World news from Tearfund

Crisis in Gaza

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 10:40:00 GMT

26 January 2009 Tearfund is urging Christians to unite in prayer for continuing peace in Gaza. Three weeks of clashes between Israel and Hamas has resulted in more than a thousand deaths, mainly among Palestinians. Although Tearfund does not have partners or operational capacity on the ground in Gaza, we are involved as a member agency of the DEC and fully support the appeal. If you would like to donate to this appeal, please visit the DEC website. Tearfund is supporting the prayers for peace of Christian partners in neighbouring Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Please give thanks for the ceasefires by Israel and Hamas in Gaza and pray they hold. Pray for those who are mourning for lost loved ones and for God’s comfort to those who have been injured. Pray that more humanitarian aid can get through to those who have lost homes and possessions.

Twelve January Zimbabwe

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:35:00 GMT

By Abby King, Tearfund Senior Media Officer I’ve just seen 18 bodies in a hospital morgue. This is the cold face of Zimbabwe’s supposedly non-existent cholera crisis. It’s a sight that is burnt on my eyelids, one that will stay with me. I hear from the Mugabe government that Zimbabwe’s cholera crisis is over but my eyes tell me a completely different story. Here in Beitbridge, on the South Africa border, one of the areas worst affected by cholera, the crisis is a continuing reality. My attention is drawn to a tiny body bag on the floor, near the front of the second of three heavy-set mortuary doors. A tiny baby, wrapped from head to toe in a piece of cloth, inside a clear plastic bag, tied at the top. Bodies are stacked three or four high on metal trolleys – the old and the young, both strong and weak, some tall, some short. Some of the bodies have been here for over three weeks. They are in various stages of decay, encased in clear plastic that clings to the contours of their l ...

Sri Lanka war reaches climax

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:36:00 GMT

13 January 2009 While the world’s attention is preoccupied by the battle for Gaza, there’s another long-running conflict that is also intensifying but is largely ignored. Tearfund’s Clare Crawford reports. Civilians gathering in displacement camps, concentrated into ever smaller areas; little food reaching them, medical help almost out of the question; aerial bombing supposedly aimed at tactical targets inevitably hitting civilians; no openings for humanitarian access, no journalists able to report impartially; the displaced are not being allowed out of the firing line Am I writing about Gaza, Zimbabwe or Somalia? No, this is Sri Lanka. Recent weeks have seen advances by government troops as they push to end a 30 year ethnic war against the Tamil Tigers. But is it the end? While the Tigers are being beaten on every front in the face of the government forces' superior weaponry, the Tigers’ leadership remains adamantly defiant, continuing to throw more men and women into the battle. All humanitarian o ...

Lives transformed in Nepal by literacy project

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:33:00 GMT

15 January 2009 `Before the reading class I was like the blind man, if I see a book I know nothing. But now since these classes my eyes are open.’ This testament to the transforming power of learning comes from a Nepalese woman called Anarkali Tharu. She’s truly joyful about the knowledge she is soaking up because she knows how it can transform not only her life but those of her children. She told of her delight at being able to study and help her children with their homework and of how she is determined to see them well educated. Anarkali is not the only one in her village of Bardahawa who is a sponge for literacy and learning. Sitting under a tree with her are seven other women facing a blackboard and getting to grips with reading and writing alfresco style, led by church volunteer, Nayam Mali Tharu. This is the local church in action. Transforming lives but in a new and different way to the Nepalese norm. Traditionally the local church focus has been on spiritual renewal. Now it’s increasingly r ...

Church helps transform Ugandan communities

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 13:18:00 GMT

20 January 2009 The local church in Uganda is leading a revolution that is transforming thousands of lives, according to new research from Tearfund. Assessments show that Tearfund partner, the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAG), is playing a key role in helping people out of poverty in 20 communities in the district of Soroti. Since 2001, it’s been bringing communities together to take part in a Participatory Evaluation Process (PEP) which essentially means getting them to solve their own problems and take control of their future direction. Together church and communities have been looking at their needs and coming up with practical solutions to tackle material poverty, with the resources to make the changes largely coming from within the communities themselves. In most cases improving health, education and household incomes were identified as priorities and a common way of achieving them was by sharing community resources, such as through saving and loan schemes. Vision One such venture is in the ...

Musical youth raise money for Tearfund

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:22:00 GMT

26 January 2009 A Christmas musical extravaganza involving 2,000 youngsters in Suffolk has raised more than £35,000 for Tearfund. The ‘One Christmas’ Project brought children from 40 schools together to perform live and to record a CD and DVD of traditional and new carols, as well as songs that focussed on issues covered by Tearfund’s work. Some 1,800 children aged between seven and 11 were involved in singing on the CD and DVD, and 1,100 of them performed on stage at seven concerts in Felixstowe attended by more than 4,000 people. More than 3,500 CDs and DVDs have been sold. Backed up by 45 musicians and 25 dancers, the cross-community nature of the venture was underlined by the involvement of 200 volunteers helping with technical assistance, stewarding and construction. Andy Rayner, the ‘One Christmas’ Project leader, said, ‘This has been a fantastic project involving so many youngsters from across this area and a whole army of volunteers. `Our expectations have been well exceeded and we are excit ...

Tearfund wins gold at New York Film Festival

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:34:00 GMT

27 January 2009 A Tearfund film telling the story of a teenager orphaned by AIDS has won a top award at the New York Film Festival. Rachel’s Story won the gold medal for best cinematography in the charity and public welfare section of the internationally renowned event. The film depicts the life of 13-year-old Rachel, whose parents have died from AIDS, leaving her to take care of her younger siblings, a job she’s been doing since the age of eight. It follows Rachel’s average day as she cooks, cleans, digs the land and cares for six children orphaned by AIDS. It also tells of how the local church is helping the young family. The film was made to promote and fundraise for Tearfund’s work in Uganda, where six in-country partners are involved in AIDS and HIV related projects. The importance of these programmes is underlined by the fact that Uganda has more than a million children who have been orphaned by AIDS. Rachel’s Story was made for Tearfund by London-based Pretzel Films and directed by James Lawe ...

Twelve February Carbon Fast

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:12:00 GMT

Fast > verb: abstain from all or some kinds of food or drink, especially as a religious observance. Carbon Fast > noun: a period of fasting and praying with Tearfund to cut your carbon use and help protect poor people from climate change. We’re on a mission this Lent not only to add Carbon Fast to your vocabulary but to get you putting these two little words into practice as well. Each day from Wednesday 25 February until Saturday 11 April, we have daily actions to help you reduce your carbon footprint. For example, why not give up keeping electrical appliances on standby? Eight per cent of the electricity we consume in our homes is by appliances we’re not even using, wasting money as well as causing emissions. Junk the mail Or de-register from receiving junk mail. Four billion direct mail items are sent annually, with a third going unread. All you need to do to join the Carbon Fast is sign up to receive a daily email. Easy. Together the global church can make a big difference. But don’t just take ou ...

Twelve February India

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:25:00 GMT

Films are big business in India. Every year, Bollywood puts billions of bums on seats as people flock to see the latest features. The power and popularity of celluloid to captivate and transport people to another world shows little sign of waning. Which is good news for Timothy Gaikwad. Timothy is a film-maker who works with Tearfund partner, Inter-Mission Care and Rehabilitation Society (IMCares). Based in Mumbai, he has a track record of making films with a social and spiritual punch, offering sometimes uncomfortable but never irrelevant viewing and showing the local church’s response to seemingly intractable problems in society. His latest offering, Zindagi – Break the Cycle, is no exception. Running to 40 minutes, it tells the story of a rural 16-year-old girl Jyoti, played by Auroshikha Dey, who is trafficked into the big city prostitution industry. Soul-sapping And so begins her descent into sexual squalor attended by physical and emotional pain that comes with the territory of this exploitative ...

Zimbabwe partner urges show of goodwill

website.editor@tearfund.org — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:22:00 GMT

6 February 2009 A key Tearfund partner in Zimbabwe has given a guarded welcome to the formation of a unity government but is calling for confidence-building measures to show a political will to rebuild the country. The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance says it is cautiously optimistic about a power-sharing agreement between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai. But it admits the deal, brokered by the Southern African Development Community, is not a triumph for African principles and solutions but a reproach because the will of the people as expressed in last year’s elections has not been respected. In a statement, the ZCA said, `It is our sincere hope and prayer, however, that God Almighty will intervene and this transitional arrangement will lead to real democracy and consequently to justice, reconciliation, peace and prosperity in our troubled land. `At present the people of Zimbabwe are rather suspicious and anxious. Anxious `They need confidence-building measures to be put in place to indicate sincerit ...

Pakistan water project to help thousands of families

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:54:00 GMT

10 February 2009 A Tearfund-funded project is set to improve access to clean drinking water and sanitation for more than 2,000 families in south-east Pakistan. Some 60 villages will benefit from a three year programme covering the district of Mirpurkhas in the Lower Sindh. As well as boosting the health of thousands of people, the work being coordinated by Tearfund partner, the Society for Safe Environment and Welfare of Agrarians in Pakistan (SSEWA-Pak), will improve people’s ability to make a livelihood. Self-help groups are being formed in each village which will take responsibility for the water and sanitation facilities once they are complete. Ashraf Mall, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Pakistan, said, `People who have benefited so far are really happy about it. `Villages have seen less waterborne diseases, like diarrhoea and cholera, and women no longer have to walk such long distances to get water.’ Many of the villagers benefiting are very poor. They tend to be small farmers or tena ...

