the UN Observer by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Sunday, February 18, Eucharist in Zanzibar Cathedral.