Since Pakistan was created in 1947, it has been caught up in tension, mistrust and conflict with its larger neighbour, India. In the past 63 years, the two countries have argued and sniped at each other, bluffed and counter bluffed, drawn each other to the brink and even gone over that brink into three wars. Territory is disputed, religious differences grow into hatred and mistrust, and zealots flourish.
The fact that both countries have nuclear weapons adds to the tension and fear.
In 2008, the fear and mistrust was ratcheted up a notch by the Mumbai attacks when gunmen stormed a hotel and 174 people died. Hate and recriminations spewed forth and peace seemed further away than ever. The militants and fanatics had, it seemed, won.
Today, the two countries have begun their first formal talks since that attack. The talks are tentative and preliminary, but they are a start, and we pray they lead to greater things.
The people of the two countries deserve peace with their neighbours, and the stability that will come from that. With more than a billion people living in India and 180 million living in Pakistan, one sixth of the world’s population is directly affected by relationships between the two countries.
World In Need has a presence in both countries.
In India, we have two homes just outside Delhi: Ashray Bhavan caters for boys and Asha Bhavan is for girls. The children, who would otherwise live in the slums of Delhi, are given a safe, healthy environment, good and nutritious food, health care, education and skills training, leading to hope for a better future than would otherwise be theirs.
In Pakistan, we also work with the poorest sections of society. We sponsor children throughout the country and in Islamabad, we run a school.
We believe every child has the right to a good education, regardless of where they live or the size of their family’s income. Through these schools and homes, and through our Child Sponsorship programme, we endeavour to give that education to children who would otherwise not receive it.
Education of today’s children is vital for the future of these two countries. Lack of education leads to ignorance, which in turn can allow those with an agenda of hate to foster divisions. Through education we can ensure the next generation leave behind intolerance, mistrust and lack of understanding.
Today’s talks are a start. May they lead to ever greater things.
Thursday 25 February 2010
Thursday 11 February 2010
Mandela Day, twenty years on.
It is twenty years since the South African authorities agreed to free Nelson Mandela. For years, Mandela was the leader of the struggle for equality for his people. He served twenty seven years in prison, convicted of sabotage and other crimes amounting to terrorism and treason.
After his release he became President of his country and led it through a period of reconciliation. Former enemies joined together to make a future that is hopeful for all.
Mandela’s statesmanship, his ability to forgive and lead others to forgive, and his commitment to the freedom and rights of all peoples are things that are badly needed in many parts of the world at this time.
World In Need works in many places where freedom, rights and reconciliation are in short supply. In conflict areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan it is all too easy for people’s rights to be trampled as various factions vie for supremacy. In the Congo and Northern Uganda people are violated and gang rape is seen as a legitimate weapon of war. Even if the conflict is resolved and the attacks stop, freedom and reconciliation are not easy to bring about.
In these places, World In Need works to alleviate the effects of man’s inhumanity to man. We sponsor children, run day care centres, help widows set up co-operatives so they can earn a living. For example, in Afghanistan, we helped women set up a carpet making co-operative, and we import the carpets to the UK, where we sell them on their behalf.
In Uganda and the Congo, where girls and women are routinely raped by enemy combatants and boys as young as eight are forced to become soldiers, fighting, killing and maiming, World In Need provides counselling, therapy and a safe loving environment in which they can begin to heal.
Mandela showed us that we can overcome conflict and hatred and learn to live together for the good of all. We should all work to spread his vision far and wide.
After his release he became President of his country and led it through a period of reconciliation. Former enemies joined together to make a future that is hopeful for all.
Mandela’s statesmanship, his ability to forgive and lead others to forgive, and his commitment to the freedom and rights of all peoples are things that are badly needed in many parts of the world at this time.
World In Need works in many places where freedom, rights and reconciliation are in short supply. In conflict areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan it is all too easy for people’s rights to be trampled as various factions vie for supremacy. In the Congo and Northern Uganda people are violated and gang rape is seen as a legitimate weapon of war. Even if the conflict is resolved and the attacks stop, freedom and reconciliation are not easy to bring about.
