Some estimates predict that the glaciers of Mount Kilimanjaro will disappear completely by 2020. Without the ice and snow, the rivers that flow down the mountain will simply dry up. "Then there is no life here. The people will have to move or they die," says assistant bishop Frederick Shoo.

"We empower national Masai to do the ministry. I didn’t start any of these churches. I’m not the leader of any of these churches. But we’ve trained these people so that they could move out and do it," says Gary Woods, a missionary who has been preaching in Africa for 25 years.

"Drought does not need to mean famine," according to Niger's president, who adds that the country is tired of needing help and not being able to feed its own people. "We need to escape from emergency aid. We need to help our population produce and provide for itself."

It is a painful rite of passage for girls in many African and Middle Eastern countries. But in Senegal there has been a remarkably successful campaign to change people's attitudes towards female circumcision in an effort to eliminate the practice altogether.

They say Israel's Law of Return permits them to become Israelis. But some Israelis wonder whether they are really Jews.

"America has an agenda for homosexuals in Uganda," according to Pastor Joseph Serwadda, and accepting gay rights as human rights and human rights as gay rights "is going to be very tough on Africa."

“If we can bring in some light, the darkness will not overcome the light, and that’s where faith is. We believe that,” says Lyn Lusi, who has spent her professional life in medical care for the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"When somebody dies in Christ, or dies a Christian, it’s a good thing because he’s going to God. He has died on a good path," says Nii Adei Klu.

Religious leaders of this largely Christian country will have a key role to play in successfully managing its wealth and in fostering its adherence to democratic values.

“The biggest challenge is the sheer volume of people,” says Tony Hall, former US ambassador to the UN World Food Program. Every day an estimated 1,500 malnourished refugees cross the Kenya border to escape Somalia’s widening famine.