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Author: CEDAR Fund

The Church Playing a Part in DRR Work is Most Effective and Sustainable

Banner image: A PADR facilitator (first right) is explaining a ploughing method Stanley Enock Hanya is the Coordinator of Church and Community Mobilisation projects at Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe (EFZ), which is one of the biggest evangelical alliances in Zimbabwe. He hopes to equip faith leaders in churches to teach their congregation to facilitate community development based on biblical principles. Written by: Stanley Enock Hanya (Church and Community Mobilisation Coordinator, EFZ) The EFZ embarked on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) after calls for relief from previous project communities that had been affected by 2015/2016 El Niño induced drought. Realising that disaster response was not sustainable, the organisation began to intently look at the word of God for inspiration on issues of disaster prevention. It

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The Answer to Disaster

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,

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Give US our Daily Bread

Written by: Tony Chan (CEDAR’s Senior Partnership Development Officer and Pastor) Matthew chapters 5 to 7 documented Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. At the end of the teaching, He invited the crowds to make a choice: Enter through the narrow gate and live faithfully according to His teachings. He pointed out the consequence of their choices (7:13-23). Jesus then told the parable of the wise and foolish builders; and the wise would put His words into practice (7:24-27). Jesus often took reference from daily life to explain through parables about difficult teachings. From the parables of the house builders, we learn that even in Jesus’ times, people were aware of the power of the nature and would try

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Growing Up in the City’s Forgotten Place

Situated in southern India, Chennai is the sixth biggest city in the country. It is the cultural, economic, and academic hub of South India. Many travel websites named Chennai as “hottest city for travellers” and one of the “best cosmopolitan city”, attracting numerous tourists and expats. However, behind the prosperity are families in slums struggling with everyday living. Stricken by poverty, children and teenagers from slum communities face the threats of dropping out of schools, being physically and psychologically abused, and being malnourished. Through local partner Christian Missions Charitable Trust, we sponsored 240 children and teenagers in eight slums. We support four areas of their growth and development: cognitive, socio-emotional, spiritual, and physical. At the same time, we

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Step Out, Live Out the Blessings

Written by: Tiffany Lam During holiday, would you travel abroad, or do something meaningful? A team of 10 brothers and sisters from Evangelical Free Church of China Waterloo Hill Church (WHC) spent their 10-day holidays in Nepal last April. They travelled to mountainous communities in Gorkha to visit CEDAR’s partner ACN who are doing post-disaster work. “Through this trip, we hope to help brothers and sisters realise what integral mission is and broaden their gospel vision,” says Joshua, former WHC staff and part of the team. Therefore, they stepped out of the air-conditioning room at church and went to remote mountainous area where they practised walking with local people and the meaning of offering a cup of cold water to

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‘SHARE’ 229 – Disaster Risk Reduction

Articles of this issue The Answer to Disaster 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

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CEDAR Fund & Integral Alliance Continues to Walk with the Rohingyas

Since a renewed outbreak of conflict in Rakhine State of Myanmar in August 2017, another 702,000 Rohingya refugees arrived at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh; increasing the total refugee population to 915,000. Approximately, 1.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the area. CEDAR and other Integral Alliance(IA) members have been responding to the situation by not only providing support to the Rohingya refugees, but also assisting the host communities. CEDAR has allocated funds to support Tearfund Bangladesh and the Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) to install facilities like latrines, tube wells, solar light systems; distribute items such as cooking stoves and mosquito nets; and set up Child Friendly Spaces for children and youth to learn.

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Wish Them Health!

Banner image: 40-day-old Muhammad was carried by his cousin to the Mother and Child Healthcare Centre for check up According to UNICEF, neonatal mortality rate stands at 46 deaths per 1,000 births, and 81 in every 1,000 children do not live past their 5th birthday in Pakistan. 178 of every 100,000 pregnant mothers die during or after delivery. These numbers tell us that surviving and living healthily is a challenge to Pakistani children and mothers. Kohistan is one of Pakistan’s most impoverished districts. While it is highly vulnerable to disasters such as earthquake and flooding, residents are vulnerable to disease, chronic malnourishment, and health complications due to the remoteness of the region and lack of proximate or adequate health

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The Letter from CEDAR | June 2018

Dear Friends of CEDAR, Have you ever experienced any instability in life? From 2004 to 2011, my family somehow lived a life of nomads, as we had to move home for four times within seven years. Such frequent house-moves didn’t render us the luxury of settling down in the new environment. We felt like sojourners. Though this was not a pleasant experience, I saw it as a blessing from God, as it allowed me to get a taste of what the displaced people face. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are over 65.6 million displaced people worldwide today. This number is reaching record high. CEDAR has been helping refugees. In last few years, we have stepped up

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Saving One is One

Banner image: Our partner worker carried a 12-week-old embryo baby model to deliver the message of “priceless life” to women who were preparing for abortion in the hospital. Abortion, a bloody noun. According to the interpretation of Wikipedia, abortion, also known as miscarriage or induced abortion, is the ending of pregnancy by removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus. Under the influence of one child policy, millions of women and mothers undergo abortion or sterilisation every year. The Chinese official report pointed out 13 million cases of abortion annually. When this announcement was still hovering around the ears, some US human rights organisations already felt unacceptable and claimed that the actual number is

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