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Author: CEDAR Fund

Refugees get Schooling through TV — The Cries of Middle Eastern and Northern African Children

Banner image: Youtube screen capture of a SAT-7 ACADEMY programme, City of Stars “Through satellite TV, we can reach out to 450 million people in this part (Middle East and North Africa) of the world, where most people have never met a Christian, seen a church or had a Bible in their own hands, but they can see the Gospel at home. They can watch our programmes in their language 24 hours a day — our production crew knows their problems and difficulties, and also their source of happiness.” —Kurt Johansen, executive director of SAT-7 Europe, Asia and Pacific The conflict in Syria has already been 8 years. Although extremist group ISIS was reported driven out of the

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Environment Protection: All about Love and Justice

Banner image taken in Kurigram District of northern Bangladesh Written by Tony Chan (Senior Partnership Development Officer) Friends asked me, “Your organisation (CEDAR Fund) is for poverty alleviation. Why does it actively promote environment protection?” This is closely related to CEDAR’s understanding of poverty. We believe that poverty is resulted from an impaired relationship. In the beginning of creation, relationships between man and God, man and man, and man and nature were good. However, man sinned and disobeyed God, and even exploited others and the nature for their own benefits. Those who were exploited became the poor. In Kurigram District, north of Bangladesh, desertification is severe and many farms have been vanished and covered by sands and dusts,

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Creations are Groaning, Neighbours are Suffering – How should Churches Respond?

In our seven weeks of Lent practice, we explored Creation Care from different perspectives. We also reflect on our relationships with the nature, neighbours in poverty, and our community through scriptures, songs, and actions. Creation Care is indeed propelling us to embrace the created world and all creations with care and love. This is what Jesus manifested to the world. Therefore, this care and love for creations and people are obviously evangelistic and missional. Nowadays, climate change is worsening, and the ecological environment is losing its equilibrium, which forces many poor communities into adverse situation – in India, years of crop failures lead to detrimental impact on many farmers’ livelihood, putting them in enormous debts that some of

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‘Hill Tribes’ Blood is in My Veins.’ – An Advocate Walking Alongside Marginalised Hill Tribes

Written by: Lai Ka Chun In mid-2018, a junior football team and their assistant coach were rescued after 18 days in Tham Luang Nang Non cave in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Their 25-year-old coach’s care in the cave was indispensable. This incident made the coach a hero in Thais’ hearts. However, this coach was originally stateless, as well as the other 3 boys, who had no Thai citizenships. According to UNHCR, there are about 480,000 stateless people in Thailand, and most of them were living in remote mountainous area near the border. As they belonged to no country, they could not enjoy the rights of education, healthcare, employment, and social security as other citizens. Even though they lived

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2018 CEDAR’s Exposure Trip Sharing: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Written by: Janice Cheng (Participant of CEDAR’s 2018 Exposure Trip to Thai-Burmese border and northern Thailand, church pastor) All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. These are lyrics from a classic children hymn called All things bright and beautiful. I looked it up on the internet, you will discover the songwriter’s intention was to explain the first sentence of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Participants of this trip to Thai-Myanmar border came from all walks of life, including rookies in the workplace, retired people, pastors, Christian organisation’s staff, and seminary teacher. This combination enriched our

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Resurrection and Integral Mission

Written by: Au Bing Chung (Lecturer at the Christian Ministry Institute) Resurrection is an eschatological idea, and Integral Mission addresses the responsibility and stewardship of Christians living on earth. Although there seems to be no apparent connection between the two, the eschatological view of Christians will affect how they interpret their missions. For instance, if a person believes that the world will be in ultimate destruction at the end days, he will put less effort in constructing a world that will be wiped out eventually. On the other hand, if the believers anticipate a forthcoming new world that is connected to and evolved from the present world, they will somehow attend to the world’s development and conservation. Paul

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We are awake: STOP Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)

We put on armors to fight to eliminate harmful traditional practicesSubvert the harmful influences and effectsWe are united and determined to take actionsBecause we are now well awaken to the scourge. Ignorant people in the pastHave been badly harmed by themBecause they did not know any better.Ignorant people in the past believedHarmful traditional practices were good for themWhen indeed their lives were at stake. Female Genital Mutilation is a major harmful practice.Sugar-coated as prestigious and noble,FGM suffocated our mothersWe regret and repent for the harm incurred.FGM steals away sexual pleasures, corrupts marriagesAnd adds complications to child birth. (Lyrics edited by CEDAR Fund, originally written by a memberfrom the ant-FGM group in Ethiopia.) Under the warmth of the bright

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When Poverty Becomes a Sin

Banner image: The author (far right) and other trippers visited ethnic minorities in northern Thailand Written by: Janice Cheng (participant of CEDAR’s exposure trip in 2018; church pastor) In December last year, I went to the Thai-Myanmar border with CEDAR to learn about their poverty alleviation projects in the area. The 8-day trip enabled me to understand more about the region. We visited some villages with CEDAR’s local partners and spoke to various individuals during our time there. The residents are mostly ethnic minority groups from the mountainous areas, and they all have their own predicaments to overcome. There are abandoned single mothers and minority groups who have been relocated to the border area in northern Thailand due

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Cyclone Idai: Two Meals a Day, One Meal a Day, then…

In mid-March, CEDAR shared on Facebook (Chinese only) about a trip in Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Zimbabwe was continuously hot and dry, and Zimbabweans discovered that a particular fruit was growing which indicated forthcoming drought. When villagers were still waiting for rains and hoping for harvests in April and May, the sudden attack of intense tropical cyclone Idai shattered not only their homes, but also their hearts. Expected drought became unexpected windstorm and floods. http://www.CEDARfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/20190327-video.mp4 (Video in Chinese only) Pui Shan, CEDAR’s staff, shares about situation in Buhera after Cyclone Idai Cyclone Idai first destroyed a port city on the east of Mozambique with a wind speed of 170km/h. Then it moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi. As of 27

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