It's time to flush away water poverty

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:14:00 GMT

`Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water …’ One of the English language’s most famous nursery rhymes opens with a scenario that millions of kids in the developing world, especially girls, can relate to. For them the reality of getting water is a long walk to a source and then a slow, difficult, sometimes dangerous, journey home lugging their precious cargo. The hardship of this situation doesn’t end there. Because they have to spend so much time doing this, many kids drop out of education. Hand-in-hand with the lack of water is a lack of toilets, with all the unhygienic implications that comes with having to urinate or defecate in the open. It all adds up to a poverty-inducing, often lethal cocktail of factors that World Water Day this Sunday is aiming to highlight. Scandal Lack of access to a simple toilet affects 2.5 billion people worldwide or put another way, one in three people. Also one in seven people don’t have safe water to drink. It’s an injustice that cries out for a r ...

World AIDS Day message

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Twelve October Appeal update

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Twelve August Make life flow update

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Twelve Water Film

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Sri Lanka partners get war aid to civilians

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:14:00 GMT

18 February 2009 Tearfund partners in Sri Lanka are increasing aid for some of the 250,000 civilians who are caught in the middle of the island’s increasingly bloody civil war. Recent weeks have seen an intensification of fighting between government forces and those of the Tamil Tiger rebel group in the north of the country. Key rebel strongholds have fallen to advancing government forces but many civilians have been caught in the crossfire, despite the creation of `safe zones’. Shelling One local priest said, `The Sri Lankan army continues to shell and bomb places where people have sought asylum, even places which are safe zones. As people flee they are exposed to hot sun and to heavy rain. No food is available and people face starvation.’ Tearfund partner World Concern Sri Lanka, which has been working on tsunami-recovery programmes, has been able to support 1,200 wounded people, including many women and children, who were evacuated from the conflict zone by boat. In just one week more than 1,600 ...

After the cyclone in Myanmar

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:03:00 GMT

5 March 2009 Tearfund’s Rachel Stevens has just returned from visiting Tearfund partners in Myanmar. Here Rachel reports on reconstruction efforts since last year’s cyclone but also on how emotional healing will take a lot longer. At the end of January, I travelled again to the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar. I was going to see the work that a Tearfund partner has been doing since Cyclone Nargis ripped through the heart of communities last May. After travelling some 12 hours by road to the town of Labutta, we boarded a small flotilla of speedboats for a 2 hour journey into the heart of the delta. We were greeted with curious stares from the local fishermen in their traditional wooden row boats. Recovery The first village we visited had been decimated by the cyclone. More than 400 of the village’s 1,000 residents lost their lives. Recovery has been slow here, and many people are still living in shelters they pieced together using timber and donated tarpaulins. Back in the boats, we made our way to the ...

Cutting the carbon for Lent

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:38:00 GMT

12 March 2009 If you’re one of the 1,500 plus people who have signed up for the Carbon Fast, maybe you’ll relate to twenty-something teacher, John Salberg. He’s been keeping an (almost) daily blog as he ponders the meaning of Lent and tries to use less carbon. The Carbon Fast is a journey through Lent towards a lighter carbon footprint. Every day we’re emailing participants with a simple energy saving action and a short prayer or reflection. John blogs: Day 1 of my Carbon Fast asks me to; ‘Remove one light bulb from your home and live without it for the next 40 days.’ So the bulb in the hall has gone. It’s one of those lights you always have on but never really need. Day 2It seems that I wasn’t aware of how important the light in the hall was! According to my wife it is vital. So the lounge has become a slightly darker place. Day 8‘Act justly: the world’s poorest people are suffering the most from climate change yet they have contributed the least to the problem. Go to www.tearfund.org/carbonfas ...

Twelve-Make Life Flow Films

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:01:00 GMT

G20 rally

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:14:00 GMT

23 March 2009 Tearfund is urging people to turn out in force for a major rally and church service this Saturday in advance of next month’s G20 summit in London. The 28 March rally and service concern the global financial crisis and aim to challenge world leaders to come up with sustainable policies focusing on jobs, justice and climate change. Tearfund is joining more than 50 organisations including faith groups, trades unions, environmental and development charities in organising the rally, entitled Put People First. It’s being staged prior to one of the most important gatherings of world leaders this year, the G20 summit on 2 April, which is being hosted by Gordon Brown and is focusing on the global financial meltdown. Failed systems Tearfund’s Paul Cook said: `World leaders must now work to ensure that failed systems are re-structured to fairly accommodate the poor in society. `In a biting recession, developing countries are hit even harder. And we are getting the church involved because, both loc ...

Thousands march to urge G20 action for people

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 12:40:00 GMT

30 March 2009 Tearfund supporters have joined tens of thousands of marchers through the streets of London to urge world leaders to `Put People First’. Police estimate 35,000 people took part in Saturday’s rally for jobs, justice and climate, which was organised to send a message to the G20 Summit meeting to discuss the financial crisis this Thursday. Before the Put People First march, some 1,600 others attended an ecumenical church service at Central Hall, hearing from UK and international speakers. Among them was the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, who called for action to help the world’s poorest people who are suffering most in the current economic climate. Bishop Chartres said, `This is an interconnected world. If we take more than our fair share of resources and contribute to climate change, then the poorest people in the world will suffer.’ Father Joe Komakoma, Secretary General of the Zambia Episcopal Conference and a CAFOD partner, also speaking at the service, said, `Where ...

African floods leave thousands vulnerable

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 09:54:00 GMT

2 April 2009 Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering after severe flooding hit Angola and Zambia. More than 220,000 people have been affected in Angola and the UN says food and shelter is needed there. The local church is responding after many homes collapsed as well as schools and bridges. In the south east, in Kwando Kubago, more than 1,000 houses have been destroyed and 23,000 people are in need of relief assistance. In the area of Moxico, at least 1,000 houses have collapsed and 16,000 people are affected and need support. In another area, Cunene, many people are now living in camps requiring water, food, tents, medical drugs, blankets and chlorine. António Maiandi, from Tearfund partner the Reformed Church in Angola, said, `The situation is very bad, in some locations the schools have closed. Tents, medical drugs, food are needed urgently.’ Church aid This weekend the local church in Angola, which is celebrating the seventh anniversary of peace in the country, will be staging a massive c ...

G20 summit reaction

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

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 devas ...

Rising sea levels force islanders to flee

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:20:00 GMT

16 April 2009 This week saw the announcement that the population of the Carteret Islands, near Papua New Guinea, are the first entire people to be evacuated because of man-made changes in the climate. With rising sea levels, their drinking water and crops are now poisoned by salt and one island has been cut in half by the waves. The 1,000 islanders are now being evacuated and their homes abandoned. As the news broke, governments were meeting in Bonn to continue UN negotiations on a new climate treaty, with the aim of reaching agreement at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December. Tearfund plays an important role in the talks – lobbying governments to make sure the voices of the poorest and most vulnerable communities are heard – supported by the prayers and concern of the global church. Green technology Sara Shaw, Tearfund’s Climate Change Policy Officer, says, ‘We urgently need a tough and fair deal that drastically cuts the emissions of rich countries and provides adequate finance ...

Zambia project tackles child labour problem

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:54:00 GMT

21 April 2009 A Tearfund partner has helped prevent more than 600 Zambian youngsters from being used as child labour. Many low-income families in the southern African nation, where 45 per cent of the population is aged under 15, rely on their children to help work the land so they can survive. Jesus Cares Ministry (JCM) is helping people in the country’s eastern province find new means of making a livelihood, enabling youngsters to continue or return to education. More than 200 parents and carers have been trained and given new skills such as goat rearing, vegetable production, baking, tailoring and knitting. They’ve also received help to start businesses in groups of ten as well as ongoing monitoring and support. Thankful JCM helped 42-year-old Patricia Njobvu’s son return to school by teaching her to tailor to boost her income. Patricia, who has also been given a school uniform, books and pencils for her son, said, `I now sustain my simple life by making clothes on a sewing machine, one of the skil ...

Tearfund pre-Budget climate call

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:04:00 GMT

21 April 2009 Tearfund is calling on the government to announce greenhouse gas emission cuts in tomorrow’s Budget that will kick-start the economy, save the planet and protect poor communities. In practice this means a science-based target of 42 per cent cuts by 2020 based on 1990 levels, with the vast majority of cuts being made within the UK and not offset in developing countries. This target would incentivise early climate action in the UK and put the country at the forefront of new green industries. It would also send a powerful signal to the international climate negotiations – setting an example to other developed countries and building trust with developing countries, which are hit hardest by climate change. Tearfund is concerned that the likely outcome may be an announcement of 34 per cent cuts on 1990 levels by 2020, which is what the Committee on Climate Change recommended in the absence of a global climate deal. Tearfund's Climate Policy Adviser Sara Shaw says, `While 34 per cent sounds a ...

Budget response

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:41:00 GMT

23 April 2009 Tearfund has welcomed the government’s announcement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34 per cent but believes a huge opportunity to show global leadership has been missed. The Chancellor’s statement offered the chance for the UK to become a global leader in green industries and technologies which would create thousands of new jobs, help save the planet and protect poor people. Tearfund's Climate Policy Adviser Sara Shaw, says, `While 34 per cent sounds ambitious and is ahead of many other developed countries, it is scientifically inadequate. A target of 42 per cent is more in line with the latest research and we urge the government not to ignore the advice of experts. `It appears that the government has ducked the opportunity to take early action in moving towards a low-carbon economy and we face having to make much bigger cuts far faster after 2020. `There are huge benefits to taking action now. Investing early in energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and innovative technologi ...

