Care for Children ~ ‘Join Hands Join Hearts’

Posted on by 施達基金會

[ “SHARE” Nov-Dec 2012 – Care for Children ~ ‘Join Hands Join Hearts’ ]　FOCUS ~ Interviewing a Ministry

Compiler and writer> Jojo POON

‘Give children a happy childhood’, ‘care for the pillars of our future’, ‘give the little ones a cup of cold water to drink’, ‘love for children’ – these are all reasons people support children’s ministry. But how do we give impoverished children a happy childhood? What do they really need? In this issue some children’s ministry stakeholders will talk about joining hands and hearts with children.

Supporters: Walk together so they may see

Mr. and Mrs. Wong have sponsored children before through other organisations. Upon hearing about CEDAR’s  principle of ‘From Church, Through Church’,  they started supporting CEDAR’s children’s ministry, helping overseas impoverished children with their basic needs.

Through CEDAR’s short films a few years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Wong learned about children’s education in war-torn Afghanistan, the health condition of scavenging children in Indonesia, and how HIV/AIDS wrecked families in Africa. Mrs. Wong tells us, ‘This world is so unfair. Perhaps  those of us who live in Hong Kong are so blessed that we do not truly understand… developed countries lead the world and yet they set rules and system which are difficult for poor countries to follow.’

Mr. and Mrs. Wong understand that providing children with their basic needs deals only with one level of the poverty issue, so they hope that these faraway families can become self-reliant rather than having to depend on relief from organisations. ‘Providing appropriate life skills training, fighting for reasonable returns for producers, having proper HIV preventions and all-round control of diseases all bring changes to impoverished families.’

Another supporter, Chris,  joined CEDAR’s Children Ministry Scheme over four years ago. He hopes that  his  contribution will help children  go to school and improve their lives. ‘I believe the impact of education is far-reaching; it is very important for children’s growth and can greatly impact the community. With knowledge, children may even resolve problems such as hunger and disasters.’

At first Chris was happy with just corresponding with the children and exchanging news. That was ‘poverty relief’ to him. But then he realised that there was more to it and he needed to go further, so his involvement changed from merely sponsoring daily needs to supporting community development programmes and now struggles with greater awareness of the injustices behind poverty.

After years of involvement, supporters now see not only the needs of individual impoverished children, but also the predicaments faced by their families, communities and countries, as well as the importance of mobilising community development in order to help these children.

Project officers: Reach out so they may see wider

Tracy joined CEDAR in 2007 working on children’s projects. Through our global partners she learns about oppressed children – some are victims of wars or natural disasters; others are AIDS orphans, school drop-outs or scavengers. Problems and challenges vary but Tracy believes that whatever the situation, children should receive basic living guarantees and education, because protection and provision are the basic rights of children.

Years of ministry have taught Tracy that, to help the children, it is not enough to just take care of their personal and superficial needs but it is also necessary to know the particular situation of the entire family and the community. ‘Actually, the hardship of the children’s families can be resolved by helping the entire family and the community, to empower them and nurture mutual-help. Improving the community as a whole can give the children a better environment to grow up in. If we merely sponsor individual children directly but not  their siblings because of the insufficient resources or the restriction of organisation’s policies, there will be discrepancies in learning, development and growth.’

Hazel, our project consultant, recently visited India and met an organisation that adopts the children’s rights-based approach. She saw how children were encouraged to think and express their views on their community’s issues through children’s rights and development groups. ‘It was very memorable to see children bravely voicing out their concerns, such as alcohol abuse, fathers abusing mothers, lack of community sanitation, frequent verbal abuse of children and the government’s reckless tree felling. We see that the children’s daily life and concerns are inseparable from their community and even the children are well aware of those issues.’


Annual street drama raises awareness of the lack of clean water in schools

Frontline partners: Serve so they may see farther

Our frontline partners live in the same countries and face the social situations as the children-beneficiaries; they therefore identify and struggle with the children’s needs.

Facing Zimbabwe’s high unemployment and inflation rate, high HIV infection and millions of AIDS orphans, CEDAR’s partner Family Aids Caring Trust (FACT) understand that these orphans need education, food and community support. ‘Without an education one cannot find work. Therefore, education is vital for children-beneficiaries to have job opportunities in the future. Further, even if children can go to school, low-income families still have to worry about food because of continuous droughts and inflation… Experiences tell us that community support can help orphaned or traumatised children build self-respect and thereby reduce the risk of them going astray.’

