Dirt on the Surface vs. Deep Cleaning

Usmanpur is a small town on the outskirts of the capital of India. The perpetual smell of damp cow dung, buzzing flies, and patches of murky water are a common sight of Usmanpur, the town seems to be the pictorial definition of dirty itself.

Almost all of the residents in Usmanpur are Dalit (a low caste social group) migrant workers who are employed by landowners to feed cows and milk them, or to sort trash.

Cow owners would have the workers herd the cows on the streets and let them excrete freely. Cowpat covered the only major road and every pedestrian paths in town, turning it into a paradise for flies. The poor hygiene condition affects children the most who would often experience diarrhoea. While the migrant workers could barely endure the situation, the landowners rarely lose any sleep over it as the Dalits are inherently filthy to them.

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Repairer of Broken Border, Restorer of Roads with Dwellings

To the poor living in desperate conditions, the border-crossing roads between countries are the roads of hope. Unfortunately, they are also fragile bridges hanging above the crack of slavery.

Lincang is a city in southwest Yunnan that connects with Myanmar and serves as a hub for the traffic from China towards the Indian Ocean, bolstered by 12 international and domestic transportation routes. Sadly, such accessibility was often taken advantage of by human traffickers.

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You Were Born to Be Loved

The relationship between Mary and Jesus is a perfect manifestation of the love between God and men. From Mary’s song, we saw her humble heart before the Father, and out of her humbleness and love for God, she brought up Jesus with love and care. The same love and humble heart are also illustrated in the work of FACT today.

Nomatter, a Zimbabwean girl who was born in a family affected by HIV, described in her letter that the support from CEDAR was like a miraculous motherly love.

CEDAR’s partner in Zimbabwe, FACT (Family AIDS Caring Trust), is serving over 90 children orphaned by HIV in three impoverished communities, providing education sponsorship and psycho-social support, as well as organising Kids Clubs and youth camps for peers support. Nomatter shared, “CEDAR has provided us the best support every child needs. You supported me when I couldn’t support myself. You gave me hope when the future was all bleak and I was in the middle of nowhere.”

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TV Programmes that could Benefit Children across the Middle East

Christianity was born in the Middle East, a region rich in culture, history, yet also, full of turbulence and persecution.

SAT-7 is a Christian media network, making God’s love visible across the Middle East and North Africa through uncensored satellite television programme. Satellite television effectively break the barriers of religions, literacy, and censorship, making SAT-7’s programmes available to be broadcast across the Middle East and North Africa and accessible online internationally.

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CEDAR Supports Partner to Ship Medical Aid to Kurdistan, Iraq

On 12 November 2017 (local time), a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Iraq and Iran, near the border between the two countries. Approximately 1.8 million people live within 100 km of the epicentre of the quake [1].  The quake killed 530 people and injured over 8,000 people [2].

Though the quake caused lesser deaths and injuries in Iraq, there were widespread destruction of houses, health facilities, and infrastructure. Rescue, relief, and recovery work has been hampered by landslides, destroyed water, electricity and communications networks, and an ongoing series of aftershocks.

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Mobilising Churches to Serve Their Neighbours

Churches who participate in MBC’s programme realise their mission to serve their neighbours and community through Bible studies

We have shared with you CEDAR’s work in Yunnan in a previous ePrayer where we are actively facilitating churches in China to take part in transforming their own communities. Using the SALT model, we hope to help believers to establish relationship with their community as the salt of the world. We thank God for the great testimonies told by them. Today, we would like to share our similar efforts on mobilising churches in Myanmar to take part in their community.

Over the last three years, CEDAR have been partnering with Myanmar Baptist Convention (MBC) to encourage about 50 churches to train their congregation in transforming their communities, using the Umoja approach. Following the lead of the Holy Spirit is a core value of Umoja. Facilitators would conduct regular Bible studies to help believers realise their mission given by God; and through prayer, they would ask for the Holy Spirit’s help to think about ways to practise their faith in their community.

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