Twelve May 2009 Myanmar cyclone

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:47:00 GMT

12 May 2009 Win Tint and wife Daw San Aye were out fishing when Cyclone Nargis struck without warning. Their boat capsized and the couple had to swim for their lives, ending up clinging onto water reeds until the worst had passed. Clambering ashore, they ran to their home and were confronted by the life-shattering extent of their loss. In the wreckage of their badly damaged house they discovered their three children aged two, seven and nine had been swept away. To this day their bodies have never been recovered. Bereft of belongings, Win Tint and Daw San Aye were left with nothing. One of Tearfund’s local Myanmar-based partners has helped the couple take the first tentative steps on the road to recovery by rebuilding their home, complete with structural strengthening to help it withstand future storms and give them a sense of security. It’s bigger than their former home and they feel safe within it, even with the impending monsoon. Church's help Without a fishing boat to earn a living, the couple g ...

Mexico swine flu outbreak

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:05:00 GMT

28 April 2009 People from poor communities in Mexico are set to receive face masks and dietary supplements from a Tearfund partner to help them ward off swine flu. The virus is believed to have claimed 150 lives in Mexico and 2,000 people are said to be infected. All schools have been closed until 6 May, public events have been cancelled and many cities are quiet as people stay at home. The Mexican government is using the media to reiterate information about the symptoms and preventative measures, such as the need to regularly wash hands and disinfect dishes. Tearfund partner Amextra (Mexican Association for Rural and Urban Transformation) is drawing up plans to distribute face masks in communities where it is working. Amextra’s Jennifer Allen said, `Society in general is voluntarily choosing to go outside as little as possible to avoid being infected which most commonly occurs through coughs and sneezes. Boosting immunity `We are already hearing reports of the illness in our communities although det ...

Twelve May Sri Lanka

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:12:00 GMT

While the world hopefully witnesses the last gasps of Sri Lanka’s two-decade-old civil war, the cries of civilians suffering can still be heard loud and clear. It’s a call that demands a response from local churches around the globe to enable Tearfund’s partners to increase the amount of help they can give to ordinary people already struggling on the margins of poverty. Tens of thousands have fled the war zone in the north east of the island where conditions are said to be atrocious, with people facing acute food shortages and families living in tents with inadequate access to water and sanitation. Those who do manage to escape have no choice but to enter government-run displacement camps with limited facilities which have been hastily arranged, increasing hardship. Conditions for those who escape are little better. Many are being forced into government-run displacement camps, surrounded by barbed wire, with few facilities. Malnutrition Thanks to the generosity of supporters towards our emergency app ...

Afghan radio spreads water message

website.editor@tearfund.org — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:57:00 GMT

8 May 2009 Tearfund teams in Afghanistan have been taking to the airwaves to get across messages about the importance of using water wisely. Three national radio stations broadcast a special programme produced by Tearfund with contributions from Afghan government departments. Listeners heard how water should be seen as a valuable natural resource which shouldn’t be wasted. The message was underlined in interviews with people living in parts of Afghanistan where water is scarce or where clean drinking supplies are limited. People also heard about how to avoid contaminating drinking water by the careful selection of locations for toilets, wells and waste disposal areas. Feedback from listeners included: `My family and I didn’t know that many people don’t have access to safe drinking water,’ (Kabul resident). `I learned that water must not be wasted particularly the safe water,’ (Wardak province resident). `Now I know, why I go to the toilet so often with diarrhoea. I must use only safe water for d ...

Rebuilding lives in Indonesia

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:27:00 GMT

13 May 2009 People uprooted by years of conflict in Indonesia are getting help to rebuild their communities and lives from Tearfund. Residents of seven villages in the Panga and Krueng Sabee area on the island of Sumatra have returned to find their houses destroyed and farming land completely overgrown. They had been forced to leave in 2003 because they were in the middle of a conflict between the Indonesian army and the Free Aceh Movement. Tearfund partner Kotib (Koalisi Untuk Transparansi Bantuan Bencana), which means Coalition for the Transparency of Disaster Aid, has been helping villagers get back on their feet. Greater strength Village leader Zurihan has been working on restoring livelihoods with Kotib: `I lead meetings and we share ideas about how to improve and develop the community,’ he said. `I want the village to progress and for us to get ourselves out of poverty by rebuilding livelihoods and community structure.’ Skills training has helped farmers grow crops more efficiently but Kotib ...

Living water in Liberia

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:54:00 GMT

20 May 2009 Imagine drinking from a muddy swamp - about as much fun as diarrhoea which is likely to be the result. Take a trip to the West African state of Liberia and the Dukuleyla community and you’ll find people who don’t have to use their imagination. They’ve got bitter experience of doing so and it’s not something they would recommend to anyone. Community leader Isaac Barker said, `We didn’t have safe drinking water here. The only water we could use was from the mud, from the swamp. `It wasn’t good for us. It gave us diarrhoea, even worms – you can see them in the well.’ What changed the lives of the community in Gbarpolu county was some help from a group of local churches in the form of a Tearfund partner. The Association of Evangelicals in Liberia (AEL), which has experience of water-related construction projects, approached the Dukuleyla community to ask their needs. Clean drinking water was top of the priority list for villagers and the result was AEL began work on building a new well. Th ...

Asia cyclone brings misery to thousands

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 28 May 2009 15:31:00 GMT

28 May 2009 Tearfund partners are assessing aid needs after Cyclone Aila affected hundreds of thousands of people in Bangladesh and India. More than 200 died after the storm brought high winds and heavy rains from the Bay of Bengal. Homes were washed away, crops damaged and many people are struggling without food, water and shelter. But thousands in Bangladesh were helped to safety thanks to Tearfund partner Heed. It implemented early warning procedures to get 18,000 people to cyclone shelters, including some that were built with Tearfund help after Cyclone Sidr killed 4,000 people in 2007. More than 80 Heed teams went out onto the streets of 14 areas with megaphones and sirens to warn residents of the impending storm, while warning flags were raised at nearly 100 other communities. Dam threat Some 1,200 Heed-trained community volunteers were involved in evacuation and rescue operations. Heed says the cyclone has left coastal areas particularly affected by saline contaminated drinking water. Fell ...

Mexico swine flu latest

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:58:00 GMT

1 June 2009 Rural Mexicans are receiving help from a Tearfund partner to prevent them contracting swine flu. More than 4,900 cases of the influenza have been diagnosed in Mexico and 85 people have died there, according to the World Health Organisation. Tearfund partner Amextra is working in two regions outside Mexico City to boost awareness of the A (H1N1) strain which has been reported in 48 countries since the outbreak began in Mexico. Many poor families in rural areas have not received Mexican government help to combat the flu, so Amextra staff have been training people about how to prevent its spread, with information backed up with flyers and posters in public places. On a practical level, 3,800 bars of soap have been given out by our partner to help hygiene, as well as face masks and vitamins for children. With Mexico facing a shortage of face masks, Amextra is also providing materials for 11,000 new ones and volunteers have been making them. Commenting on the effect of swine flu, Jennifer Allen ...

Twelve June Pakistan

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:06:00 GMT

Safia was just days away from giving birth when panic started to grow on the streets of her home city of Mingora in Pakistan. A dozen Taleban bombs had exploded in quick succession across the north western city and people were urging residents to leave immediately. Safia joined the departing throng and walked for three hours before managing to get a lift to the town of Mardan where she went to stay with relatives. Four days later baby Anosh was born but Safia’s family didn’t have enough food and supplies to look after the pair for long. They were taken in by the Christian Vocational Training Centre, run by the Diocese of Peshawar, which has 70 displaced families within its walls who are being supported by a Tearfund partner, SSEWA-Pak, (Society for Safe Environment and Welfare of Agrarians in Pakistan). Safia is one of more than 3 million people who have been forced to leave their homes because of fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taleban. Tidal wave of humanity The conflict in the North Wes ...

Twelve June Tim Vine

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:11:00 GMT

`So how would you fancy coming out to Africa at some point to visit one of our projects? See what we’re doing about helping to put clean water and loos in towns that don’t have any?' `Yeh, I’d be up for that.' That casual exchange in a coffee shop in Banstead with a staff member from Tearfund had been the starting point. And now here I was, fully inoculated, cramming shirts into a case and wondering what had possessed me. It didn’t add to my confidence that I had got the start of a sore throat and my glands were up. Great Timing. It’s the secret of comedy. Still there was no way out now. I was going to Ethiopia. Suddenly staying at home and watching the results of Dancing On Ice seemed like heaven. It had never felt like that before. We were met in Addis Ababa by our new friends from the Kale Heywet Church, Tearfund’s partners in Ethiopia. Tearfund works through the local church, because of the impact that can be made by an organisation on the ground who really know the communities intimately and ...

Church should have bigger water role

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:25:00 GMT

3 June 2009 Tearfund is calling on governments to step-up work with churches to tackle the global water and sanitation crisis. Some 2.5 billion people lack access to decent toilets and 900 million don’t have access to clean drinking water and internationally agreed targets, called Millennium Development Goals, aimed at improving this by 2015 are massively off track for sub-Saharan Africa. A major effort is needed to prevent the targets being missed, according to a new report from Tearfund called Keeping Communities Clean – the churches response to improving sanitation and hygiene. The report explains that headway can be made if governments and international donors work in partnership with local churches which are at the heart of many poor communities. This position means the local church is ideally placed to be a force for positive change and development, a fact reinforced by Tearfund’s 40 years experience of working on relief and development with church partners. Shaping attitudes The report cites ...

New skills bring new hope in Cambodia

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:58:00 GMT

4 June 2009 The Khmer Rouge era left Cambodia one of the world’s poorest countries. Unicef says 40 per cent of the 14 million population earn less than US$1.25 a day. Tearfund is working with the local church to tackle poverty and the approach is winning recognition from the Cambodian government. Kuan To-na is only 14 but already knows the painful realities of living in poverty. One of seven children from a village near the Thai border, he had to give up going to school because his parents’ wages as day labourers couldn’t pay the fees. `Day to day the living standard of my family is getting worse and it cannot support my siblings and me to go to school anymore,’ says Kuan. `I feel sorry about this and I worry about my family and our futures.’ Working life for Kuan after leaving school comprised collecting rubbish for recycling and labouring on a farm in Thailand. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t an existence Kuan relished: `I don’t want my life to be in the same situation as my family is now.’ Bikes He rec ...

