Alliance News January - March 2014

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2013

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE OF SRI LANKA

Talking out aloud about clean

water

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he people of Vavuniya face a harsh reality; as most of them do not have access to clean water they are at risk of developing kidney-related illnesses. While a minority of this group try their best to escape this fate, most of them simply submit to it. However the solution to this problem is as simple as drinking boiled water. In a bid to spread this vital message, Alliance Development Trust marked World Water Day on the 29th of March, 2014 raising awareness on the importance of clean water on the streets of Vavuniya town.

It were children from ADT initiated Change Makers Clubs who clad in bright colours, took this message to the streets of Vavuniya through street dramas enacted under the guidance of an elder.Their words of advice resounded over loudspeakers attracting the attention of hundreds of vendors, shoppers and commuters.

“Drinking water from our wells affect our kidneys and livers” rang the message. “We should boil the water before drinking it.”

The general public were also advised on the importance of protecting lakes, rivers and other sources of water and were informed on good sanitary practices. The dramas were enacted in four different places in and around Vavuniya Town; namely the marketplace, the bus depot, the Kurumankadu junction and the Poonthottam junction. Nearly 1000 persons witnessed this event with hundreds of persons stopping to hear more of the message.

“I understand the importance of drinking boiled water because I am nursing my sick son back to health” said one bystander. “It is important that this message reaches every home. We can protect our next generation by teaching them to drink clean water.”

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Anaemia, Dental Problems & Poor Vision 33 Change Makers receive full medical check-ups at Ahangama and Ratmalana Child wellness is high on Alliance Development Trust’s (ADT) list of priorities. ADT ensures that the Change Makers receive an annual medical check-up as a part of the many programmes conducted by ADT’s Children’s Department for children of the selected villages, which are earmarked for Community Development Education (CDE) initiatives.

The medical check-ups consist of checking the children’s blood pressure, pulse, vision, dentistry and hearing as well as reviewing a blood report and urine and stools analysis. This year an ECG test also was included in the list.

This year, 22 representatives of the Change Makers Club of Suhadapura, Ratmalana and 30 Change Makers of the CDE village of Meegahagoda, Ahangama, Galle were the fortunate recipients of this service. A visiting medical team from the Asiri Central Hospital attended to the children of Suhadapura on 6th March, 2014 and a visiting medical team from the Hemas South Hospital were in attendance on the children of Meegahagoda.

The medical teams discussed the reports with the parents. It was noticed that many children in these CDE village suffer from anaemia, poor vision and dental issues.

Parents were delighted at the prospect of a visiting medical team taking time to do a full medical check on their children; a luxury that they often cannot afford nor have the time for. “It’s very useful. This is the fourth time we had it.We can see how our children’s health is improving” said one happy parent.

The village development committee helped to arrange the place.The children were excited as this is a different experience.

Pictures show Change Makers undergoing medical check-ups

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Less is MORE

Choose

SMALL

gatherings over big to spread the Gospel is message given at BILD conference

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hen Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples He commanded that the Good News is preached to the entire world. Ever since the 1st century the disciples have carried out the commission even in to the 21st century creating a worldwide Church expansion. The early Church too experienced constant growth, thus it is interesting to learn how the disciples fostered its growth.

method of training pastors and leaders.

The BILD programme supports this need for an accelerated global churchplanting movement through theological education done in the context of church ministry. By adding the Antioch School’s certificate and degree programmes to the mix of their existing large-scale BILD grassroots programmes, it enables churches to keep their top leaders active in the ministry of planting and shepherding while attaining advanced training and academic credentials. All the programmes are designed and taught for churches.

Leaders of churches, church networks, and church-planting movements carry out all the training in the context of ministry.

Thus the BILD programme inspires and prepares pastors and emerging leaders by training, equipping and integrating experiences as well.

