One Year On

It is one year on from the devastating earthquake in Haiti. The media circus has moved onto other things, but we will not forget.
We will not forget to pray, to give, to care.

Why not watch this Tearfund video and pray for the people of Haiti.

Tearfund Scotland

I had another encouraging meeting with Lynne Paterson at Tearfund Scotland yesterday.

We are hosting a lunch next Thursday, 20 May, 12.45, at the Augustine United Church, 41 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. Onone and Jean-Marc will speak on Tearfund's response to the earthquake in Haiti and Lynne will briefly introduce some of the Tearfund resources for local congregations: Connected Church, Just People, Discovery.
If you are in Edinburgh next Thu please come along. If you are a commissioner at the General Assembly this will be the best free lunch of the fringe week, so please come along.

Tearfund Scotland - Exciting Times

I was at my first meeting of the National Advisory Committee for Tearfund Scotland last night.

I feel honoured to be able to be part of the work of Tearfund in this way and look forward to our work together serving the poorest and most needy peoples of the world in years to come.

We heard news of the work of Self Help Groups within the Kale Heywet Church in Ethiopia, more than 3,000 of these 20 member groups established in 3 years. Initially providing a means of saving small amounts and then offering small loans these groups have seen a growth in community and love for the members of the group and community among those touched by this exciting project.
Read more about this here.

Please do pray for Lynne, Jo and Fiona in the office in Glasgow. Please do come along to the lunch event on Thu 19 May at the Augustine United Church in Edinburgh, 12.45 for 1, to hear of Tearfund's response to the earthquake in Haiti.

Tearfund At Work in Chile

Tearfund is sending £20,000 to help local churches in Chile respond to the massive earthquake there that left at least 700 people dead and 1.5 million homes damaged.


The quake on Saturday, measuring 8.8 on the Richter scale, is being described as a `catastrophe’ by the South American nation’s president. (Read the rest of this report here).

Give thanks for Tearfund and the opportunity we have in partnership with Tearfund to share God's love with the poorest and most needy people in the world.

Tearfund - Haiti

Tearfund have posted another update video on the work and situation in Haiti - check out the Tearfund web site, find it on Youtube, or here ...

Haiti

Earlier today I was able to join in a second conference call with Tearfund workers.

I gathered from the call that some Tearfund partners are located outside Port-au-Prince and their sites have become like hubs for displaced peoples to gather and so food and other resources on site for various projects have been divered to supply the immediate need of between 1500 to 2000 homeless and desperately needy people.

Some prayer points:

from Mark who is leading the Tearfund needs assessment team which is presently in Haiti:

> pray for wisdom in establishing programmes to meet the needs,

> pray for good connections and working relations with other aid/relief agencies,

> pray for Jean-Claude and his family. Jean-Claude is Tearfund's lead person in Haiti his wife is suffering from severe trauma following the earthquake. The Tearfund office, where Jean-Claude would usually have been working was destroyed, his home, where he and the family were, was partially destroyed.

from Jean-Mark, who is part Haitian:

> pray for the coordination of access ports that aid may flow smoothly through and get to the places where it is most needed,

> pray for the miraculous opening of the harbour to shipping as a means of bringing large scale aid into Haiti.

from Oenone, who works with Tearfund's disaster response team in the UK,

> pray for those deeply troubled by what they have seen following this disaster, for peace of mind,

> pray for many people who are asking, 'Why have I survived? Why was I saved?' Many are searching for some reason why they lived while others did not.

I am challenged by so many of these prayer requests. Do we believe in a God who works miracles and are we willing to ask him to work miraculously to intervene in this situation? I hope we do, and I hope we are.

Haiti - Tearfund respond

I'm copying here an email I received from Andrew McCracken from Tearfund with information about the response Tearfund partners are making in Haiti.

Latest on the Tearfund Haiti earthquake response

Tearfund partner World Relief is treating earthquake survivors around the clock at one of the few functioning hospitals left in Port-au-Prince. Staff are also mobilising local churches to distribute emergency aid packs. Another partner is running a camp for 2000 people at Dalmas on the outskirts of the capital.

A team of Tearfund's disaster response experts are on the ground working with partners to provide basic essentials such as food, water and shelter, and are planning our longer term response.