Nepal partners are quick on the draw

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:05:00 GMT

10 June 2009 Drawings and drama are being used by Tearfund in Nepal to get churches and their communities involved in shaping their futures. Nepali local church partners are learning to use creative approaches to help them engage with people in the wider community they serve who are illiterate. People are being taught drawing skills which they can then use to communicate development and Biblical messages. Tearfund consultant Bill Crooks, who ran courses with Jackie Mouradian, said, `There’s huge scope for these non-written forms of learning. Within two hours people had the confidence to draw.’ Energising Representatives from Tearfund partners Sagoal, the United Mission to Nepal (UMN), International Nepal Fellowship (INF), Share and Care and Community Transformation Society (CATS) have taken part. Elung Rai, from UMN, said, `It’s been a good experience and useful learning for me about how we can guide and support our churches and Christian communities. `I learned many new ideas and concepts about ho ...

Churches call for calm in Peru

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:06:00 GMT

18 June 2009 Churches in Peru are calling for calm after a frenzy of violence left dozens dead. Clashes between the police and indigenous people in the Amazonas department have caused fatalities on both sides and left hundreds injured. Hard facts are difficult to come by, amid curfews and restriction on the media, but it’s clear relations between the Peruvian authorities and the indigenous inhabitants are at an all-time low. The causes go back years and have their roots in exclusion and abuse, according to Tearfund partner Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope). Since the 1990s, a number of laws have been passed that are restricting the land rights of the local people in both the rainforest and high mountain regions. Obstacle These laws have granted mining and oil companies greater powers over indigenous lands. The current Peruvian government has tried to continue this trend and President Alan Garcia has articulated resentment against the indigenous people in articles where he has described them as lazy, u ...

Brazil water venture praised

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:42:00 GMT

23 June 2009 Thousands of Brazilians are receiving improved water and sanitation facilities as a result of a pioneering venture between Tearfund partners and local authorities. This life-improving work is benefiting the semi-arid town of Antonio Martins in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, in the northeast of the country, an area where there has traditionally been little in the way of centrally-provided services for the thinly spread population. Tearfund partner Diaconia has received vital support from the municipal government in Antonio Martins to increase the supply of drinking water and sanitation to the locals. The council has provided transport for building materials, technical advisers and help with building a 24,000-litre water storage tank and now construction is underway of more than 700 bathrooms. Diaconia has helped the council authorities realise Antonio Martins does not require grand schemes to make a serious difference to the lives of its people. The mayor of Antonio Martins Municipal ...

Christians under attack in Nepal

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:48:00 GMT

24 June 2009 Christians in Nepal are facing worrying times amid threats against them by Hindu extremists who recently carried out a bomb attack on a church. Three people died and 13 others were injured when an improvised explosive device detonated at a catholic church in Dhobighat in Lalitpur district. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Nepal Defence Army (NDA), a Hindu fundamentalist group. Worryingly, the NDA issued new threats, saying it was planning to explode ten further bombs at the homes of Nepali Christians. In a statement, the group said the action was in response ‘to the open rape of Hindu culture through open religious conversion’. Deadline The NDA has pointed the finger at Christian aid groups and given `unholy elements’ until tomorrow to leave Nepal. Ominously the statement goes on: `If this warning is ignored they will have to bear a punishment beyond human imagination.’ Tearfund is closely monitoring the situation with our nine partners in Nepal who are taking steps to r ...

Churches urge talks on Honduras crisis

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:25:00 GMT

14 July 2009 Evangelical churches are calling on the two main protagonists in the Honduran political crisis to get round the negotiating table to settle their differences. The military ousted president Manuel Zelaya on 28 June and forced him out of the country because of opposition to his plans to change the constitution and extend his term in office. Mr Zelaya’s been succeeded by interim president Roberto Micheletti but anger over the treatment of the deposed leader has resulted in fatal clashes between his supporters and the authorities. There’s been international alarm over events in Honduras. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the unconstitutional change of power and Honduras has been suspended from the 35-strong Organisation of American States. Prayer request Now the Confederation of Evangelicals in Central America (CEDECA) is urging Mr Zelaya and Mr Micheletti to resume talks to resolve the dispute. ‘We believe that the two highest figures in this conflict should meet and dialogue ...

Church reaches out to migrant workers

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 12:01:00 GMT

27 July 2009 Tough living conditions, poor wages, no rights and persecution – the life of a migrant worker in Thailand has little to recommend it. Yet the country has more than 2 million migrants working in construction, farming, fishing and the textile industries, of which only 600,000 are officially registered. About 80 per cent of the migrant population in Thailand comes from neighbouring Myanmar with the rest from Cambodia and Laos. Human rights groups have long recorded the trials facing migrant workers, such as unsafe working conditions, arbitrary arrest, detention and deportation. Just last month it was reported that 400 migrants were arrested by Thai border guards and those who managed to escape had their homes burnt down. Tearfund is supporting the local church through its local partner in northern Thailand as it helps migrant workers materially and spiritually. The story of Aseu is not untypical of the plight of migrant workers from Myanmar. The mother-of-three was living in northern Thai ...

Partner leads raids against child exploitation

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:43:00 GMT

29 July 2009 Three men face legal action for running an Indian brothel exploiting underage girls following a raid organised by a Tearfund partner. Staff from Oasis India helped in the arrest of the trio in Mumbai on suspicion of forcing young girls into prostitution. However hopes of rescuing youngsters aged under 16 were dashed by a tip-off which enabled other brothel staff to smuggle the girls out as the raid started. ‘Oasis continues to follow this case up with the police,’ said a spokesman for our partner. ‘We ask for continued prayer so we’re able to prosecute the traffickers as well as finding and rescuing the girls.’ Trafficked Trafficking girls and women into the sex industry is a big business in India. Poverty often drives rural families to ‘sell’ their women and children to traffickers. Many send their children off with a supposedly trustworthy relative or neighbour to the city, in the hope that their children will get a job and send money back home. Too often the youngsters end up being ...

Tearfund presses for new corruption law

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:53:00 GMT

30 July 2009 A Bill to crackdown on British companies involved in overseas corruption needs to become law as soon as possible, Tearfund urged today. Draft legislation due to go before Parliament could significantly enforce wide powers to investigate and prosecute British firms committing bribery abroad. Tearfund is working alongside CAFOD and Christian Aid in campaigning for the new law. Head of Policy at Tearfund, Laura Webster said, `Any backtracking on corruption eradication simply leaves millions of lives in the developing world at risk. `The Draft Bribery Bill shows that the UK government is serious about tackling bribery by British companies overseas, the government must now ensure that it becomes law in the next parliamentary session.’ Outdated Sonya Maldar, Policy Analyst with CAFOD, said: ‘For too long our outdated laws have made it virtually impossible to prosecute companies who use bribery to secure business overseas. ‘We know that it is the poorest and most vulnerable people in deve ...

Radio helps tackle HIV in Russia

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 10:58:00 GMT

3 August 2009 Radio shows supported by Tearfund are helping to break down ignorance and prejudice about HIV in Russia. The country has one of the biggest epidemics in Europe with 940,000 people living with HIV, mainly drug users. Tearfund is working to stop the spread of HIV and bring spiritual and material transformation by joining forces with local church and Christian partners. Among them is Radio Teos, which broadcasts weekly across Russia about HIV issues such as prevention and healthcare. Reaction to them suggests they are highly valued by many listeners. Evgeniya, 28, divorced her husband because he was diagnosed as living with HIV. Later she began listening to Radio Teos and became more knowledgeable and less afraid of HIV. Love and support She contacted her husband and learned he had been infected during a blood transfusion. Eventually they got back together. `Because of Radio Teos, I now understand how I can love my husband and support him. And in the process we were introduced to God who ...

DR Congo water work brings better health

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:55:00 GMT

5 August 2009 Sharing drinking water with their cows used to be a daily routine for the Banyamulenge people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a result, their highland community, some 3,000 metres up in the mountains of South Kivu province, constantly struggled with illness. They also struggled to capture the water in the first place. Nyamugisha Nyantabara, 30, used to collect her water from an open spring by scooping it into her jerry can. With a household of seven, she needed to fill three jerry cans every day, a chore that was incredibly time-consuming. But work by Tearfund’s disaster management team has brought better health and improved lives to the Banyamulenge. Ten springs have now been protected from livestock and water collection has been made easier with gravity systems being introduced. `Now we have the rock catchment source, the whole task is completed much more quickly and the water is clean and healthier,’ said Nyamugisha. Matthias Kirongoze has been employed as a caretaker by t ...

Peru partner presses for massacre justice

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:42:00 GMT

10 August 2009 Twenty five years after one of the worst massacres in Latin America’s history, a Tearfund partner is leading the cause for justice. More than 100 poor farmers, including women and children, were killed by the army in a remote Peruvian mountain community called Putis in 1984. They were targeted because the Shining Path terror group, whom the government had been locked in conflict with since 1980, had been operating in the area. The army wrongly judged that the population had been helping the Shining Path and carried out mass executions in cold blood. After the killings, the government tried to cover up the massacre and to claim that a handful of Shining Path sympathisers had been killed in a gun battle. The truth only came to light in 2001 through the testimonies of just a handful of survivors to a journalist and then later in 2003 to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Last year excavations revealed a mass grave and so far 23 bodies have been identified through DNA tests. Excav ...

