From the Valley of Dry Bones into a Playground

FROM A VALLEY OF DRY BONES INTO A PLAYGROUND

By Julian Ebenezer, Ferdinand Anno & Carleen Nomorosa

God of Life, we are living in a valley of dry bones We have lost our identity …we have lost our humanity We are unable to feel, we are so numb We are unable to reach out to the poor, to those we have segregated as religious and social outcast We have forgotten our being adamah: the tiller… the steward. The whole of creation groans in travail God of Life, we are living in a valley of dry bones We have lost our identity … we have lost our humanity Wars, killings, acts of terror and insurgencies surround us Deaths happen in every corner People are dying before their time every tick of the clock Children and women are being trafficked everyday in the millions Our communities are disintegrating and descending into chaos and lifelessness. God of Life, we are living in a valley of dry bones We have lost our identity, we have lost our humanity Descend upon us, once again May your Spirit, restore to wholeness our humanity May we image You, once again Enable us to touch our neighbors and build solidarities Enable us to build peace and institute justice in our relationships Enable us to break the barriers that are destroying our communities Enable us to bridge the gaps that separate us from each other Transform this valley of dry bones Into a playground of the children of God. Amen.

A Prayer For the roads that we have blocked For the bridges that we didn’t build For the empty table that we didn’t fill Forgive us. I Shall Not I shall not mourn for deaths framed as self-defence Nor shall I mourn for children starved to death I won’t mourn for lands consumed by the selfish Or even lives denied by slave-shops Never! I will not give the rich the satisfaction of my vulnerability Instead, I mourn for the loss of their humanity And I mourn for the Nazarene Who worked so hard to redeem it So if ever my tears drop They send atomic ripples beneath ivory towers

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Question of Humanity

A young Ugandan woman, Angwech Collines, did what most people wouldn’t, when she rose up in aid of the children who have been inflicted by a mysterious and potentially fatal disease that would leave them in a zombie-like state, losing their ability to speak and with obvious mental impairment. With no known cure or proper diagnosis available, Angwech could only prepare the unfortunate children with skills that would enable them to sustain themselves with a livelihood for a better future than the situation that they are currently in.

https://bit.ly/3auWGru

Generation Like

Social media has taken over our lives, especially the lives of the younger generation where their thoughts, opinions, likes and dislikes, fashion sense, decision making and even ethics for some…are shaped by the very online influences made so ever readily available via social media platforms online. Hence brings forth the Social Marketers or more commonly known as Social Influencers, who as their label suggests – shapes, mould and controls how you would engage to products and services offered by the corporations which hires them.

Criminalising Women

Why are the women in Australia criminalised more than ever before? They could be convicted from a myriad of offences be it serious or minor, but it doesn’t make a difference in landing them a trip into the gallows. These women are finding themselves in a vicious ending cycle of being locked up to the point where they are left to face so much stigma of society, leaving them unemployable, discriminated and vilified – which only turn them to commit to vices and crime.

https://bit.ly/30hV2rj

Asian Maids: Invisible Modern Slaves

Many Filipino women have chosen to work in the seemingly lucrative and highly sought-after market of domestic helpers in hope of becoming the financial support to the families they’ve left behind. However, without explicit laws to back them in Asia and the Middle East, many soon find that their voices are muted in the face of mistreatment, abuse and exploitation. A lot of these women have no avenues to turn to or they were not well informed of what they could do or who they should approach in such difficult times.

https://bit.ly/3Byz9Sr

Germ Warefare: The Battle Against Superbugs

Has our heavy reliance on antibiotics turned on us? Have we over conditioned our internal systems by pumping antibiotics at every infection that has destroyed our natural immunity and resistance towards bacteria? Studies have shown that bacteria has increasingly demonstrated its resistance towards antibiotics, hence the emergence of the Superbugs, where fatalities are guaranteed and unstoppable. It doesn’t help that Superbugs can thrive in our most common environments, leaving us highly susceptible at contracting them.

Origin of the Species

The future to which what Artificial Intelligence (AI) would bring humanity is fraught with mixed sentiments. Will humans become over reliant on robotics and will that bring the downside of society? The very thought of such advancements could bring both excitement as well as anxiety as significant progress often comes with levels of uncertainties. As robots tend to look, talk and move like us, would we be able to trust that the very machines we’ve created would not potentially become a threat to us?

https://bit.ly/3Bubkes

Where Childhood Died

In the Syrian conflict, young children were exploited by rebel insurgents through forced conscription, exposing them to the atrocities and violence of war. Witnessing the morbidity and barbarism in the actions of their captors, many are deeply scarred emotionally and physically and are unable to free themselves of the horror they’ve witnessed and partook in even after the aftermath.

https://bit.ly/3FBLGqD

Poor Kids

Through the eyes and perspectives of young children living in extreme poverty in the USA, we are brought into their realities, in witnessing how has the economic crisis been so detrimental to their lives as well as their families. Without jobs for their parents, many of the future of these children hang on a balance of great uncertainties as they are not able to receive the education, they would require to get them out of the perpetual cycle of this predicament - as much as they are trying to turn the tide against them, deep down they know it’s futile.

https://bit.ly/3v6PZVR

The Chinese World Order

China has demonstrated its ambition with globalisation. It has started to invest and finance heavily with infrastructures which enables world trade – with it in the center of it all. Many countries have shown support to their initiative at bridging trade globally but some are wary and anxious at China dominating world trade would bring about and at what cost to the world? Has China’s exponentially increasing influence over certain countries rendered them as mere pawns on an intricate but long game of chess?

https://bit.ly/3v6NHpJ

White Fright

It is scary how white privilege runs low under the radar in the United States of America with the support from the very authorities that are expected to be protectors of the people, regardless creed or race. When a 63-year-old white man of Christian faith plotted an insidious plan to massacre an African American Muslim community, targeting a school and place of worship, he was apprehended and released with neither repercussion nor punishment for his actions.

https://bit.ly/3BxtVGk