In these places, World In Need works to alleviate the effects of man’s inhumanity to man. We sponsor children, run day care centres, help widows set up co-operatives so they can earn a living. For example, in Afghanistan, we helped women set up a carpet making co-operative, and we import the carpets to the UK, where we sell them on their behalf.
In Uganda and the Congo, where girls and women are routinely raped by enemy combatants and boys as young as eight are forced to become soldiers, fighting, killing and maiming, World In Need provides counselling, therapy and a safe loving environment in which they can begin to heal.
Mandela showed us that we can overcome conflict and hatred and learn to live together for the good of all. We should all work to spread his vision far and wide.
Tuesday 9 February 2010
Sixty six pence a day.
Seven year old Barthelemy was living in Togo with his elderly grandma, his mother having died. We wanted to find him a sponsor who would help with the costs of bringing him up, educating and feeding him, and thus would give him the chance of a brighter future.
World In Need (WIN) currently sponsors 540 children in 15 countries. The same number again are waiting, needing us to help them out of situations of dire need. Their circumstances are caused by a variety of reasons, war and conflict, drought, famine or flood, and just plain, common-or-garden poverty.
The World Bank defines poverty as living on less than $1.25 a day. In England, this is a third of the cost of a supermarket sandwich. In the developing world, it is supposed to feed, clothe and house whole families.
In fact, in some places, $1.25 is more than people earn in a week. Families in these places soon get used to not eating every day. Children cannot go to school because they need to help with the family finances, although their age, inexperience and sheer desperation for work means their wages are extremely low. Old before their time, uneducated, unskilled, they are trapped by their poverty.
Sponsorship brings freedom from that trap, and hope for a brighter future. The sponsored child attends school regularly, is better nourished and clothed, has access to health care and, freed from the burden of having to work, is able to have a real childhood.
This was the life WIN wanted for Barthelemy.
Sponsors make a commitment to give a monthly amount. In the UK, a child costs £20 a month although not every sponsor pays that much. Sometimes, two people sponsor a child between them. Groups such as churches and school classes also take on children.
Some sponsors write to their child, some do not. The level of commitment with a child is entirely the choice of the sponsor.
In return, sponsors can expect two letters a year from their child, plus school reports. For many of the children, English is a second, or even third language, so often the letters are short, but they do convey the way the child feels about the sponsor and the opportunity they have been afforded. It can be humbling to realise the difference that has been made to a child’s life because someone gave what, to many of us, is a trifling amount. £20 a month. 66 pence a day. In England it’s enough money daily to buy a King sized Mars Bar. In many parts of the developing world it buys a whole life.
We never found a sponsor for Barthelemy. Before we could do so, he died, just another statistic in the heartbreak that is too often the story of the developing world. We will however, continue to try to find sponsors for all the other children on our books. Together, we can work to make Barthelemy’s story the exception rather than the all too frequent norm.
Thursday 4 February 2010
An Important Note to all supporters of World in Need in the USA.
As you may know, the funds sent into World In Need by people living in the USA have been handled by Restored Lives in Florida. However, because of the recession, they have had to downsize their work and can no longer carry the administration of World In Need.
We have, therefore, entered into a partnership with a Christian agency that is specifically set up to handle missionary funds. From February 2010, any gifts you wish to send to us should be addressed to the following organisation, together with a covering letter naming the person or field for which you wish the money to be applied.
The Magi Gifts
Susan VanderMeulen, Director.
PO Box 43
Byron Center
MI 49315
Email: themagigifts@yahoo.com
Phone 616-272-4209
You can see more about them on http://www.themagigifts.com
If you wish to donate by check, please mail your tax deductible donation, along with a completed Recipient Qualification Application (RQA), which can be downloaded from their web site home page: “About Us”.