Tackling prejudice against disability in Nepal

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:34:00 GMT

17 August 2009 ‘This bunch of disabled people are useless and they cannot do anything in the community.’ The words of a local government chief in Nepal seem as harsh as a slap in the face. They betray an attitude of antagonism towards people with disabilities that one Tearfund partner in Nepal couldn’t let go unchallenged. Partnership for New Life helped set up the Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) in Devdaha, Western Terai, seven years ago. With about 80 registered members, the group works for the welfare and rights of those with disabilities in the community but when it came to one local government official it only met with hostility. U-turn All that changed when the group invited him as guest of honour to one of their events, where he saw how it was helping improve the lives of people with disabilities and enabling them to make the most of their potential. People like Dipu Pariyar, 15, who lost a leg in a road accident and who found his school began charging him for his education, even though t ...

Malawi water work does wonders for health

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:45:00 GMT

18 August 2009 Incidents of disease across ten African communities have dropped by 80 per cent following a Tearfund project to improve access to water and sanitation. More than 4,000 people living in the Mchinji area of Malawi have benefited from the work of Tearfund partner Agreds. Over the last two years, staff have collaborated with villagers on repairing boreholes and installing pumps for wells. But as well as the practical, Agreds - which has worked closely with Malawi’s ministries of health and water development - has helped run health awareness campaigns. It’s also collaborated with the communities to set up a structure that ensures the impact of the project is long lasting and self-sustained. Cholera Village Health Committees now hold education sessions on a monthly basis, emphasising the importance of having clean toilets, hand washing facilities, rubbish pits and good hygiene in kitchens. Water Committees, also drawn from the communities, have been set up monitor and maintain the new wells ...

Twelve September Make life flow

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:18:00 GMT

Wude Osman was stuck in a life of grime. Day after day, the mother of two from Ethiopia felt grubby. Remission came just once a month when she got enough water to have a wash. Getting water in the first place was the trouble. To do so the 44-year-old had to walk for 1.5 hours to a stream, and a dirty one at that. There she might have to queue for six hours before being able to fill her water containers and make the long slog home. Not surprisingly, when faced with such a trek, Wude didn’t collect a lot of water. She physically couldn’t manage it, so the family never had enough to cover even their most basic household needs. Because the water was dirty, it was also unhealthy and illness was common, forcing adults to stop work and youngsters to miss school. Prosperity Fast-forward a bit and something important enters the frame – the local church. The Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (EKHC), a Tearfund partner, came to Wude’s village of Jama and brought living water with it. With their development experi ...

Twelve September Gift of life

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:25:00 GMT

‘I am the first… but not the last’ Agnes, a mother of five from Fombe village in Malawi, is a pioneer. She was the very first person in her community to openly tell others that she is living with HIV. ‘I was the first to come out and declare my status,’ she says. ‘Now I stand, unashamed, and tell people about HIV. I have been honest with others with HIV and advised them to come into the open instead of hiding themselves.’ It was the support of the local church in Fombe that gave Agnes the strength to be open in circumstances where declaration can leave you shunned by friends and family. Speaking out But, through the support of Tearfund partner Eagles, the local church had already changed people’s perceptions about HIV. They trained the local pastor, Harry, to speak against the stigma and convince the villagers to love and accept those living with HIV. Thanks to Agnes’s small step of faith and giant leap of boldness, many more have followed in her footsteps. Fombe is now home to an HIV support group ...

Brazil farming project success

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:38:00 GMT

27 August 2009 The livelihoods of small-scale cotton farmers in rural Brazil are being boosted by a Tearfund-backed project centred on eco-friendly production methods. Tearfund church-based partner Diaconia is working with producers in the Caraubas Municipality, in the semi-arid north east, assisting them from planting to processing and marketing. Farmers like Maria Helenita de Oliveira have been getting help to improve production using a technique known as agroecology. This involves cultivating crops without preparing the land by burning or clearing it of plants and not using chemicals. Crucially the cotton is also grown alongside other crops, such as sorghum and sesame seeds, because if it is grown as a single crop it robs the soil of many nutrients and weakens the productivity of the land. Life to the full The result of growing crops together is enhanced yields and because of the range of produce being grown, there’s income being generated throughout the year. Diaconia has also helped organise ...

Cambodia partners help ease recession pain

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:13:00 GMT

3 September 2009 The global recession is hitting Cambodia harder than anywhere else in south east Asia. Some 200,000 people could fall below the poverty line this year, predicts the World Bank, the highest number in the region. We report on how Tearfund partners and the local church are helping people cope. Heang Soap-ha Vatay was one of five million Cambodians living on 30p a day or less until she started stitching together a future for herself. When her dad died, the 16-year-old had to give up school to work as a day labourer so the family could get by. She was facing a lifetime of unskilled and low paid drudgery until a Tearfund local church partner began work in her village. Heang joined a sewing course being run by the Cambodian Hope Organisation (CHO), which led to her joining one of its small business courses. At its conclusion, Heang applied to borrow money from CHO to buy her own sewing machine and her business was born. ‘I now make 18,000 riels (£2.65) a day and with it I support my family, ...

Mali projects strengthen community bonds

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:27:00 GMT

7 September 2009 Community divisions and inter-faith tensions are being broken down in the West African state of Mali through the development work of a Tearfund partner. Water wells, sanitation, health education and food support are among the programmes that are improving the lives of many in poor rural areas while at the same time tackling age-old prejudices and suspicions. The work is being done by Organisme de Developpement pour l'Esperance au Mali (ODES), which is a church-based group working in this mainly Muslim country of 13 million people. Water is incredibly precious in Mali and wells are highly valued hubs of community life, so when ODES built a much-needed well in the village of Koporo-Na, it provided not only another source of water but helped change negative perceptions of the local church. Working well Pastor Gegeon Sagara from Koporo-Na district explained, ‘When the pump at the other well which supplied the village broke down, everyone came to get their water from the well put in by ODES ...

Floods displace thousands in Burkina Faso

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:13:00 GMT

10 September 2009 Tens of thousands of people in Burkina Faso are trying to rebuild their lives after flash flooding affected homes and property. At least eight people were killed in the capital Ouagadougou which saw 264 millimetres of rain in just 12 hours. The yearly average is 1200 millimetres. The UN estimates 48,000 people are sheltering in temporary accommodation, such as churches, schools and public buildings, and another 40,000 are said to be staying with extended family and friends. Based on previous flooding experiences in the West African state, people could be in temporary accommodation for several months. Tearfund has five local church-based partners in Burkina Faso - Acts, Aead, Accedes, Credo and Ode - which are assessing the damage and looking to meet people’s physical and spiritual needs. Washed away They are working with other agencies, including the UN, to coordinate the response to the floods. Joanna Ilboudo, Executive Director of Acts, said she had not seen flooding on this scale ...

Tearfund urges more pressure on Honduras

website.editor@tearfund.org — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:54:00 GMT

11 September 2009 Tearfund is urging Foreign Secretary David Miliband to put more pressure on the Honduras government to restore democracy after a coup deposed the country’s president. At the end of June, Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the military over his plans for constitutional change and replaced by Roberto Micheletti. Mr Zelaya’s removal has been condemned by the international community, with the US threatening to cut US$30 million in aid. Concerns are increasing about the impact of the coup on poor communities, with a curfew restricting people’s movements and leading to food shortages. SuperBadger Tearfund wants the British government to speak out about the coup. Paul Cook, Tearfund’s Advocacy Director, said, `We are asking David Miliband to put pressure on the interim government to restore democracy. ‘Everyone is affected by the political instability in Honduras but the poorest people in society are really suffering.’ Tearfund has launched a Honduras feature on SuperBadger, our Facebook applicat ...

Beating drought in Malawi

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:24:00 GMT

17 September 2009 Irrigation training in Malawi is making a major difference to farmers facing the threat of frequent droughts. Simple water schemes are having a big impact on small-scale crop growers living in Machinga district in the south of the country. Advisers from Tearfund’s disaster risk reduction partner, Emmanuel International, have been working with the community to help them become more resilient to drought by setting up irrigation clubs where villagers learn simple techniques for channelling and storing rain water. This in turn boosts production and enables surplus food to be sold to pay for other household needs, such as the children’s school uniforms. Farmer Wild Fayala, who lives with his wife and five children in the village of Mbalwe, is among those who’ve taken part, learning irrigation techniques at a demonstration garden in the community. He’s also benefited from learning to grow new crops during the winter months which means he has greater food security. Surplus food is now bei ...

Afghan literacy project wins UN prize

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 07:46:00 GMT

22 September 2009 Literacy work by a Tearfund partner that’s benefiting 1,000 people a year in Afghanistan has won recognition and a cash injection from UNESCO. The UN body, which promotes international cooperation on education, science, culture and communication, has praised a project run by Serve Afghanistan which is working with an ethnic minority called the Pashai. Based in eastern Afghanistan, they have traditionally struggled to access education, so in response to requests from the community, Tearfund’s partner began literacy work with them in 1999. In 2006, with support from the provincial government, the project expanded to include Pashai language literacy for girls. It also began creating a Pashai bilingual programme within the education system, running alongside one of the country’s official languages, Pashto. Immeasurable benefit The project, which also provides livelihood, public health and nutrition education, has managed to operate despite the conflict in Afghanistan. As well as being ...

Hear HIV ambassador interviewed on BBC

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:26:00 GMT

22 September 2009 Tearfund HIV ambassador Patricia Sawo has been interviewed by the BBC about how her life and work. The Kenyan church leader told the World Service about how her hostility to people living with HIV changed when she was diagnosed herself. 'I couldn't believe it when I woke up and found I had this HIV-related infection,' Patricia told interviewer Matthew Bannister. Life change 'I cried for two hours in the bathroom, I couldn't take it. I didn't know how I was going to face it.' Patricia tells of people's reaction to her diagnosis, resulting in her losing her job, home and friends. She tells the programme that coming to terms with the diagnosis and realising God's plan for her life took time: 'Finally God changed my heart. I got real peace and that's how I knew I could be part of the solution to this problem.' To listen to Patricia's interview on the World Service, click here.