Just like the 2004 southern Asia tsunami, the devastation in Haiti is total and the need is immense. Our partners were operating in the country before the earthquake struck, and, just like the tsunami, we'll be there long after it drops out of the headlines, working towards long term recovery. But we need your help.

As Tearfund staff and partners respond to last week's terrible disaster, the support your church can give remains vital. We're on the ground but we can't do anything without money. We want to equip you to communicate this message of need to your churches. We will continue to cover the latest news and prayer points on our website at www.tearfund.org/haitiearthquake but from Saturday morning (23 January), in time for the Sunday service, you will also find:

* An updated prayer PowerPoint presentation
* A brand new film for churches on Tearfund's Haiti relief work

Please use these resources to encourage your church to give what they can to our appeal, either by making a direct online donation at www.tearfund.org/haiti or by sending cheques, payable to Tearfund, to Tearfund, 100 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8QE

'We believe now is the time for the church to give as Christ has given - without holding back.' Jean Claude Cerin, Tearfund Country representative for Haiti.

Tearfund Appeal Video

I found this Tearfund appeal video, it's on their web site and also on You Tube - here.

Pray for Haiti

I'm presently on a conference call, listening in, to Anoni (I hope I got that right) and her husband Jean-Marc, who is half Haitian, talking about the disaster and Tearfund's response.

1) A Tearfund needs assessment team, with experience from the South-East Asian Tsunami, will arrive in Haiti at the weekend, with a particular focus upon water, sanitation and health.

2) Communications have gone down in Haiti, no one really knows what's happening beyond their kilometer. For 8 hours or so after the earthquake communication by mobile phone was posible, but now they need recharged and there is no electricity. (Humbled to think 48 people around the UK can join in a onference call).

3) A significant disaster, the central coordination of the country will need rebuilt, at the same time as the provision of food, clean water and health care. Many aid, relief agencies have office in Haiti, but these have been destroyed, affected by the earthquake.

4) Tearfund's immediate focus will be on helping with food, shelter and clean water.

5) Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, 80% in abject poverty, 70% unemployment.

6) Pray for Tearfund partners and their ability to offer aid to their communities.

Please pray

Please Pray for Haiti

Haiti earthquake

Tearfund is today dispatching emergency aid funds to help survivors of the earthquake that has shattered impoverished Haiti.

Hundreds of people are missing feared dead after a quake measuring seven on the Richter Scale struck the Caribbean island yesterday.

Many buildings have been destroyed or badly damaged in the capital Port-au-Prince, including the presidential palace and the five-storey UN offices.

Tearfund is in Haiti, responding to this disaster. Please give what you can to support our work using the form below. - see the web page here.

For more news on the situation in Haiti - see here.

For prayer points on Haiti - see here and below:

Haiti earthquake prayer points (last updated 13 Jan 2010)

The Caribbean island of Haiti is reeling after an earthquake caused devastation. Please use the following prayer points:

Pray for the people of Haiti as they deal with the aftermath of the earthquake, ask the Lord to comfort those who are injured and mourning.

Pray for rescue efforts to find survivors trapped in destroyed buildings and for communication links and power supplies to be restored quickly.

Pray for a swift and generous response from the international community to help this disaster-prone poor country.

Pray for the safety and protection of Tearfund staff and partners based in Haiti and that they will be able to respond as effectively as possible.

Tearfund Scotland

Last night we had a meeting in Newton Stewart with Lynne Paterson (on the left) and Jo Mummery (on the right). Lynne is the new Director for Tearfund in Scotland and Jo is the Enquiries and Church Liaison Officer.

You can read about some of the changes that have happened in Tearfund Scotland here.

Tearfund are having a Christmas campaign to offer a Gift of Life to children like Gloria. Gloria is from Fombe Village in Malawi, which I was able to visit in 2007. Both Gloria's parents have died due to HIV/AIDS related diseases and Gloria, who is only 13, is HIV positive. Look at the resources page on the Tearfund web site here.

Pray for Gloria, and the too many more young children like her who are victims of HIV/AIDS. Pray for Lynne and Jo and their work for Tearfund in Scotland.

Tearfund - Statement of Faith

I've just got round to the Autumn teartimes.

The final item is a report on the adoption of a new Statement of Faith by tearfund. You can read the text of this statement here.

