By ACNS staff

The Anglican Diocese of Zanzibar (ADZ) is moving forward with renovations of Christ Church Cathedral to create a centre to raise awareness about the history of slavery in Zanzibar and current human trafficking realities in East Africa and worldwide.

The ADZ, which belongs to the Anglican Church of Tanzania, embarked on the project on 1 October 2013 in partnership with World Monuments Fund Britain and announced in its July 2015 newsletter that efforts to raise its portion of grant funding had been successful.

Work on the exterior has been completed and restoration now is in progress of the cathedral’s interior, in particular on the creation of a planned Heritage and Education Centre.

The heritage centre will retell the story of the East African slave trade in a form accessible to school children, in both English and Kiswahili.

An anti-human trafficking focus will feature centrally in the project. The centre intends to educate about modern-day realities, including the fact that there are now more slaves on the planet than at any previous time in history, with trafficking of women figuring as the world’s second largest industry, and that Zanzibar once again is serving as a trafficking point, especially of children.

The ADZ hopes to raise public awareness of human trafficking today both in East Africa and across the globe, and suggest concrete action that visitors can take to join in combating the crisis.

The centre also aims to promote interfaith and inter-communal dialogue and understanding.

The centre and its exhibits will be accessible for people living with disabilities, including tours in Sign Language.