Three thousand to get flood aid in Burkina Faso

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:38:00 GMT

23 September 2009 Five Tearfund partners are organising the distribution of essential aid to thousands of people made homeless by severe flooding in Burkina Faso. Record-breaking amounts of rain deluged the country’s capital Ouagadougou which saw the worst flooding in 90 years and the loss of eight lives. One man told a Tearfund partner how he had to tie himself to a tree to stop being swept away by the flood waters. Eventually he managed to get on top of a building to escape the water but not before he lost all his possessions. Some 48,000 locals were forced to take shelter in public buildings, such as schools, and another 40,000 are staying with friends and family after 264 millimetres of rain fell in 12 hours. Swept away Five Tearfund partners, that work with and through local churches in Burkina Faso, are assessing the damage and looking to meet people’s physical and spiritual needs - Acts, Aead, Accedes, Credo and Ode. Food, such as rice and maize, plus blankets, hurricane lamps and bedding are ...

Sri Lanka partner seeks Facebook followers

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:55:00 GMT

29 September 2009 Text messaging and the social networking site Facebook are being used by a Tearfund partner in Sri Lanka to tackle ignorance about AIDS among young people. Technology and new media are being deployed to address a worrying lack of awareness on the Indian Ocean island, which has just over 1,000 cases among a total population of 21 million. Health workers report a high level of indifference and misunderstanding about AIDS and HIV, a situation not helped by the poor availability of educational materials. Tearfund partner, the Community Concern Society (CCS), has been working with schools, churches and other organisations to help young people make an educated commitment to protect themselves from HIV. After developing a series of culturally sensitive and age-appropriate educational resources, CCS initially set out to reach 10,000 young people but in the 18 months the project has been running it has actually reached nearer 75,000. Invaluable As well as conventional media, such as newspap ...

Worst flooding in decades hits southern India

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:53:00 GMT

7 October 2009 A major relief operation is underway in India after flooding killed more than 300 people and left vast areas under water. Four days of torrential rain caused widespread floods in the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with thousands of villages and towns suffering damage. Rivers burst their banks and dams overflowed causing extensive destruction to property, infrastructure, crops and livestock. Around 250,000 people are homeless and local officials fear the death toll could rise to 5,000. The clear-up will take many months as more than 200,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Tearfund partners EFICOR and the Emmanuel Hospital Association are assessing the damage and how they can respond, with teams being sent out to work with local churches on preparing emergency relief supplies. Rescue operations Food, clean water, medicines, clothing, bedding and temporary shelter are among the most pressing aid needs. The Indian government is carrying out its own assessments and has d ...

Climate change talks loom

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:46:00 GMT

7 October 2009 Tearfund is urging the global church community to speak up for justice as the countdown starts to vital climate change talks which kick off two months today. World leaders will have a crucial opportunity to make significant cuts to global carbon emissions when they meet from 7 December. Reductions of at least 40 per cent by 2020 must be agreed by developed countries and most of these cuts must be made in the country they were emitted rather than by offsetting, argues Tearfund. In addition, developed countries must provide at least US$150 billion a year of finance to help poor communities adapt to the changing climate. The need for such a strong and fair deal will be stressed in the run to, and during the talks - called COP15 - which take place in Copenhagen and last 12 days. Two days prior to the talks, Tearfund is urging churches around the UK to make their voices heard about the urgent need for climate justice. Tearfund’s joining dozens of other organisations which are part of the S ...

Church helps after Uganda flooding

website.editor@tearfund.org — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:59:00 GMT

9 October 2009 A Tearfund partner is helping recovery work in rural Uganda after flash flooding killed at least six people. The Diocese of Kigezi has sent an emergency team to the residents of Kyokyezo-Bwindi following heavy rains which led to a deadly deluge. The flooding wrecked homes, agricultural land and badly damaged classrooms, offices and the library at the village primary school. Livestock has also been killed and crops have been ruined As well as its spiritual ministry, the Diocese of Kigezi undertakes development projects and has recently featured in Tearfund’s Make life flow campaign for its work to improve water and sanitation facilities in poor communities. It has now launched an appeal within the diocese to provide relief aid for those hardest hit by the flooding. Mourning The team sent by the Bishop of Kigezi, the Rt Rev George Katwesigye, will be looking at what practical help can be provided as well as offering spiritual comfort at this time of grieving. The Bishop said, ‘We are a ...

Twelve October Living Gifts

website.editor@tearfund.org — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:39:00 GMT

22 October 2009 There are 64 days to Christmas. To put it in context, that’s nearly enough time for Phileas Fogg and Michael Palin to get around the world. So really for you, knocking off some Christmas shopping should be a walk in the park. Ah, hold on. I’m starting to hear dissenting voices on the lines of: ‘But I loathe Christmas shopping/the crowds/the parking/I never know what to get Auntie Janet/Uncle Pete/Father Ted.’ Fret no more. Tearfund has a clever plan. So clever you don’t need to go outside, get cold or wet, or join the headless chicken brigade as they search for shopping inspiration. All you need is your computer and our Living Gifts website. Living Gifts offers you the chance to give a unique present which helps people living in poverty. Here’s how it works. You buy a voucher online (there are various value amounts to choose from) and your family member or friend who receives it picks which country and what project the money gets spent on, for example, providing healthcare and educati ...

Partner responds to India floods

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:04:00 GMT

20 October 2009 Emergency aid for thousands of families devastated by record-breaking flooding in India is being organised by a Tearfund partner. Nearly 300 people died in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka after the worst floods in years following heavy rain. Livestock and crops have been lost as well as numerous homes destroyed, leaving more than 200,000 people homeless and vulnerable to hunger and disease. Sajeev Bhanja, from Tearfund partner Eficor, said, ‘The two southern states are now battling the fury of the worst flood in 100 years.’ Hampered It’s a battle that’s being fought against a backdrop of limited international coverage of the floods which has hampered fundraising and donations for relief efforts. Eficor is organising aid for 10,000 families in two districts of Andhra Pradesh after a state of emergency was declared. Food, such as rice, pulses and potatoes, is being backed up with non-food items, including cooking utensils, blankets and bedding. These supplies will ...

Communities shattered after India flooding

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:06:00 GMT

26 October 2009 Communities in southern India have been shattered by record-breaking flooding which has wrecked homes and livelihoods, according to a Tearfund partner. The states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka face months of clearing up after the heaviest rains in more than a century deluged hundreds of thousands of people. Tearfund partner Eficor is providing emergency relief supplies, such as food, water and clothes, to 10,000 families in the Kurnool and Krishna districts of Andhra Pradesh. In Kurnool, 58 villages were completely submerged and another 137 were partially under water Staff are encountering communities there that have been severely damaged. In the village of Sunkesula, they came across a grandmother appearing dazed and confused. She told them that her house, which she shares with her 13-year-old granddaughter, had been badly damaged and all their possessions had been lost. Living in fear Nearby was a widow who had returned to the village after fleeing the floods to find her home had ...

Mozambique church makes a stand on HIV

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:28:00 GMT

27 October 2009 Poor communities in Mozambique are finding a dogged and determined advocate for their rights in the form of the local church. This is illustrated by the progress that’s been made persuading the country’s government to understand and respond to the needs of those living with HIV. Tearfund partner Rede Christa, which is Portuguese for Christ’s Network and is made up of Christian charities and agencies, was formed to mobilise the local church to speak out and act on HIV. The statistics show why it was spurred on to do so; out of a population of 21 million, 1.5 million people in Mozambique are living with HIV, including 100,000 children aged under 14. Natural disasters Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest countries, ranked 168 out of 177 in the Human Development Index, with 54 per cent of the people living below the poverty line and 34 per cent of families are food insecure. The country is no stranger to natural disasters, such as widespread flooding, which compound the poverty problem ...

Hope springs from Ethiopia water work

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:44:00 GMT

4 November 2009 Dirty drinking water used to be the scourge of one Ethiopian community until the local church intervened. Tearfund’s Joanna Watson reports. Just off the main road between Addis Ababa and Djibouti, lies a red dirt track road. It passes through open countryside, dotted with huts, animals and trees and eventually gets too narrow for vehicles, becoming instead a meandering path. It is there that the community of Denbi can be found. Denbi has just over 100 households. It is a close-knit community where people rely on each other. Until recently, it was also a community where people relied on one communal lake, several miles away, to access water for washing, cleaning, cooking and drinking. Biggest needs ‘It used to take a long time to collect enough water,’ says Walanassa, a self-confident and articulate young mother-of-three. ‘It was a long way to walk.’ Walanassa has been introduced by Mogus, a senior water and sanitation programme officer for the Kale Heywet Church (KHC), one of Tearf ...

Twelve November

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Are you on for Saturday 5 December? We really do need you. More importantly, poor communities worldwide feeling the ill effects of climate change need you. If the date doesn’t ring any bells, here’s why it matters. That day will see thousands of Christians nationwide travel to London for The Wave, a church service and march all about climate justice. It'll be a huge event with many different groups and it would be great to see the church there giving a lead. The timing is crucial. Just two days later, world leaders gather in Copenhagen for vital UN climate talks to cut carbon emissions. So The Wave offers an unmissable opportunity for UK churches to send a message to the summit, to make their voices heard and to stand alongside those in developing countries who don’t have a voice. Tearfund, which is part of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, is calling on the politicians to produce a strong and fair deal which recognises that rich countries are most responsible for climate change but developing count ...