Matthew Frost, the Chief Executive of tearfund, has written:
The Statement demonstrates that Tearfund participates in God's plan to bring about, through Jesus Christ, a transformed creation free from evil and suffering, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. (in teartimes Autumn 2009, page 30)

The Church is at the heart of tearfund's Statement of Faith and it expressed a deep reliance upon God in all its terms.

I've got two simple comments here:
1. Most statements of faith limit themselves to discussing faith as a noun and describing aspects of the faith to be believed. This tearfund Statement goes further in recognising faith to be a verb, something to be done, this especially in the third point where the bullet points begin: 'to live', 'to make known', 'to demonstrate' and 'to serve' - doing words all. What difference would it make if we thought and spoke about our faith in terms of what we are called to do in obedience to God and in response to his grace and love for us?

2. Reading this tearfund Statement of Faith I am once again at a loss to know how the Church of Scotland could ever choose not to be in partnership with such a Christian relief organisation? We cannot do all the relief and development work that needs to be done ourselves, nor can Christian Aid - why then have we not partnered with others, like tearfund, to more fully show our commitment to the poorest and most needy in our world?

Against the Corruption the Compounds Poverty

The following statement was published on the tearfund web site about a letter sent to the UN by tearfund and other relief agencies.

Give thanks to our God that Christian agencies are taking such a lead in identifying factors that create and maintain poverty and injustice in our world. Let's pray that our political leaders would take seriously the urgent need to MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.

Faith leaders and relief agencies urge UN to fight corruption that compounds poverty
25 August 2009
Corruption and poverty mutually reinforce injustice whilst undermining equitable economic growth and sustainable development - according to faith based development agencies and faith leaders who have today written to the Secretary General of the UN.
The letter to Ban Ki-moon comes as a working group of signatory countries meets in Vienna ahead of the Conference of State Parties later this year.
The following is a statement from Cafod, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, Tearfund and the Australian Synod of Victoria and Tasmania:
'We are putting pressure on the UN and world leaders to step up the fight against corruption. The diversion of public funds, loss of investment and the reduction in tax revenues hits the poorest and most vulnerable hardest. Put simply, corruption is at the heart of people’s experience of poverty.
Corrupt practices constitute an insurmountable barrier to high-quality education, affordable healthcare and decent livelihoods. The opportunity and hope for so many in society is stolen by corruption. It undermines the principles of justice and equality, eroding value systems, social cohesion and trust.
This is why we have joined over 50 faith leaders in writing to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. Although we strongly support the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), urgent action is needed on the agreement of a review mechanism for the Convention. This must be adopted by State Parties at the Doha conference in November. The success of UNCAC in reducing corruption will hinge on the commitment of all nation states to fully implement its provisions and the establishment of an effective review mechanism to monitor progress.
Two elements essential for a robust and credible review mechanism are transparency and the participation of civil society. Firstly, transparency – via the publication of reports and recommendations – is vital to ensure a fair and effective process. Honesty and integrity are the moral values that underpin any attempts to tackle corrupt practices, and a commitment to a transparent review mechanism is testimony to political leadership that is mature and accountable.
Secondly, civil society can positively contribute to the implementation of the Convention and the review process. Civil society organisations, including faith groups, provide an important link to communities experiencing poverty.
The review mechanism must make room for the voices of men and women living in poverty. If those most affected by corruption are not accorded space to contribute to the review, it will be impossible to accurately measure UNCAC’s effectiveness.
The review mechanism – founded on the principles of transparency and civil society participation – will demonstrate to poor communities that those they have entrusted with power and leadership are willing to end the scourge of corruption.'
Commenting on the statement, former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey said, ‘Religious teachings commit us to the pursuit of justice and to stand with those who are poor and vulnerable.
‘As corruption undermines the principles of justice and equality it erodes value systems, social cohesion and trust.’

In The Thick Of It

During the summer tearfund published a report In The Thick Of It on the theme of local churches engaging in the fight against poverty and injustice.

This is a good report and well worth reading, you can find it here.

