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]
Dropping out of school after a few short years, child labour and early marriage seem to be the only options for many Bangladeshi girls.
With little access to birth control, Bangladeshi families are large, so it is already hard to feed the household, let alone provide education for the children. Because of the male-dominant culture, girls, especially the older ones, are usually forced to give up school. Further, a dowry is obligatory, the amount of which increases as the bride gets older, and hence impoverished families try to marry off their girls young so to ease their financial burden.
Trisna is the second oldest child in her family – the eldest sister is already married and her younger siblings are at school. The whole family’s livelihood depends on the father’s meagre income as a security guard.
The parents do want education for Trisna but they lack the means – they even considered marrying off Trisna to alleviate the family burden.
In places like India, Nepal and Bangladesh, many girls drop out of school and earn income by sewing. Trisna belongs to a girls group in a youth development program of CEDAR’s partner, PARI. Through regular meetings, members learn about legal protections for underage girls and the shortcomings of early marriage; members also enhance their sewing skills there.
Yet Trisna’s biggest wish is to return to school. Encouraged by her group members, Trisna has started to save up money from her sewing for her own school fees. Her parents gladly let Trisna continue school if fees are not a problem, because they know that education leads to a better life.
Trisna’s father says, “I never imagine that anyone would help my daughter like this. Trisna has learned a lot from the group and I am very grateful for PARI’s help that Trisna can have a brighter future.”
[ePrayer – Pray for the impoverished communities in Brazil]
Brazilian street artist Paulo Ito crystallizes Brazillian’s frustration over the World Cup event: A hungry child sits with his eating utensils at the dining table, cries when his plate comes bearing not food but a soccer ball.
All people around the world are earnestly looking forward to the kickoff of Brazil World Cup 2014 on 12 June. However, behind the Event, apart from the subway train strikes that hit the newspaper headline recently, the desperate situation of local slums, ongoing unresolved livelihood issues and corruption seen at all levels demand our attention.
Brazil ranks the world’s seventh biggest economy and is even the biggest one in South America, but ironically is also at the top of the list of income disparity. Local communities have always been suffering from chronic poor education, shortage of medical service, unsafe living environment and corruption. Although in the last 5 years the Brazilian government has continuously increased the expenditure on education, medical care, housing and social assistance, the Brazilians are frustrated at their government spending $13 billion in hosting this year’s World Cup event.
To ensure a safe environment for the World Cup event and its travelers, the Brazilian police has set up a special task force since 2008 to clear up drug trafficking and triad activities in the slums of the major cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Their actions seems effective and the security seems improving, but the drug dealers are in fact still active on the sly. Most slum residents feel even more unsafe with the way how the police uses their power. Police can shoot anyone they suspect, including the civilians and the innocent children.
After the World Cup, Brazil will continue to prepare for her next hosting event, Rio 2016 Olympics. Pray that Brazilian government will actively respond to the basic demands of her people, improve their living conditions and the environment in the slum areas, and seriously attend to the corruption widely seen in the country. [The Financial Times, news.com.au, The Washington Post]
Meditation on Scriptures:
‘Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labour. He says, “I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.” So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red.’
‘Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 22:13-16)
Brazilians love to play soccer, but the slum residents living in dire straits even yearn more for better living condition, better education and safer living environment. May we not forget the need of the marginalised communities in Brazil while we enjoy the tournaments. That is what it means to know the Lord, our God.
Pray for the impoverished communities in Brazil:
May Brazilian government respond to the different demands of people on better living and labour rights;
Pray for God’s protection and peace to the slum residents;
Pray that God will stop the abuse of power by police. Pray that the police will enforce with love and justice.
[ePrayer – Pray for the post-war development in Myanmar]
The prolonged conflicts lasted for 60 years between Karen armed groups and the Myanmar Government finally came to an end and this indeed symbolizes hope and unity for the people and the country. It is encouraging to see different groups of entities, including state officials, village leaders and church members putting effort together to rebuild their community. What is more exciting is to see displaced orphans and youths returning to their hometowns. Yet, the children will continue to experience the damaging effects brought by the conflicts. Due to limited skillsets, the children and their families feel unsecured and live a future with uncertainty.
CEDAR FUND supported our partner Full Moon in launching their reintegration programmed in the Mon State. Apart from improving the infrastructure and facilities to deliver a better and safer environment in the compound, education and trainings are provided to the youth and women’s groups. Full Moon wishes to see that the youths after acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills, particularly in agricultural and vocational aspects, are then empowered to make contributions to their home community. Full Moon also witnesses the change in the women, that they become more confident after receiving trainings in farming, health and environment preservation. Some of the youths are able to complete their tertiary education due to tuition fee sponsorship from Full Moon. In 2013, Full Moon arranged two trips for their kids to return to their communities. Many of them reunited with their families and their stories touch many people’s hearts.