Tearfund calls for corruption action

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:26:00 GMT

10 November 2009 Tearfund is among more than 100 faith groups calling on rich and poor countries to take seriously their commitment to tackle corruption. The call comes as governments gather in Qatar for a five day UN conference on the issue. Tearfund is spearheading a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seeking agreement of a review mechanism for the Convention against Corruption. The 2003 agreement, ratified by more than 140 countries, is the first global treaty to provide a framework to prevent and criminalise corruption. Tearfund and faith-based groups, such as Islamic Relief Worldwide and Christian Aid, want convention signatories to be more open about the progress that’s being made to tackle corruption. Tarnished Tearfund’s Abi Akinyemi said, ‘The value of the convention will be significantly weakened and its credibility tarnished if countries fail to agree on a review mechanism that involves civil society and is transparent.’ The letter calls for civil society to have a greater role in ...

Church in Myanmar steps up to HIV challenge

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:53:00 GMT

18 November 2009 It’s 21 years since the first person was diagnosed with HIV in Myanmar (Burma) and the country is now experiencing one of the most serious epidemics in Asia. Here we report on how Tearfund is responding. When Mai contracted HIV, members of her community were horrified. They shunned her and made her an outcast because they thought she must have acted immorally to become infected. The reality was she had been diagnosed after receiving a blood transfusion following an accident but her village’s reaction exposed misconceptions and prejudices that run deep in Myanmar’s society. Attitudes only changed when a Tearfund partner, working with the local church, got involved. By providing information about HIV and confronting ignorance and fear, workers transformed people’s outlook and, importantly, their actions towards Mai. Food parcels The local church collected money so she could buy food and she was given a grant to raise pigs and to pay for her children’s school fees. When she was take ...

Minister urged to tackle global sanitation scandal

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT

19 November 2009 Tearfund today marked World Toilet Day by urging the UK government to do more to tackle the global sanitation scandal. Some 2.5 billion people worldwide don’t have access to a decent loo, a situation which worsens health and poverty in many developing countries. As part of our Make life flow campaign, Tearfund is putting pressure on Mike Foster, the minister responsible for water and sanitation, calling on him to use every opportunity he has to talk taps and toilets to world leaders. We also want him to ensure the UK joins with other nations to support poor countries in devising plans to provide sanitation and water for all and make sure none fail due to lack of finance. Twitter There are several ways Tearfund supporters can send a message to Mr Foster: • Sign our Twitter petition by tweeting this message at 11am today and ask your friends to do the same:‘petition @MikeFosterMP to be a toilet hero for 2.5 billion people who don’t have one http://act.ly/11s RT to sign #wtd’• Or you c ...

World AIDS Day

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:04:00 GMT

As World AIDS Day approaches, Tearfund and The Metro return from Cambodia where stories of human trafficking and its role in the spread of HIV are tragically commonplace. We meet one woman who escaped from sex slavery, only to be left with the legacy of HIV. Photos Keiran Dodd/Tearfund You Ra has lived in her village in Poipet province for 16 years. She was living with her mother after being widowed six years earlier and was trying to find a job to support her family when a women came and asked her to come to Thailand, offering her a job as a seamstress. She crossed the border illegally in the evening with the woman and four other girls hidden in a truck. She was taken to a house and told that she would be staying here and washing dishes with the others. The woman trafficker left. The next evening the owner of the house said they should wear short shirts and sexy tops and underwear to serve beer to customers. On the second evening Ra and the other girls were told that if any man says that they want to ...

World AIDS Day: The stigma of HIV

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:17:00 GMT

The impact of HIV is not just physical. Tearfund and The Metro have returned from Cambodia with stories of the stigma, fear and rejection suffered by those carrying the disease. And also of what Tearfund partners are doing to bring hope in despair. Photos: Keiran Dodd/Tearfund ‘Only my friends know that I am HIV positive. I don’t want others to know. If they know then they may not want to play with me.’ Sokchan is nine years old and HIV positive. He lives with his fifty-year-old mother Vein in a village about 40km from Phnom Penh. In September 2005 Sokchen's father died of AIDS. With the help of Tearfund partner World Relief, Vein then decided to get tested and when she received confirmation that she was HIV positive she felt hopeless and afraid. Sokchan was also tested in 2006. He was only six at the time. He was sick and coughing and at first they suspected pneumonia or TB but these not confirmed. World Relief’s Hope programme helped them get tested and have supported the family with counselling ...

Earthquakes rock Malawi

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:19:00 GMT

21 December 2009 Tearfund is dispatching £20,000 to help recovery efforts in Malawi after a series of earthquakes brought devastation to thousands of people. Nearly 800 homes were destroyed and more than 1,100 others have been left uninhabitable after tremors in the northern district of Karonga. Three people died and 250 others are recovering from injuries following three weeks of seismic activity, which included one quake measuring 6.2 on the Richter Scale. Tearfund partner, the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian Synod of Livingstonia, estimates more than 16,000 people have been affected by the disaster over an area of 125 square miles. It is planning to provide food, water, utensils and shelter for the next three months to help thousands of vulnerable Malawians, such as children and the elderly, who are facing hardship. Unprecedented Earthquakes of such magnitude and frequency are unprecedented in this area and many buildings are not built to withstand such shocks. The extent of the destruction ...

Darfur children get hygiene help

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:58:00 GMT

11 January 2010 Thousands of children in West Darfur are receiving lifesaving lessons in hygiene from Tearfund to help stop the spread of disease. Simple, yet vital, health messages are being given to youngsters via stories, song and drama. Eleven-year-old Hazirah is among 1,000 pupils at Garsila Town Basic School for Girls in the Wadi Salih locality, who has benefited. Every week she attends a health club Tearfund has set up in her school, where she learns hygiene and health messages through interactive activities. Clean and safe ‘I now always wash my hands after using the latrine and before eating,’ says Hazirah, who is also one of the members of the school’s health committee which the children and teachers formed to implement the lessons they are learning. In addition to the awareness raising work, Tearfund has built ventilated, improved pit latrines at the school to ensure the children have access to safe and clean sanitation facilities. The importance of projects like this is underlined by the ...

Ethiopia partner wins water award

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 16:29:00 GMT

5 January 2010

Work to improve water and sanitation standards in poor Ethiopian communities has won a Tearfund partner and a coalition of development organisations a key award.

Efforts to promote behavioural change concerning hygiene, sanitation and water use earned the Ethiopian WASH (water and sanitation) Movement recognition and praise during Africa Water Week.

The movement was also applauded for campaigning to increase the political and social commitment for progress in these areas.

Addise Amado, from Tearfund Ethiopian partner the Kale Heywet Church, received the NGO/Civil Society AfricaSan award on behalf of the movement. The Kale Heywet Church is a founding member of the Ethiopian WASH Movement.

Sudan city spring clean

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 10:42:00 GMT

11 January 2010 The litter-strewn streets of the Sudanese city of Juba are looking smarter after Tearfund staff got involved in a community-wide clear-up. Defying soaring temperatures, they joined with residents and other aid workers in a UN-organised anti-rubbish campaign to boost the quality of the local environment. Plastic water bottles and plastic bags made up the bulk of the discarded material that was bagged up although some unusual items were discovered, including a fabric car seat cover. Following the clear-up, the commissioner of Juba County announced a ban on plastic bags and to keep the momentum going, anti-litter messages are being taken into local schools. Juba, the capital of Southern Sudan, is one of the world’s fastest growing cities, with a population currently estimated at around 250,000.

Photo exhibition shows climate change impact

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:05:00 GMT

12 January 2010 The devastating impact of climate change on people living at the mouth of the river Ganges is being brought powerfully into focus in a new exhibition by a Tearfund photographer. Peter Caton has recorded the human cost of rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns in the Sundarbans, a 20,000-square kilometre area of mangrove forest between India and Bangladesh that’s home to 4 million people. By 2020, it’s estimated that 30,000 people will lose their homes here and that 15 per cent of the Sundarbans’ habitable land will succumb to the water. Worsening plight In words and photographs, the Sinking Sundarbans exhibition reveals the worsening plight of people living in an area that’s experiencing sea-level rises faster than anywhere else on earth. Peter, who has visited the Sundarbans on five occasions, says he is often touched by the co-operation of the locals. ‘Why should they open up when their hardship is so apparent?’ he said. ‘I have come to realise that our presence offers the ...

Tearfund project cuts disease in Afghanistan

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:56:00 GMT

21 January 2010 People in Afghanistan are enjoying better health thanks to a successful Tearfund project to eliminate waterborne diseases. Improvements to drinking water are slashing illness so much that in one area a local doctor says his case load has been vastly reduced. The turnaround is down to the introduction of biosand water filters in Kapisa and Jawzjan provinces by Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team. These filters are being used to treat drinking water by more than 3,400 households and are proving highly effective at removing bacteriological contamination. They work by using layers of sand and gravel to filter water and can remove parasites such as cryptosporidium and giardia cysts which cause diarrhoea, particularly in young children. Money saving Like all good inventions, biosand filters are straightforward to use. After training by Tearfund staff, families are able to maintain them themselves. Tearfund’s Zekarias Asfaw Shenkut says the filters are bringing more than health benefits to ...

Bolivian villagers get help to beat hunger

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:17:00 GMT

26 January 2010 Isolated villagers in rural Bolivia are being helped to combat frequent food shortages and malnutrition under a three year project run by Tearfund. Indigenous people living in the Andean mountain areas of Chuquisaca and Potosi are among the poorest in the country, with an estimated 80 per cent living in poverty. Some of the communities are only accessible on foot via paths that become unsuitable during the rainy season and this isolation means many people are without access to even basic services, such as clean water, sanitation and healthcare. Chronic shortages of food have traditionally brought high infant mortality and malnutrition rates, and incidents of preventable disease are also high. Unpredictable weather Most people are involved in small-scale subsistence farming but production levels have been low due to poor soils, unpredictable weather and erosion. Little access to training or technical help has meant that communities have for too long relied on inadequate agricultural pra ...