The following is from the tearfund web site introducing their report:

We've been working with local churches around the world for over 40 years. It's been an adventure, and we've seen some great things happen through local churches as well as helping churches out when they're trying to meet the scale of the need in their communities.
We're passionate about the role that local churches play in meeting practical and spiritual needs, and we believe that their role should be recognised and encouraged. That's why we've put together In the Thick of It, which is our position paper on the role of the local church in development.
It's full of stories about local churches in tough situations, reaching out to the people around them and offering hope and help in times of need. It also recognises that churches have limitations and weaknesses at the same time as masses of potential, which is why we at Tearfund are uniquely placed to mobilise churches to get even better at working effectively within their own communities.

Please do continue to support tearfund and pray for the poor.

G20 Summit

Tearfund released the following press release after the conclusion of the G20 summit on Thursday. Please continue to pray for the poorest peoples of the world who are suffering most the effects of climate and economic crises.

G20: Progress on the economy, some hope for the poor but failure on climate
2 April 2009

The G20 today made some significant progress on funding for stimulus packages, tackling tax havens and shadow banking. However the reported 1.1 trillion dollar programme of investment pledged to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) needs to be looked at closely, according to the development NGO Tearfund.

It says that much of it is not new money and that far more will be targeted at the world’s richest countries and not the poorest.
Tearfund acknowledges that on the surface there will be several billions of new money for developing countries.

'We welcome the new money in this huge fiscal package but the G20 today missed a major opportunity to ensure that all new investments constitute a genuinely Green New Deal,' says Paul Cook, Tearfund’s Advocacy Director. 'With no clear commitments to ensure that stimulus money is invested in low carbon technology the world risks a recovery which is based on business as usual. It locks us into a path which will result in runaway climate change and devastating impacts for the world’s poorest community.'
The G20 communiqué ended with a weak reference to the need for a deal at the UN Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December. Whilst Tearfund welcome any reference to Copenhagen, the agency says G20 leaders failed to show real leadership and inject new life into UN talks by a more ambitious statement setting out the kind of deal they want to see in Copenhagen – one that 'truly drives down global carbon emissions and releases billions to help poor communities adapt to the impacts of climate change' adds Paul.

Tearfund works with communities that are frequently in the frontline of the devastating affects of climate change caused by global temperature rises. It says that there must be a definitive consensus to keep global warming below 2 degrees and that billions of dollars must be released to help the poorest countries adapt to extreme environmental conditions.

On media myopia

I picked up a copy of The Third Way in Belfast last Good Friday and have been subscribing since then. I like reading things I don't always agree with, but mostly find this a helpful comment on culture from a Christian perspective. Check out some recent articles on the web site - The Third Way.

In the April 2009 there is a helpful article 'Media Myopia' by Claire Aston. She writes,

"British viewers are given a distorted view of the world, the report [The Great Global Switch Off] argues, with an overwhelming concentration of coverage of the United States, Europe and the English speaking world. By comparison, coverage of Africa is skewed. Only three countries - South Africa, Kenya and Uganda - out of the 52 are normally ever seen because coverage of Africa is almost entirely about wildlife. South America is also virtually ignored."

In 2007 I visited Malawi with Tearfund, in 2004 I visited Peru with the Vine Trust. It is very difficult to gather English language news of these countries, and you almost never hear news of these countries on TV or radio in the UK. Our media is obsessed with celebrity to the extent that news coverage of the poorest countries is almost non existent. The difficult issues like HIV/AIDS, climate change, trade justice or water and sanitation issues are simply not covered in a way that is easily accessible to the general public in the UK.

Who will speak up for the poor and the needy? Those of us who know and who care will have to find creative and engaging ways to help our neighbours in this country hear the news our broadcasters aren't giving us.

Comic Relief, Tearfund and Malawi

In Feb 2007 I was able to visit Malawi on a Tearfund study tour. In Blantyre we visited the Chisomo Club, a work of the Living Waters Community Church, supported by Tearfund and also by Comic Relief.
Here are some extracts from my trip diary for Mon 12 Feb 2007.

We visited the work of the Chisomo Children’s club. Chisomo means ‘grace’ and there are two offices in Blantyre and one in Lilongwe.

Having encountered a starving child dying on the street in Blantyre the pastor of the Living Waters church decided that it was not enough only to preach the gospel to the spirit of a human but that the church had to care for the whole person. In 1998 the church started to meet with children and employed one member of staff, Mcdonald, whom we met during our visit.
The workers on the project would go out to where the children were and meet them. The beginning of the work was meeting with the children and playing games with them, there was a trip to the Lake.

