“I have hope as a Christian, as a follower of Christ. And my hope is in you people, the organizations that have heard the cry of the people: those who are affected by the climate crisis and the debt crisis”.
That’s the message from Sister Maamalifar Poreku, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa from Ghana.
Ghana is one of the countries most vulnerable to the debt crisis, with its government spending a quarter of revenue on servicing debts in 2023, according to the UN.
Sister Maamalifar, who is the Co-Executive Secretary of the Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Commission of the Union of Superior Generals, spoke to the Turn Debt into Hope campaign about how the debt crisis has affected communities in her home country.
How people have been affected by the debt crisis in Ghana
Sister Maamalifar said:
I have seen the suffering of the people because of the debt crisis.I grew up in village where we were self-sufficient. We had enough food to eat; and the remaining, we sold it for other needs. I worked in a farm my whole life until I left home in 1990. I’ve been going back from time to time, but for the past years, I have not been home for five years. And last August I went home, and I just had a desire one evening to go back to the farm that I have been cultivating until I left home.
I got lost. I could not find it. I came back home, and I was talking about it, and my people laughed at me. And they told me that, the trees that were the landmark for us are all gone because life had become very difficult for people, such that they cut those trees to be able to survive. A place that was a forest had now become plain ground because people needed to survive.
I have seen hungry children, malnourished children, sick children, children who have dropped out of school because parents cannot pay. And my people told me: ‘We don’t know what to do. What can we do?’ I had no answer.
I came back heartbroken. To see people who were OK — now, they are struggling. All this because of the climate crisis, compounded by the debt crisis.”
Why Sister Maamalifar hope that we Turn Debt into Hope?
But I have hope as a Christian, as a follower of Christ. And my hope is in you people, the organisations that have heard the cry of the people: those who are affected by the climate crisis and by the debt crisis and who are in the forefront. Speaking for them and with them; campaigning and trying to ensure there are policies that can ensure that the suffering of the people will be reduced, if not ended.
As a person of faith, I have hope. As St Paul tells us, hope cannot deceive us — and I believe in that.
And why can’t hope deceive us? Because you people are there, and there are many other organisations that are out there listening to the people, feeling with them, and trying to do something so that things can be better for them. Thank you.
Watch and read Sister Maamalifar’s message below.