Thanks Lord for His blessings on this project. Full Moon’s achievements created a ripple effect; not only the children affected by the conflicts are benefited, the volunteers and workers are also blessed from their involvement and many joined the Christian fellowship and started to know God. The government officials also recognized the achievements and invited CEDAR FUND and Full Moon to continue the community work in Mon State.
“The children are excited about the school life but what is most precious is due to the community rebuilt programme, the kids now have dreams and visions for the future.” Lydia, the teacher in TWT village, told us
Pray for the post-war development in Myanmar:
Pray for the work of partner Full Moon as they are now engaging their youth facilitators in 5 target villages in Mon State to bring about unity and meaningful development. These are newly settled villagers in which many are returning from different areas including the jungles.
Pray for the 10 college youths who are receiving trainings in the fields of education, community health and agriculture. May God grant them wisdom in their studies and sustainable positive experience in their exchange with the Community Based Organizations. May God also lead their spiritual development and give them determination to serve the needy.
Pray for unity and harmony in Myanmar. Our partner is acting like a bridge between the different ex-armed groups, Government and villagers, and may the Lord give them wisdom to handle complex issues and negotiate with different parties.
[1] CEDAR is an approved charitable institutions and trusts of a public character under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Please click Inland Revenue Department website to check for details. [2] Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts. [3] Please DO NOT fax any donation information.
[ePrayer – Pray for Children Ministry in Bangladesh]
Tanjila Akter, aged 19, is living in a village of Netrokona district, Bangladesh. With limited access of transportation, the literacy rate is relatively low in this area. Though Tanjila’s parents understood the importance of education, her father wanted to pull her out from school after she completed her secondary school education due to tight financial resources in their family. With the help of CEDAR partner PARI, Tanjila successfully convinced her father to allow her for higher education. Under PARI’s Community Adolescent Development Programme (CADP), Tanjila continued her study, sat for the Higher Secondary Certificate Exam, and obtained the highest score GPA 5 (A+) in the examination. She is the only student scored A+ in the college. Everyone is excited and happy with her results.
Tanjila was just one of the successful stories in the villages of Bangladesh. PARI has spent much efforts in the last few years in promoting civil education and it is very encouraging to see some solid change in the mindset of parents, religious leaders and those living in the remote villages. More adolescents including girls are now able to receive education. Through education, adolescents are more aware of the negative impact of early marriage. PARI witnesses a noticeable drop in early marriage cases and thank God for this improving situation.
CEDAR is also concerned about the kids in the slum areas of Dhaka. As families living in the urban slum areas cannot afford to pay for the educational expenses of their children, many kids become illiterate and end up as child labour or street children, being forced into a poverty cycle forever. To tackle this issue, CEDAR supported another partner World Concern Bangladesh to run 20 schools including primary and pre-school education in slum areas and to provide trainings to teachers. The aim is to let these schools self-sustain in the long-run so more children will be benefited.
In early this year many schools in the slum areas of Dhaka were suspended due to political instability before the country election. The political situation has become more stable after the election and schools have restored to normal. To enable more children in Dhaka to receive education, CEDAR has doubled the funding for the slum project this year. We look forward to seeing a better living condition for the kids and their families in the near future.
Pray for Children Ministry in Bangladesh:
Give thanks to the Lord that the girls in the villages are empowered and able to receive education, and the number of early marriage cases is gradually reducing.
Pray that the adolescents in Bangladesh will be able to continue their studies in a safe environment.
Pray for more wisdom granted to our Bangladesh partners so they know how to provide better support to the impoverished groups.
May God bless Bangladesh with peace and political stability so that the local churches and organizations can continue their work to help those in need.
[1] CEDAR is an approved charitable institutions and trusts of a public character under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Please click Inland Revenue Department website to check for details. [2] Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts. [3] Please DO NOT fax any donation information.
In Bangladesh, many adolescents drop out from schools due to poverty. They are ‘nobody’ in the eyes of adults and are ignorant about their own rights. This is particularly true among the teenage girls. The poor families tend to marry off their daughters as young as 13-14 years old in order to lower family expenditure and dowry price. However, it is difficult for these adolescent girls who are not yet mature to adapt to new lives staying with a new family. Moreover, early marriage and early pregnancy can be very harmful to their lives.
To tackle with this problem, CEDAR’s partner PARI Development Trust has formed many community groups to teach the boys and girls about their rights. It has also created platforms for youth, parents, community leaders to meet and exchange ideas. Teenagers have been empowered and adults are made known of the developmental needs and potentials of the youth. Praise the Lord that the project has Pinky from early marriage after lobbying to her father. It has also assisted a girl named Happy who can continue to study in higher grades of school and perform well.
Pray for Bangladesh’s youth project:
PARI would like to move on to another phase right after the current 3-year project. Pray for God’s guidance and provision;
Pray that more adolescents will be empowered and educated through the project.
[1] CEDAR is an approved charitable institutions and trusts of a public character under section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. Please click Inland Revenue Department website to check for details. [2] Donations over $100 are tax deductible in Hong Kong with our receipts. [3] Please DO NOT fax any donation information.