Bank scheme feeds Myanmar's hungry

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:27:00 GMT

2 February 2010 Poor families are avoiding the clutches of loan sharks in Myanmar due to the success of a Tearfund food project. Rural communities are getting help to feed themselves rather than rely on outside aid through the creation of rice banks. Traditionally, many poorer residents in Nyaung Chaung village run out of food for a few months while they are waiting for their new crops to grow, forcing them to take out loans from moneylenders to buy supplies to avoid hunger. One local, Daw Htoo Hpo, explained: ‘Due to the high interest rates, we were struggling under the debt. As a result sometimes we didn’t have extra money to send our children to school.’ To break the poverty-inducing cycle, Daw Htoo’s village, with help from a Tearfund partner, set up a rice bank where residents pool the surplus from their crops. The rice bank acts like a community food redistribution system, tiding people over in the short term and then getting replenished when new crops come through. The ethos behind the bank ...

Twelve Feb One Voice

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:59:00 GMT

If there were an A to Z of poverty, it would be a book of bulging proportions. From Afghanistan to Haiti to Zimbabwe, it’s clear our world has plenty of prayer needs. That’s why we’re inviting you to unite with us with One Voice for Global Poverty Prayer Week from 1 to 7 March. We want you and your church to join us and our partners around the globe in praying for justice, mercy and an end to poverty. Together we can seek the Lord, hear his voice and understand more about his will. Prayer ideas Hopefully we’ll also understand more about our role in this process of pursuing justice and what we can do as a global church to bring transformation to communities living in poverty. You won’t be praying alone and you certainly won’t be stuck for ideas for intercession. We have a free One Voice pack, including a DVD with a worship film by Al Gordon, which has plenty of suggestions to get you and your church motivated and involved. There’s also: • a special One Voice prayer for services• sermon notes• guidance ...

Twelve Feb Carbon Fast

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:48:00 GMT

Carbon Fast. Two words which can help us all change the way we live. Dire. One word that sums up the outlook for people like Rajia Dabi Mehta and her family in Nepal if we don’t. Before the flood it was all so different for Rajia. Food wasn’t a problem, as she planted rice and wheat. ‘Now everything has changed,’ says the 55-year-old from the southern village of Shrei Peer. ‘There is just sand. Even in my parents’ generation there has never been a flood like this.’ The nearby Koshi river flooded in October 2008, washing away homes, fields and cattle. When the waters subsided, they left behind sand measuring six foot deep, which has destroyed once fertile land. Scared Unprecedented heavy rain caused the flash flooding, which left some villages stranded for up to a week. It’s also left some like Rajia scared: ‘I’m afraid the river will flood again. Sometimes I am so scared the embankment will break that I don't sleep.’ Across Nepal the signs of climate change are present. Floods are increasing in fre ...

Twelve Feb Haiti

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:07:00 GMT

Children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, the elderly – just some of those in Haiti who are receiving Tearfund help in the fight for survival, thanks to you. It’s nearly a month since an earthquake brought death and despair to the Caribbean nation in a few minutes of terrifying destructive power. Backed by your prayers and the tremendous response of Christians and churches to our emergency appeal, Tearfund partners are now bringing spiritual hope and physical help to thousands of people. It’s a massive task. A million Haitians were left homeless in the western hemisphere’s poorest country, while the country’s president estimates 250,000 people died. Unimaginable damage A spokesman for one Tearfund partner summarised it as follows: ‘The words chaos, human distress, and trauma are not enough to describe the consequences of this earthquake for Haiti. ‘The picture defies description. It’s caused unimaginable damage and losses, both on the human level and to the cultural heritage, economic potenti ...

Ethiopia self-help scheme provides path out of poverty

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:56:00 GMT

10 February 2010 Thousands of ordinary Ethiopians will pull themselves out of poverty this year through a Tearfund-backed simple savings scheme – run by local churches. Across the country our partner, the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (EKHC), is helping set up small groups of savers, called Self-Help Groups, who pool their money to create a loan fund for new small-scale business ventures. EKHC has so far inspired 345 local church leaders to start addressing poverty issues in their communities by setting up 1,200 SHGs benefiting more than 20,000 people. It’s estimated the knock-on impact of these 1,200 groups is also improving the lives of 122,000 family members. Destitute Men and women of all ages are using loans to set up a variety of ventures such as rearing livestock, growing crops and planting commercial trees: • Wergaye borrowed 200 birr (£9) from an SHG in her village of Rohobot to open a small shop which is prospering: ‘I want to work hard and do well for my future,’ she says. • Sergay Bunka ...

Zambia church takes lead on tackling HIV

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:32:00 GMT

11 February 2010 If Maureen Mundia had any thoughts of taking it easy in retirement, God had other plans for her. Plans to be part of a miracle. Plans to reach out to Maureen’s shantytown community of Chisekesi in southern Zambia where half the 2,000 population is living with HIV, nearly double the national average. Maureen was moved to become God’s agent for change when she saw the plight of kids who had lost their parents to AIDS-related illnesses. She enrolled for training as a psychosocial counsellor with Tearfund partner, Brethren in Christ (BIC), and now leads her local church’s HIV and AIDS ministry which is transforming lives materially and spiritually. Today Maureen and 11 friends from her local church congregation care for hundreds of children and adults living with HIV, supported by BIC. Home visits In practice this means Maureen does home visits to listen, console and advise people as they deal with the day-to-day issues of living with HIV. She supports people as they go for HIV tests a ...

Chile earthquake

website.editor@tearfund.org — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:13:00 GMT

27 February 2010 The earthquake in Chile reminds us of how vulnerable our world is to disasters and emergencies. As people around the world are trying to contact loved ones who are in Chile, let’s pray that they know God’s peace and freedom from fear. We remember in our prayers the rescue teams and emergency services as they carry out their critical work over the next days. Tearfund has a long history of working in Latin America and, although we no longer fund work in Chile, we retain good links with churches and organisations based there. Let’s pray for the government and for the local services in Chile who will be responding to this emergency. And take time to pray too for our brothers and sisters in the church in Chile and in neighbouring countries, as they seek to demonstrate the love of Christ in word and deed. Pray for God’s grace and power as they respond to this emergency. Jennie Evans, Tearfund’s Head of Latin America & Caribbean region, spoke to Tearfund staff in Colombia on the day of ...

Tearfund provides aid after Chile earthquake

website.editor@tearfund.org — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 14:43:00 GMT

1 March 2010 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. The destruction was concentrated on central areas but Pacific coastal communities were also inundated by tsunamis unleashed by the earthquake. With some communities cut off by the disaster, there are fears the death toll will rise as will the need for aid. Already in some areas, supplies of food are running low and looting has led to troops being drafted in to restore order. Close links Tearfund, which worked in Chile up until 2007, still retains close links with several partners there and it is through them that disaster response funds are being channeled. This money will enable local church-based organisations to provide basic necessities so badly needed in the immediate aftermath. J ...

Twelve March Cambodia

website.editor@tearfund.org — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:04:00 GMT

The offer of a better future and regular work as a waitress took Sorn Chan to the bright lights of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh. It all sounded so good, but her hosts sold her a lie that was to change her life for all the wrong reasons. Sorn Chan put her trust in them and they repaid her by selling the 28-year-old into the sex trade. When she was not ‘working’ Sorn was kept in a basement cell. Her one attempt to escape ended in capture, followed by beatings several times a day as punishment. She was not alone in her suffering. More than ten other girls were also controlled by the gangs that ran the business, and like Sorn they were held in their own cells when not ‘working’. Only when a client took pity on Sorn did she escape the sex trade. She ended up marrying and having a daughter. Diagnosis But just as life seemed to be getting on an even keel, her husband died suddenly and she was diagnosed with HIV: ‘I felt I wanted to die,’ said Sorn. ‘I stayed in my bed, in my room. I felt like a paralyse ...

West Africa faces food crisis

website.editor@tearfund.org — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:10:00 GMT

9 March 2010 Tearfund is responding to an unfolding food crisis in West Africa as millions struggle with shortages after poor harvests. Several countries are facing severe hardship, notably Niger where the country’s new leader has said lack of food ‘threatens the existence of millions of Nigeriens in virtually all regions’. The UN estimates that at least 200,000 children face severe malnutrition and the Famine Early Warning Network is predicting that 2.7 million people will this year be extremely food insecure. Another 5 million out of Niger’s population of 14 million have under two months of food supplies left after poor rains saw the worst level of cereal production in two decades. Poor rains Slanwa Gaston, Tearfund’s Country Representative for Niger, said, ‘Food production this year has been very poor compared to the last two years. The crisis is now the top priority for the government.’ In neighbouring Chad, the government says poor rains last year led to cereal production falling by nearly a thir ...

Sudan newborns receive improved care

website.editor@tearfund.org — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:44:00 GMT

11 March 2010 A growing number of Sudanese mums-to-be are receiving improved healthcare due to the increasing popularity of a Tearfund delivery unit. Based in the southern Sudan village of Motot, the facility provides a safe place for women to give birth in an area that has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world. With few other healthcare options, most local women choose home births, helped by traditional birth attendants, but often conditions are unsanitary and dangerous. Fears allayed Prejudice and ignorance initially made mothers-to-be reluctant to use the Tearfund delivery centre and traditional birth attendants were concerned it would render their services redundant in the community. Tearfund staff tackled this by running awareness-raising sessions in three districts across Wuror County, telling hundreds of pregnant women about the benefits of the new facility. Staff also worked with traditional birth attendants and trained a number of them to assist women in the Motot delivery un ...