Disaster prevention in high risk areas is often, if not always, as important as emergency relief efforts. CEDAR’s partner, Lutheran Aid to Medicine in Bangladesh (LAMB), has been promoting social health and development in northwestern Bangladesh for the past 3 years. They strengthened the area’s disaster responses to mitigate damages together with local churches and resident networks.
Continue reading Northwestern Bangladesh Citizens Finding Ways to Combat Disasters
[ ‘SHARE’ May-Jun 2017 ] STEP INTO THE WORLD
The Rohingyas is an ethnic minority in Myanmar under the constant oppression of the government militaries. A lot of them were driven to the neighboring Bangladesh to seek asylum since the early time of British colonization.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
This is the verse we often see and read in this time of the year. As we have already entered into Advent, have you made any plan in response to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ?
In Bangladesh, arranged marriage is seen as a blessing to the family of young girls, who are often below the legal age of marriage.
Rainy is an Indian girl living in the slums of Bangladesh. Her family is of the lowest caste and could only sustain themselves by doing corpse clearers and janitorial works. They were forbidden from interacting with their community and the women in the family were not allowed outside. Rainy’s parents believed that arranging a marriage for her is a blessing to the family, and was conceivably grateful when they found a man in a rich family proposing to Rainy when she was 15, who recalled, “I was only a kid at the age of 15, I didn’t want to get married yet.” Despite her obvious reluctance and concerns, Rainy’s parents proceeded to arrange for the wedding ceremony. Fortunately, SATHI’s staff visited them in the process and explained to them the drawbacks and unlawfulness of underage marriage, which consequently led them to give in and cancelled the marriage.
Rainy is one of the few lucky girls in Bangladesh who escaped the fate of arranged marriage at a young age, who subsequently finished her high school despite the demeaning tradition.
Continue reading A Life with Hope, Untangled from Underage Marriage
The Monsoon storms and Typhoon were devastating to Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, and Nepal last year around this time. This year, millions of residents of South Asia continued to suffer from the floods and landslides caused by the violent weather, and are in great need of our help and prayers.
Continue reading Sustained Monsoon Storms and Floods Affecting Millions in South Asia
[ ‘SHARE’ Jul-Aug 2016 ] STEP INTO THE WORLD
In 1991, CEDAR was born with a Christ-guided vision to alleviate global poverty, during which the rise of globalization and the internet had made the vision ever approachable.
Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matthew 26:11) The outlook of poverty seems positive as the population under poverty has decreased from 1.9 billion to 840 million in the past 25 years. Yet during the same period, our workers at CEDAR were overwhelmed by cases where the environmental conditions and resources were still degrading for the underprivileged, due to over-extraction from other countries, climate changes, and civil wars. For some of the people we came to know, safety and dignity were such a luxury when $1.25 USD was all they have. The poor is still here with us, often as a deflating thought.
