New intern, Jessica Bwali, seeks to be a voice to the voiceless

Proverbs 31:25: “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”  – “This is totally me!” says our new intern.

Jessica grew up in the United Church of Zambia and was baptized at a tender age, she practically participated in all church activities: she was in Sunday school choir and at the age of 11 she joined the main praise team and was the youngest member at that time. Since she has been singing in church in the praise team and was also in a girl’s brigade till about the age of 13.

She says Zambia being a declared Christian nation has made it easy and free for anyone to worship God wherever and whenever they want. This has brought about the mushrooming of a lot of churches though not all for one purpose.

“Unfortunately, some of these churches are not there for genuine reasons which is preaching salvation to the people. Instead they take advantage of people that are in desperate situations by swindling them of their hard-earned money which is quite unfortunate. However, there are some genuine men and women of God that are really reaching out to the masses and making sure that the good news of Jesus Christ is spread far and beyond”. – explains Jessica.

As a journalist, for over 6 years through her radio programs, she has advocated for human rights, looking at the many injustices that are happening in the world today. She has also used her radio shows to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. She holds girl children’s rights close to her heart as she has seen how many women are abused and made to believe it is their fault.

“Being a female myself, I have seen how a lot of young girls and women are abused and unfortunately, there is no one to speak on their behalf and society tells them to KEEP QUIET! because you are a female. I thought to myself if in a day I am able to speak to hundreds of people at once through Radio, why not take advantage and also speak against the injustices that is directed to girls and also inform girls of their rights so that they can be able to defend themselves?”

Jessica’s faith in Christ drives her work as a journalist to inform the people accurately of the injustices that are going on in the world and try to find ways on how they can be fought. Through this internship, she hopes to gain more knowledge about Justice and how she can continue to be a voice to the voiceless. She adds that she has been looking forward to come back to Germany and work for the WCRC since her participation as a steward at the 2017 General Council.

The WCRC’s internship programme is made possible through contributions by the Evangelisches Missionswerk, Reformierte Kirchen Bern-Jura-Solothurn and member churches.