A centre was purchased, with help from various supporters, and this is for short stay so that the children need not be sleeping on the streets. The centre is therefore kept purposefully Spartan so that children will be encouraged to want to go back home to their families. The work of Chisomo is to seek to reconcile children, who often have run away from the poverty at home, with their families. Most children are reintegrated with their families within three months. The centre in Blantyre successfully helps about 500 children each year, with about 2,000 being helped in other centres around Malawi.

The aim of this project is to strengthen the bond between the children and their family. When the family is contacted and the children go home the project is now beginning to work with families to help in the situations of poverty that have initially caused the child to run away from home.
The programmes running at the centre are on relationship building, family and community integration, education and health advocacy.

The children who come through the centre have mostly left home to escape from poverty, thinking they will not be poor in the city. Some have experienced sexual abuse and exploitation at home. Some children have been orphaned through bereavement and then are taken in by other family members seeking to gain the property of the deceased parents; children may then be abused by their new carers.
The centre offers counselling to help reintegration with families and is seeing a 95% success rate in their work.

A core value of the project is child involvement and seeking the views of the children. The children are involved in staff interviews and policy regarding the centre.

Some photographs from Chisomo:

This is the club centre building in Blantyre, a place of safety for children who would otherwise be in danger on the streets.

Some of the boys who were in the club on the day we visited.

It is good to know that Comic Relief supports such wonderful work, so let’s do something funny for money!

Global Poverty Prayer Week

This is our local church - St Ninians in Stranraer.

What is your local church like?

Tearfund completed the prompts for the Global Poverty Prayer Week by asking us to pray for the local church.

Tearfund's ten year vision is to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 churches.

At this link on the Tearfund resources page you can watch a 10 minute vidoe in which Cuthbert Gondwe, a worker with Eagles from Malawi, speaks of his hope in the local church to be the agent of transformation as God's people are united against all forms of poverty. Please do visit and watch this video.

Above all, let's pray that God would make all our churches agents of transformation for his Kingdom as we serve him in seeking to see his Kingdom come among us, his will be done here as it is in heaven.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

No pictures today.

We always hear news of disasters: earthquakes, tsunami, famine, drought, floods - we hear news for a while and then, all too quickly, pass onto the next thing.

Recognising the great generosity of many people who give so much money to disaster appeals, nevertheless, we are in danger of becoming a society that salves our consciences with a donation, without ever taking in who we are giving to or why.

The challenge of disasters is not always the immediate days after the disaster but in the long years of rebuilding and surviving. We are so quick to forget to keep on praying. Thank God that he does not so quickly pass over us onto his next project or appeal.

Reflect upon this verse

Prov 17:5 He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker;
whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished.

God of the poor, give us bigger hearts and longer memories. We thank you that you are making us more generous with our money, may this be reflected in making us generous in our praying and caring.

Global Poverty Prayer Week

In Feb 2007 I was able to visit tearfund partners in Malawi. These photos were taken south of Blantyre, in the Chikwawa district. The rightly proud farmer was explaining to us that over the past 10 years the villagers had noticed that their fields were being flooded where previously they had been able to grow good crops. Another poor village falls victim to global climate change.

In a very elegant solution, with help from tearfund partners Eagles, the village had planted this forest. Now when the river floods the waters are diverted away from the fields of crops behind the trees. Together with planting more flood resistant crops these villages are fighting a war against global climate change the effects of which are being set off by an over dependance upon carbon based fuels in Europe and America.

Why not visit the tearfund site and take on the Lent Carbon Fast this year?

Reflect upon this verse:

Psalm 24:1-2 A PSALM OF DAVID.

The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof,

the world and those who dwell therein,

2 for he has founded it upon the seas

and established it upon the rivers.

Please pray

O Lord, strong and mighty, King of glory, Lord of hosts, you love all that you have made and continue to sustain all of your creation, forgive us for our abuse of your creation, as you lead us into new life in Christ Jesus make us agents of change who will worship you by caring for your creation. Be with those poorest peoples who are suffering because of global climate change and bring them relief from this trouble that has fallen upon them.