Only one application needs to be sent per recipient. Once a recipient has been qualified then donations can be sent without any forms attached, and you can simply make your donation and send it to the above address.
There are also facilities to donate on line. You will receive a thank you letter for your tax records.
They have web based pages for individual missionaries and these can be seen at their sister page: www.sonraisemissionaryservices.com This is for missionary profiles and news only, and NOT for gifts.
If you have any questions, please visit The Giving Process page, or contact Susan Zuidema by phone at 616-656-1594 or by email at themagigifts@yahoo.com.
Thank you for bearing with us, and for all your generous support.
We have, therefore, entered into a partnership with a Christian agency that is specifically set up to handle missionary funds. From February 2010, any gifts you wish to send to us should be addressed to the following organisation, together with a covering letter naming the person or field for which you wish the money to be applied.
The Magi Gifts
Susan VanderMeulen, Director.
PO Box 43
Byron Center
MI 49315
Email: themagigifts@yahoo.com
Phone 616-272-4209
You can see more about them on http://www.themagigifts.com
If you wish to donate by check, please mail your tax deductible donation, along with a completed Recipient Qualification Application (RQA), which can be downloaded from their web site home page: “About Us”.
Only one application needs to be sent per recipient. Once a recipient has been qualified then donations can be sent without any forms attached, and you can simply make your donation and send it to the above address.
There are also facilities to donate on line. You will receive a thank you letter for your tax records.
They have web based pages for individual missionaries and these can be seen at their sister page: www.sonraisemissionaryservices.com This is for missionary profiles and news only, and NOT for gifts.
If you have any questions, please visit The Giving Process page, or contact Susan Zuidema by phone at 616-656-1594 or by email at themagigifts@yahoo.com.
Thank you for bearing with us, and for all your generous support.
Uk Business Seminar supports World In Need
The UK Business Seminar (http://bit.ly/afZgRd) will take place at the end of March 2010 at the Copthorne Hotel near Gatwick. The two day seminar, which will show professional people how to improve their businesses, is supporting World In Need's school in Kenya. A percentage of the seminar fees will be donated to the school, and all those attending will be told about the school and encouraged to become supporters of its work.
The school, The Nancy George Academy, is situated in the rural district of Soy, Northern Kenya. This is a poor area, people struggle to earn enough to feed their families, and the school is a valuable asset. Not only do the children who attend receive a very good education which can set them up for a brighter future with a good career, but they also receive a nutritious meal each day. For some, it is the only food they will have that day.
The school was opened in January 2009 with just one pupil. A year later, there are 123 children attending the school. It is growing rapidly as its reputation for good teaching spreads. The support of the UK Business Seminar is invaluable in enabling us to maintain the standard of teaching, and very much appreciated.
World In Need's link to the UK Business Seminar was first formed through Simon Jordan, an award winning marketing consultant who will give a Masterclass in Effective Marketing at the seminar. Simon has spent over 20 years working with clients such as Sky TV, Virgin, BMW, BBC, Wilkinson Sword, ICI and B&Q. WIN is proud to be associated with Simon, and we hope the links continue into the future.
You can find out more about Simon at http://bit.ly/b4FxmZ
The school, The Nancy George Academy, is situated in the rural district of Soy, Northern Kenya. This is a poor area, people struggle to earn enough to feed their families, and the school is a valuable asset. Not only do the children who attend receive a very good education which can set them up for a brighter future with a good career, but they also receive a nutritious meal each day. For some, it is the only food they will have that day.
The school was opened in January 2009 with just one pupil. A year later, there are 123 children attending the school. It is growing rapidly as its reputation for good teaching spreads. The support of the UK Business Seminar is invaluable in enabling us to maintain the standard of teaching, and very much appreciated.
World In Need's link to the UK Business Seminar was first formed through Simon Jordan, an award winning marketing consultant who will give a Masterclass in Effective Marketing at the seminar. Simon has spent over 20 years working with clients such as Sky TV, Virgin, BMW, BBC, Wilkinson Sword, ICI and B&Q. WIN is proud to be associated with Simon, and we hope the links continue into the future.
