Dear CEDAR friends and supporters, How do you love both the oppressed and the oppressor? This is a question I have been asking myself since I first worked with girls who were trafficked into the red-light district in Kolkata, India. A number of them had been sold by their parents or close family members, almost all because of poverty. One girl called Ria (pseudonym) came from a family of six daughters. Her parents sold her so that they would have enough money to marry off the other five daughters since their culture required the bride’s family to pay a dowry. The parents were giving up one daughter to ‘save’ the other five, as having a husband meant having…
Dear CEDAR friends and supporters, The UN Humanitarian Affairs Office (OCHA) reported in November that ‘2024 is the deadliest year ever for humanitarian workers’, with 281 killed globally. Relief work is getting more and more dangerous. At the same time, the violence against aid workers also reflects the fact that more civilians are being killed in conflict zones. Indeed, according to the United Nations, civilian deaths in armed conflicts surged by a shocking 72% in 2023. Four in ten civilians killed in conflicts are women, and three in ten are children. Conflict-related sexual violence against women and girls rose by 50% in 2023, an appalling increase. The Institute for Economics & Peace reports that we are living in…
Dear CEDAR friends and supporters, Have you ever wondered why Christians give? The National Christian Foundation (NCF) has just published one of the largest research studies on Christian giving (a), i.e. giving done by Christians to both faith-based and secular causes. They find that givers aged 45 and above give because they ‘feel greater purpose in life’ and ‘feel grateful’. Those aged 44 and below give because they ‘feel more fully alive’, ‘feel closer to God’, and ‘feel more hopeful’. NCF finds that the overwhelming driver for Christian givers is their desire to ‘be good and wise stewards of what God has given them’. When asked about the most important characteristics they look for in a charitable giving…
Dear CEDAR friends and supporters, At the time of writing, Hong Kong recorded its hottest summer solstice in more than 40 years as temperatures reached 34 degrees. I was on a call with our field partner in India, and he was sharing how they had just experienced a record temperature of 50(!) degrees. ‘It’s not a human level of heat.’ 192 people have died in Delhi within a 9-day period this month due to the heat wave. Even at nighttime, people can barely sleep because of the suffocatingly high temperature, and this has led to increased stress on people’s bodies. The extreme heat is particularly difficult for people living in refugee camps and informal housing, as well as…