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Category: Blessings by Offering

Protecting the Next Generation from Trafficking

Written by Dustin Tang (Donor Services Officer) Nepal is one of the countries where human trafficking is rampant. Traffickers take advantage of Nepal’s open border with India to traffick Nepali women and children to India. In recent years, traffickers have been active in social media to deceive poor communities, such as posting job opportunities online and luring poor women to adult entertainment sector for exploitation. According to the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report of the U.S. Department of State, in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, about 17% of adult entertainment venues employ children, while 62% of adult women in the industry entered as minors. The report also mentions that nearly 30% of the child workers in adult entertainment establishments are

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Life Transformation of Villagers in Poverty

Written by Clara Chiu (Head of Partnership Development) According to the United Nations, ‘poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.’ It turns out that poverty is not just the ‘lack of money’, but also ‘lacking’ in many other aspects: income, resources, power, opportunity and respect. Let us share a project in Nepal which witnesses how CEDAR transformed poor communities who face multiple ‘lacks’. Since 2017, CEDAR has partnered with the local organisation Share and Care Napel (SCN) to carry out a project called

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Children Ministry: Beyond Food and Education

Written by Rebecca Lee (Programme Consultant) When we speak of ‘children’s ministry’, the provision of food and education have been typically and extensively identified as the primary needs of impoverished children. However, after years of implementing our programmes, CEDAR and its partners have realised that providing food and education alone is necessary yet insufficient for children’s growth and, subsequently, their ability to make a living in the future. While many countries are now providing primary education for school-age children, the need for ‘children’s ministry’ remained crucial: institutional deficiencies that are deeply entrenched in social structures meant that children still face immense challenges despite having better education and a stable food supply. For instance, the lack of educational support

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When a ‘Sense of Ritual’ is Placed in a Relationship with the World

Written by Tony Chan (Partnership Development Consultant) ‘Sense of Ritual’ has become a popular term in recent years. It refers to the act of performing small but meaningful activities in everyday life as if they were some special ceremonies. This creates a unique moment that stands out from the mundane. The term is frequently used in the context of relationships. Couples can benefit from cultivating a sense of ritual to keep their relationship fresh and healthy. Families can also benefit from this, as it fosters a sense of happiness and belonging among family members. Today, let’s apply the ‘Sense of Ritual’ to the relationship between humans and the Earth and reflect on and practice our beliefs. The relationship

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Hope of Being Generous

Sharing: Belinda Editor: Ness Ma (Communications Officer) Parents always hope that children can be generous and know how to share with others, but how? If you have this question, you can look for how Belinda and her husband do so. In March this year, Belinda and her husband planned to hold a ‘100-day party’ for their daughter Hailey, but the pandemic was severe that they had to cancel their plan. At the same time, Ukraine was invaded by Russia; she noticed the situation of the refugees on the news every day. She also has a Ukrainian friend who had worked in Hong Kong before and is now retired in Ukraine. Therefore, when the war broke out there, Belinda

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Witness the Struggles in Mountain Areas

Written by Ness Ma (Communications Officer) Many tribes live at the country’s border in Northern Thailand, mostly farmers. Because of poverty, many of them have never received a good education or learned any effective farming method. They live in mountain basins and receive no services or support from the government. In addition to the worsening extreme weather events because of climate change, river floods in rainy seasons cause soil erosion, and droughts lead to a lack of water sources. Both circumstances affect the harvest. To continue farming, farmers have to purchase more chemical fertilisers, increasing their financial burden and damaging the lands. CEDAR Fund has been supporting Upland Holistic Development Foundation (previously Upland Holistic Development Project) since 2013

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‘BEYOND FEEDING THE POOR’ CAMPAIGN

Written by Edward Lai (Senior Communications Officer) ‘I hope that my little donation will help you and can make a change to your life!’ ‘I pray that you will be joyful, that the Lord will help you and that you will have a prosperous life!’ These are the words of primary school students in Hong Kong when they wrote words of blessing to our beneficiaries overseas. Though most of them have never seen the beneficiaries of CEDAR’s projects. They have realised, through our activities, that there are people living in poverty: these people only want a simple, happy life; they do not want extravagance. There is a popular saying in Zimbabwe, ‘Hungry men are angry men.’ When one

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Transforming lives, Serving the Community in Myanmar

Banner image: The war-torn Karen State of Myanmar Written by Edward Lai (Senior Communications Officer) The situation of Myanmar following a military coup has captured international attention. Apart from mass protests demanding the restoration of the civilian government, tensions rise between the ethnic armed groups and the military junta. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic country, the conflict between the military and ethnic armed groups has lasted since its independence. Since the 1990s, CEDAR has been cooperating with Christian partners in Myanmar to carry out relief and development projects across the country to empower local residents to respond to different regions’ needs. Natural disasters, war and poverty have been ravaging the country for years. Yet, we have witnessed many former

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Rescue Girls from Red Light Area of India during COVID-19

Banner image: Ayesha [centre], coordinator of CEDAR’s Nepalese partner, Asha Nepal (Updated on 9 October 2020) Our Nepalese partner recently told us that they rescued two girls from a red light area of India. The situation of the girls was very vulnerable so our partner carried out rescue even under the threat of COVID-19 and closing of borders. These two girls, who were physically and mentally weak, had undergone different circumstances. One of the girls named Nagina (pseudonym, 11 years old) had been sold by her own mother to a relative as a servant, due to poverty. The other girl named Lola (pseudonym, 16 years old) had been harassed sexually by her own father, after the death of

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I Decided to Return and “Give”

Written by: Gloria Li (Pastor, Western District Evangelical Church) Evening, Friday 7th February I had just one box of masks left at home, which was to be shared between my domestic helper and I. We were counting down the number of our masks and mentally preparing ourselves to reuse them when our stock ran out. The two batches of masks that I had ordered in early January, as shown on the computer, left Japan a long time ago, which meant that they must have already arrived in Hong Kong. Did that mean they had been “hijacked”? While waiting for the delivery, there were rumours that masks were banned from entering Hong Kong due to the anti-extradition law protests.

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