Let the Community Be Responsible for Their Children’s Education

[“SHARE” JAN – MAR 2019 ] JOIN HANDS JOIN HEARTS

 

Education is a very important part of eradicating poverty. Yet, many children living in low-income countries do not have the opportunity to receive proper education. Their parents are usually occupied by work to earn a living to put food on the table, thus they seldom think about the future of their children, who they thought would likely share similar fate like them. Because in their eyes, earning income to support their families is more important than getting an educational access for their children.

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Uprooting Poverty: The Perspective of Christian Faith

[“SHARE” OCT – DEC 2018 ] FOCUS ~ Christian Response to Poverty

Written by: Raymond Kwong (CEDAR’s Chief Executive) and Jady Sit

In recent years, the international development sector began to emphasise the importance of human inner transformation for uprooting poverty. For instance, Cornell University Professor Kaushik Basu, who serves as the chief economist of World Bank from 2012 to 2016, shared in a public lecture, that no matter what kind of models of poverty alleviation is, one of the key factors to its success is whether people are willing to let go of some of their own interests or economic benefits and seek higher purposes, with which human being in general are common, and so, he advocates strengthening values education in society. This is about changing hearts and minds.

Impoverishment is a consequence of mankind’s broken relationship with God, with each other, and with the rest of the Creation. This broken relationship does not limited to the poor, but also to the non-poor. That is to say, for the sake of ending poverty, inner change has to happen with both the haves and the have-nots.

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The Answer to Disaster

[“SHARE” JUL – SEP 2018 ] FOCUS ~ Disaster Management

Written by: Jady Sit

 

Every time there is a disaster, we feel sad and anxious for the suffering victims. While some people would pray for them, others would donate generously or organise a fundraising campaign, and some people would form a volunteer team to serve the devastated survivors through humanitarian work or counselling support. Although we try to give what we can, in the face of a natural disaster, we still feel helpless and powerless, because what could we do to stop tragedies that are not of our control?

 

In 2015, the massive earthquake in Nepal brought irreversible destructions: close to 9,000 casualties, 3.5 million people lost their homes, and Kathmandu Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was severely damaged. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the overall damage of the quake was about US$10 billion (about half of the country’s GDP). So, is it true that we cannot prevent a disaster from happening?

 

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Share the blessings of Lunar New Year to bring the hope to those in need overseas

Happy Lunar New Year! We always wish to have a good start in the beginning of the year, so we will make the wishes or set the goals to make the changes. However, we often have limitations from our circumstance. It is not always possible for us to change just from on our own efforts, so we need the help from others.

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Integral DR alert raised for East Africa Food Crisis

[Press Release]

(Reference photo)

An Alert for an Integral Response was raised on 30th September 2015 for increasing food insecurity in East Africa, with Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan especially affected. Extreme weather patterns, caused by a particularly strong El Niño, are causing floods and droughts in many regions of the world. The implications of these weather extremes are life threatening for millions of people in majority world countries who are dependent on agriculture and fishing …

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Integral Response to Myanmar Flooding

[Press Release]

Integral’s Disaster Response process was initiated on 6 August 2015 for severe flooding affecting large parts of Asia …

At least 493 people are reported dead in six countries after monsoon rains and tropical Cyclone Komen caused severe flooding in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Nepal and Vietnam. An estimated 55,000 homes have been destroyed, with the media reporting one million people displaced (The Guardian; CNN).

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