South Africa
Kevin Patrick Dowling was born in South Africa and became Bishop of Rustenburg in 1990. While living on St Joseph’s Mission, on the border of South Africa and the Bophuthatswana homeland, he was key in providing a meeting place for a number of civic and political activists and organizations who were at that time denied basic human rights. He actively participated in peaceful protests against human rights violations during the Apartheid era and in 1997 testified at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the terrible incident when a student, Johannes Mafatsi, was killed during one such peaceful protest. In 1998 Bishop Kevin Dowling set up a health clinic in the Freedom Park informal settlement and
currently works closely with HIV and AIDS sufferers in the Tapologo Programme funded by the Catholic Diocese of Rustenburg. He continues to work tirelessly for the improvement of the lives of people in impoverished communities.