Even though children worldwide have varied backgrounds and needs, all of our partners point out that, apart from basic needs such as food and clothing, bible-based worldview and family/community support are essential for children’s growth. A worker at Addis Ababa Guenet Church (AAGC), CEDAR’s partner in Ethiopia, says, ‘We learn from years of ministry that we need to not only love these children, but also to establish relationships with their families and communities, so as to give them a better living environment.’

CEDAR’s partner New India Evangelistic Association (NIEA) tells us its expectations for its children-beneficiaries, ‘We hope they will get to know and experience Christ, and by their words and deeds they will be witnesses of Christian faith and power. We also hope that they will help other children in the future, know their community’s needs and join in serving and building a better country.’

Children-beneficiaries: Please listen to me

Ultimately, children are the largest stakeholders. Let us hear what they have to say.


[Left] Meheret, Ethiopia > I need food most; education, clothes and shoes that fit. Being properly clothed protects my body and gives me confidence to interact with classmates and enjoy school life.
[Right] Priya, India > The most important things in my life are studying, praying and my family.


[Left] Norman, Zimbabwe > I need food, health and education most, because I do not want to contract HIV/AIDS.
[Right] Pynos, Zimbabwe > I think food, health and a stable home are the most important things in life.

Extended Action

Since children are vulnerable, they arouse our compassion; however, because they hold an infinite future, they give us hope not despair. Are you willing to join this project of hope and bring changes to children in Myanmar, India, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe? Please support our ‘Join Hands Join Hearts’ Children Ministry Scheme and donate monthly towards our community-based children development programme, to improve living conditions for children and give them a life of dignity and value once again.

http://eng.cedarfund.org/children_ministry/

 

Zimbabwe FACT HIV/AIDS Affected Children Project

Posted on by 施達基金會

Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) was established in 1987 with an aim to help families affected by AIDS in Zimbabwe. Through its sponsorship programme, FACT provides education to children orphaned by AIDS and distributes food and daily commodities to their families regularly. CEDAR has started its partnership with FACT since 2002.

As most of these orphans lost both their parents, they are usually cared by their grandparents or eldest siblings. Very often there is a generation gap between grandparents and orphaned children which leads to tension in their relations. To respond, FACT holds workshop for the grandparents to explore the dynamic teaching pertaining to their relation with new generations and serve as a platform for them to share their challenges. Partner also recruit volunteers from the communities who visit these families regularly, especially those child-headed households, to assist them in every possible areas.

Besides taking care of the basic needs and family relations of these orphans, partner also puts effort in building the capacity of the local churches. FACT trains the pastors on resource mobilising and facilitating congregations to participate in weekly meetings of orphans. The congregations are encouraged to pray with these children together and to care for their spiritual growth.

FACT trains elder children in the project to become peer educators. Besides assisting the younger ones, peer educators would also share healthy life values with their peers at school or in the communities so as to influence the others in living out a positive life. They also involve in the regular project planning and evaluation meeting so that partner would know the thoughts of children thus projects could be adjusted to cater their needs more adequately.

Recently, partner began assisting parents to form saving groups as well as to provide saving and micro-credit trainings. The group members save regularly and they take turns to loan so that they would have more capital to start income generating activities. This is in hope that the parents will be able to earn a better income for their family, thus improving their livelihood in the long run.

Zimbabwe Trinity Project Trust

Posted on by 施達基金會

The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe is high and affecting many families. Many widows and orphans are left with insufficient resources for basic living. They have the rights to access to assistance or inheritance if they can present the marriage certificate, birth certificate, and the death certificates of their deceased family members. However, many of the poor delay registering for these certificates for reasons such as complex  administrative procedure and lacking fund to pay for the expenses incurred. As a result, they are left without assistance and cannot exercise their rights. Meanwhile, property grabbing by relatives is very common among these families. In many occasions these widows and orphans are chased away from their own houses which may be the only property left by the deceased.

CEDAR supports Trinity Project Trust to organize awareness raising workshops and trainings for empowering children and the communities, demanding and protecting the children’s rights through early birth registration, access to parental death certificates and apply for their shares of the inheritance. Adults are also encouraged to write their wills, safeguarding their family’s access to their inheritance. Our partner also assists the poor who cannot produce the aforementioned legal documents to gain rightful access to their estates or resolve other property grabbing problems.