TWO Weeks Countdown to 2014 CEDAR Barefoot Walk

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For the past 13 years, CEDAR Fund has organized Barefoot Walk to fundraise for our projects and to let participants experience what it means to live in poverty. In 2014, seeing the seriousness of urban poverty around the world, we want to take our participants into slums and take a glimpse at the lives of the 900 million slum dwellers around the world. Linking to this event is to fundraise for community development projects in slums of India, Bangladesh and Ethiopia, and we seek to encourage everyone through the experiential activities to think about how poverty has robbed people of their dignity and the opportunities they should have.

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Walk with Slum Dwellers in Ethiopia

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Photo courtesy to Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong Whampoa Church]

In the past summer holiday, young people and pastoral members from Tsung Tsin Mission of Hong Kong Whampoa Church set foot in Ethiopia through joining CEDAR Global Discipleship training scheme. The 24 days experience has proven to be unforgettable as they visited numerous families living in slums. Upon returning to Hong Kong, they shared with us the real-life stories of these families – some are still living in hopelessness, while some have regained hope through God. Here are two stories shared by the team:

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Walk with the Child Labourers from Bangladesh Slums

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While many parents in Hong Kong worry about how their children are getting on in the first month of school, many parents in Bangladesh worry about the well-being and safety of their children at work. In 2012, 17% of the children aged between 5-14 years in Bangladesh had to work as child labourers. According to US Department of Labor, children in Bangladesh are engaged in the worst forms of child labour, primarily in dangerous activities in agriculture and in domestic service. Children working in agriculture may use dangerous tools, carry heavy loads, and apply harmful pesticides. Girls mostly work as domestic servants in private households. They work long hours and are subject to discrimination and harassment, on top of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. [US Embassy, UNICEF]

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Let the Hopeless Indian Slum Dwellers Find Hope

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Living in a home without much free space is always a hot topic in Hong Kong. High population density and rising land prices make people moan and groan. However when relating to the slum families in India, those in India are suffering from many other problems apart from having no free space. Currently there are 65 million slum dwellers in India who make a very low income and thus every day have to struggle with desperate living conditions, insecure environment, and very limited healthcare protection and education resources.

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Ongoing Earthquake Relief Work in Zhaotong, Yunnan

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Four weeks has passed since the 6.5-magnitude earthquake hit Ludian County in Zhaotong, Yunnan, but many of the victims are still living their lives in the shelters. The post-earthquake rehabilitation is still a long way to complete.

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May Love and Peace with Iraq

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Samira Said, 27, fled Tikrit with her 20-day old baby for an agricultural shelter area next to the Baharka camp 5km north of Erbil, the capital of the northern semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq, after the militant group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) took control of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul.

Our hearts are breaking at the atrocities taking place in Iraq. In the last two months a staggering 850,000 people have fled their homes in terror as Islamic State (IS) fighters have swept across the north of the country. An estimated 10,000 people have lost their lives, most of whom are civilians.

Religious and ethnic minority groups, such as Yazidis (a Kurdish-speaking ethno-religious group), Christians and Turkmen, have been particularly targeted, and many have been subjected to unspeakable brutalities. It’s estimated that one-fourth of Iraq’s Christians have now fled, threatened by IS at best with fines, at worst with forced conversion or death.

Thousands of Iraqis, mainly from the Yazidi community, are currently trapped on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq by IS fighters after facing similar threats. They are in desperate need of food, water and medical care, and symbolise the plight of so many more Iraqis who are the innocent victims of this crisis.

Between January to July 2014, an estimation of 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were seeking shelter in Northern Iraq. They are now suffering from significant secondary displacement due to fierce fightings near IDP locations in Ninewa and Dahuk Provinces. In addition to the current IDP crisis, the government of Kurdistan is also hosting 230,000 refugees from Syria.

Since 2012, Integral Alliance (IA), a global alliance comprising of 19 Christian relief and development agencies, has been providing relief materials, food parcel, medical care and psychosocial care to Syrian refugees. CEDAR is one of the member agencies of Integral Alliance. A member agency of IA is now forming a working team, going to Northern Iraq to assess the situation particularly the need of the suffered communities.

We know that God is a God of love, compassion, power and justice, who is ‘mighty to save’ (Isaiah 63:1). As we struggle to find words to respond in the face of such horror, remember Paul’s words in Romans: ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.’ (Romans 8:26).  [Tearfund, Integral Alliance]

Pray for the suffering Iraq people:

  • Ask God to stop the hand of those set on violence, bloodshed and intimidation in Iraq. Pray for the establishment of a lasting peace that all people groups will be accepted and protected.
  • Pray for all those who have fled their homes and are living in fear and uncertainty.
  • Ask God to keep them safe, provide for their needs and pour out his comfort and healing on all who are grieving.
  • Thank God that thousands of Yazidis were able to escape from Mount Sinjar during last weekend, aided by Kurdish forces, and pray for protection, provision and a rapid rescue for those who remain.
  • Lift up leaders in Iraq and around the world, praying that God will give them wisdom as they seek a solution to the crisis.