Ugandan woman named UN observer for Anglican Communion

[ACNS] Mrs. Hellen Grace Wangusa, the United Nations Africa Co-ordinator of the Millennium Development Goals, has accepted the call to be the next Anglican UN Observer. Hellen will begin her work as Anglican Observer in January 2007, in New York with her office at the Episcopal Church Center. Her appointment follows the retirement last July of Archdeacon Taimalelagi Fagamalama Tuatagaloa-Leota the former Observer.

As a lay woman, Hellen has varied and extensive experience in her field. Her undergraduate studies were taken at Makerere University in Kampala, where she worked as a teaching assistant and later as a Lecturer for the Literature Department. After leaving this post Hellen began work with the Anglican Church of Uganda as the National Women’s Co-ordinator. She co-ordinated district (Diocesan) staff of 27 women under her programme and was responsible for mobilising women as well as developing National programmes and fundraising, while also being the national link person with the global World Wide Mothers’ Union movement and the Anglican Communion.

Another stained glass ceiling shattered? Indeed. For those who have written off the Ugandan church as utterly conservative, it's worth noting that the Church of Uganda ordains women as priests and has been at the forefront of struggling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with medical care, pastoral care, and relevant, modern liturgical work. The witness of Uganda is why we need the Anglican Communion, and I hope the presence of a Ugandan at 815 will help foster good relations between North America and Africa.

Here's the complete release from ACNS. (Note: I'd link to the Church of the Province of Uganda website directly, but it seems to be down at the moment.)