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Tag: Peace and Reconciliation

Myanmar Lisu Churches’ Journeying with War-ridden Ethnic Group

Banner image: A 72-year-old pastor partnering with a younger pastor to visit the refugees The Myanmar government and the anti-government forces were at war for the past 10 years. As the conflict was reinitiated in 2016, the estimated number of internally displaced population has reached 660,000. The conflicts in Kachin State alone forced close to 100,000 to flee to Yunnan, China. The peace-loving Lisu in Kachin State never took up arms, but their crops, livestock, even villagers, became resources targeted by both the Myanmar government forces and the opposing Kachin forces. The great unrest drove the Lisu away from home who became refugees in Thailand, Malaysia, India, etc.; a lot of them fled to other regions of the

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The Letter from CEDAR | April 2017

Dear Friends of CEDAR, I’ve been asked “What does CEDAR do” a lot, to which I have prepared two pitches depending on the time allowed—The short and sweet, yet encompassing “Helping the poor and providing disaster relief,” and the “Reconciliation works” which is the actual personal choice if time permits. We can categorize the 70 something poverty alleviation and disaster relief projects of CEDAR into 9 categories—Humanitarian, Urban Development, Children at Risk, Anti-human Trafficking, Health, Church and Community Mobilization, Income Generation, Creation Care, and Advocacy and Education. We could all describe the specific challenges within each field, but ultimately, they are all the symptoms of our sins that broke us away from the harmony we once had, which

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The Letter from CEDAR | October 2015

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, After watching the Indian movie “PK”, many of my friends (whether Christian or not) praised it for being realistic and emotionally engaging.  It set a new record in Indian box office and was highly controversial in India.  Those who liked the movie enjoyed it immensely, some hated it enough to sue.  It is rumored that another Indian movie “OMG” (Oh My God!) is even better than “PK”: the shop of an Atheist shopkeeper was destroyed in an earthquake and the insurance company refused to pay.  He therefore came up with an idea to sue God, but no lawyer would take up the case.  Then he recalled that people from various religions claim

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The Letter from CEDAR | August 2015

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 3rd September this year has been made a holiday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan, what a surprise holiday for Hong Kong citizen! 70 years after, do you think the world has learnt to live harmoniously with each other? What about the relationship between China and Japan? Whether it is between countries, or between people groups, conflict has been escalating.  It’s all about profits and power. Where do we find true friendship? There was an ancient Indian military saying, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. We have seen all the corrupted and wicked politics.The ones who suffer the most are often the innocent citizens and teenagers sent

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The Letter from CEDAR | Who can Change a Country?

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Last Christmas, my wife and I, along with three volunteers, went to Myanmar to visit CEDAR’s partner organisation, Full Moon. During this trip we had the rare opportunity of traveling to the mountainous areas in Mon State. Last year, CEDAR received a designated fund that supported the post-conflict rebuilding project in this restricted area, and the first programme of the project was to build a new school. In the past few decades, there were continuous conflicts between the Karen and Burmese government army in those mountainous areas, causing countless deaths and injuries. Not all have access to this area; even the Burmese people do not dare to enter this mountain. The ‘peace leader’

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