You can find out more about Simon at http://bit.ly/b4FxmZ
Tuesday 2 February 2010
Should rape in conflict zones be classified as torture?
On Sunday January 31st, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon announced he was appointing a special envoy to curb rape as a weapon of war. Margot Wallstrom, outgoing vice president of the European Commission, will be taxed with combating sexual violence against women and children in conflict zones, as reported here: http://bit.ly/9H81Pt
World In Need works in many of the areas where these atrocities take place, and we work with victims, helping them to rebuild their shattered lives. Children as young as eight are routinely gang raped by soldiers and militia men, who see it as part of their arsenal of weapons. They use rape to punish, to humiliate, to assert their authority and superiority. Some victims are so roughly treated their injuries will never properly heal. They are left torn, crippled, infertile.
Their physical injuries are not the only scars rape victims bear. The damage to them psychologically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, can be much harder to come to terms with than physical problems. In this society, a woman who has been raped is shamed, her body considered defiled. Girls who are raped are not as valued when it comes to marriage. The women and children know this. They carry the shame of the rape inside them long after the physical effects of the crime have faded.
In the Congo and Northern Uganda, we work with many young children who have been raped by soldiers. We care for them, love them, find them sponsors who will support them. All of them need care, attention, therapy to overcome the dreadful things that have happened to them, and to come to terms with the shame and humiliation they feel because of those happenings. The feelings of the victims inspired the following poem:
I hide in shadows,
No-one sees me in the darkest corners.
If I never meet your eyes
You will not see my shame.
I stay silent.
Head down, body folded, tiny in the shadows.
Unnoticed.
I can still hide my shame.
They came in packs.
Snarling, snapping, slavering at an easy prey.
Circled with excited yips
And tore me to shreds.
Clawed and pawed,
Howled with triumph at the moon,
Left me lying in a rutted field,
Innocence shed.
Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?
Lord, they have hurt me.
Do you not see me in the darkest corners?
Am I hidden from your eyes,
Lost in my shame?
Childhood seeps from me
Tinged with maiden’s blood and school girl dreams.
Emptied of myself,
My rounding belly fills with shame.
Violated yet again
On the shudder of a new born’s cry.
He grows in the wreckage of my life
And suckles on my shame.
The shame of the rape, the psychological and emotional scars that follow, make this one of the most heinous acts that men of violence can commit. Indeed, its long lasting and far reaching effects could mean rape constitutes an act of torture.
The prohibition of torture has a special status in international law. It is part of customary international law, which means it is binding on all states, whether or not they have ratified any of the international human rights treaties. Article 2(2) of the Geneva Convention states that: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
If men of violence will not see rape as a heinous and inexcusable act, if they see violence against women and children as justifiable, perhaps we need to officially define rape in conflict zones as torture, increasing public awareness of the crime and, with that awareness, a growing clamour to bring the perpetrators to justice.
World In Need works in many of the areas where these atrocities take place, and we work with victims, helping them to rebuild their shattered lives. Children as young as eight are routinely gang raped by soldiers and militia men, who see it as part of their arsenal of weapons. They use rape to punish, to humiliate, to assert their authority and superiority. Some victims are so roughly treated their injuries will never properly heal. They are left torn, crippled, infertile.
Their physical injuries are not the only scars rape victims bear. The damage to them psychologically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually, can be much harder to come to terms with than physical problems. In this society, a woman who has been raped is shamed, her body considered defiled. Girls who are raped are not as valued when it comes to marriage. The women and children know this. They carry the shame of the rape inside them long after the physical effects of the crime have faded.
In the Congo and Northern Uganda, we work with many young children who have been raped by soldiers. We care for them, love them, find them sponsors who will support them. All of them need care, attention, therapy to overcome the dreadful things that have happened to them, and to come to terms with the shame and humiliation they feel because of those happenings. The feelings of the victims inspired the following poem:
I hide in shadows,
No-one sees me in the darkest corners.
