The Color of the Skin Doesn't Matter in Africa:: A Missioner's Tale of Faith and Politics

"I felt part of something bigger than myself. I was suffering for a cause, and the pain and fear no longer mattered. I was not alone. I was with the oppressed people, and God was there with us in our prison cells." This memoir by Maryknoll Sister Janice McLaughlin tells the extraordinary story of a life spent in service and solidarity with the people of Africa, and how this experience shaped her faith and her understanding of what it means to be human. The dramatic turning point of her story comes in 1977 when she was arrested in then-Rhodesia, where a white minority government had imposed an apartheid-style system and was waging a brutal war against the African independence movement. Sr. Janice, then working for the Peace and Justice Commission in Harare, and who frankly expressed her support for the liberation struggle, was charged as a terrorist sympathizer and held in solitary confinement for 18 days before being expelled from the country. She was later welcomed back to independent Zimbabwe to work on rebuilding the education system. That was only the beginning of a remarkable life, including work with orphans, those suffering with AIDS, and victims of trafficking, revealing how inextricably her faith was bound with service of the most marginalized and dedication to the cause of justice and human rights.