Two weeks have passed after Cyclone Pam devastated Vanuatu and emerging aerial images confirm total or near-total destruction of homes, buildings and crops. Almost 90 percent of the island has been flattened. As relief work progresses, the most urgent need is food supply. Vanuatu Minister of Agriculture, Honorary David Tosul estimates that local stores of emergency food will only last until the end of March.
Continue reading Vanuatu Cyclone Relief Update: Emergency Food Will Be Eat Up by April
In early March, fighting had eased in the Kokang region, Myanmar and over 2,000 Kokang people who fled due to the fighting gradually returned home. Unfortunately, fight has soon resumed and intensified in a few days and expanded into Chinese territory, resulting in civilian casualties.
Continue reading Needs of Kokang Refugees Will Increase by Mid-May
On 13 March, Cyclone Pam, a Category Five storm, swept through the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. In the capital of Port Vila, about 90 percent of the housing has been destroyed. Communications infrastructure, power and water supplies, as well as medical facilities are all seriously damaged, affecting at least half the population.
Continue reading Urgent Help Needed as Cyclone Pam Sweeps through Vanuatu!
[ ‘SHARE’ Mar-Apr 2015 ] FOCUS ~ MINISTRY
Written by> Lisa Chai (Senior Programme Officer)
It is estimated that globally about 20.9 million are affected by forced labours and among them, 4.5 million (22%) are victims of forced sexual exploitation. Many of the 20.9 million are also victims of human trafficking. During the course of my serving as a project officer in the past 19 years for CEDAR, I have the opportunity to read documents, review proposals, talk to field partners and hear from community members about human trafficking issues. It is an issue that everyone wants to tackle and stop.
[ ‘SHARE’ Mar-Apr 2015 ] STEP INTO THE WORLD
“One day, a staff of ours saw a group of bewildered-looking Lahu girls loitering at the bus stop,” Pastor Prasang, head of Thai-Lahu Foundation (TLF), CEDAR’s partner, told us, “so the staff stopped a woman who appeared to be the contact person and asked where the girls were heading. The woman only knew that she was supposed to take them to an unknown destination, and she did not know what they were taken there for.”
Continue reading Help Protect Northern Thailand’s Ethnic Minorities from Human Trafficking
[ ‘SHARE’ Mar-Apr 2015 ] JOIN HANDS JOIN HEARTS
Development of children in China has improved significantly as the economy soars, and many UN Millennium Development Goals are reached before the target dates. However, urban-rural and east-west inequality and disparity are still huge, which means it is harder for some children in the western or rural areas to get proper education and hygiene services. The Lisu hill tribe children living along the mountainous border of Yunnan are an example.