If I never meet your eyes
You will not see my shame.
I stay silent.
Head down, body folded, tiny in the shadows.
Unnoticed.
I can still hide my shame.
They came in packs.
Snarling, snapping, slavering at an easy prey.
Circled with excited yips
And tore me to shreds.
Clawed and pawed,
Howled with triumph at the moon,
Left me lying in a rutted field,
Innocence shed.
Oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?
Lord, they have hurt me.
Do you not see me in the darkest corners?
Am I hidden from your eyes,
Lost in my shame?
Childhood seeps from me
Tinged with maiden’s blood and school girl dreams.
Emptied of myself,
My rounding belly fills with shame.
Violated yet again
On the shudder of a new born’s cry.
He grows in the wreckage of my life
And suckles on my shame.
The shame of the rape, the psychological and emotional scars that follow, make this one of the most heinous acts that men of violence can commit. Indeed, its long lasting and far reaching effects could mean rape constitutes an act of torture.
The prohibition of torture has a special status in international law. It is part of customary international law, which means it is binding on all states, whether or not they have ratified any of the international human rights treaties. Article 2(2) of the Geneva Convention states that: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture."
If men of violence will not see rape as a heinous and inexcusable act, if they see violence against women and children as justifiable, perhaps we need to officially define rape in conflict zones as torture, increasing public awareness of the crime and, with that awareness, a growing clamour to bring the perpetrators to justice.
UK Business Seminar supports World In Need
The UK Business Seminar (http://bit.ly/afZgRd) will take place at the end of March 2010 at the Copthorne Hotel near Gatwick. The two day seminar, which will show professional people how to improve their businesses, is supporting World In Need's school in Kenya. A percentage of the seminar fees will be donated to the school, and all those attending will be told about the school and encouraged to become supporters of its work.
The school, The Nancy George Academy, is situated in the rural district of Soy, Northern Kenya. This is a poor area, people struggle to earn enough to feed their families, and the school is a valuable asset. Not only do the children who attend receive a very good education which can set them up for a brighter future with a good career, but they also receive a nutritious meal each day. For some, it is the only food they will have that day.
The school was opened in January 2009 with just one pupil. A year later, there are 123 children attending the school. It is growing rapidly as its reputation for good teaching spreads. The support of the UK Business Seminar is invaluable in enabling us to maintain the standard of teaching, and very much appreciated.
World In Need's link to the UK Business Seminar was first formed through Simon Jordan, an award winning marketing consultant who will give a Masterclass in Effective Marketing at the seminar. Simon has spent over 20 years working with clients such as Sky TV, Virgin, BMW, BBC, Wilkinson Sword, ICI and B&Q. WIN is proud to be associated with Simon, and we hope the links continue into the future.
You can find out more about Simon at http://bit.ly/b4FxmZ
The school, The Nancy George Academy, is situated in the rural district of Soy, Northern Kenya. This is a poor area, people struggle to earn enough to feed their families, and the school is a valuable asset. Not only do the children who attend receive a very good education which can set them up for a brighter future with a good career, but they also receive a nutritious meal each day. For some, it is the only food they will have that day.
The school was opened in January 2009 with just one pupil. A year later, there are 123 children attending the school. It is growing rapidly as its reputation for good teaching spreads. The support of the UK Business Seminar is invaluable in enabling us to maintain the standard of teaching, and very much appreciated.
World In Need's link to the UK Business Seminar was first formed through Simon Jordan, an award winning marketing consultant who will give a Masterclass in Effective Marketing at the seminar. Simon has spent over 20 years working with clients such as Sky TV, Virgin, BMW, BBC, Wilkinson Sword, ICI and B&Q. WIN is proud to be associated with Simon, and we hope the links continue into the future.
You can find out more about Simon at http://bit.ly/b4FxmZ
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