On 18th March 2014, 27 pastors and lay leaders from several churches and denominations eagerly attended a 2 day seminar on Biblical Institute of Leadership Development (BILD). The founder of the BILD programme Mr. Jeff Reed explained how the Antioch School (USA) supports BILD International’s vision to accelerate global church-planting movements through theological education done in the context of church ministry.

The BILD training starts with an inward focus on preparing leaders and equipping them to move outward reaching globally to the four corners of the world.

The BILD curriculum is a unique learning system designed to help pastors train their own leaders from grassroots to national level, based on the way of Christ and His Apostles.

The BILD training curriculum is a cascading system where pastors and leaders are empowered and trained to teach others to be church leaders who in turn would teach others as they go along.

The NCEASL invites pastors, church leaders and lay workers in ministry to get in touch with us in order to enroll for the BILD training programme.

The Assistant General Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India spoke to the gathering on ‘Being a Disciple’.

He shared examples and experiences of how effectively the Gospel had spread in North India through small groups of people working through ‘home churches/ cells’ which incorporated the BILD

Pictures show participants at BILD conference

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O

n a bright Sunday morning in the month of February, the General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena, led a group of 250 villagers along with 11 Buddhist monks, storming into the premises of the pastor of the Holy Family Church in Asgiriya in the Kandy district. The mob demanded that the pastor stop all services, threatening the congregation and assaulting the pastor and his family.

Though this particular incident drew the attention of both local and international media, perhaps due to the profile of the players involved, it is just one among the approximately 32 incidents that took place, during the period from January to March 2014.

During this period, the attacks and the intimidation of Christians ranged from direct forms of assault and violence, to threats levelled at villagers who supported the Ministry of the pastors in their villagers, labelling them as traitors and flinging accusations at them in a derogatory language. Such an incident took place in connection with the Church of Grace in the Kegalle district, where villagers were targeted for signing a petition stating that they did not object to the religious worship activities taking place in their village. On some occasions, mobs forcibly entered churches while they were in progress and took photographs of the pastor and the congregation as a means of intimidating them.

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For comprehensive reports on the violence against and intimidation of Christians and violence against other minority religions visit nceasl.org or slchurchattacks.crowdmap.com In some parts of the country hate campaigns were also organised against certain pastors, to discourage the surrounding villagers from attending Sunday worship services and enrolling their children in Sunday schools.

The hate campaigns usually referred to the Christians as fundamentalists, accusing them of engaging in unethical conversions. One such campaign was carried out by Buddhist Nationalist Groups against a pastor of an Assemblies of God Church in the Trincomalee district.

These hate campaigns that were also carried out on social media, appear to have also had the motive of creating a fear psychosis among the Christian people, with rumours and reports of threats and attacks against various churches discouraging several from attending services.

A map of the 32 incidents that took place during January and March 2014

Attempts to curtail the freedom of worship also took different turns where state mechanisms were used as a form of repression. The incidents that took place in this regard clearly reflected the concerns highlighted in the Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) where “government officials and police did not stop religiously motivated attacks and in some cases participated in this, did not provide adequate protection for minority communities, and even harassed religious minority communities at their houses of worship”. In the latter part of January, the Pastor and the members of the congregation of the Calvary Free Church in Rathgama in the Galle district, were taken into unlawful custody by police officers, stirred by Buddhist Monks who entered the premises, accusing the pastor of leading worship in an “unauthorised place”.

There were several other attempts made by Government officials to close down churches, stating that it was an “unauthorised place of worship” as it had not been registered with the

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Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.This, however, is not a requirement according to Sri Lanka’s constitution.

Furthermore, there were reports from several parts of the country of police inaction in relation to incidents of violence against Christians, where perpetrators were often not identified and brought to justice.

This trend of exploiting state mechanisms to curtail the freedom of worship among Christians extended to the education system as well, where students in several parts of the country were stopped from practicing their faith in school.

One such incident took place in February where a 6-year-old student, in Kollonawa in the Colombo District, was punished for having refused to observe Buddhist rituals in school. The student however was enrolled in the school as a Christian. Furthermore, such a requirement is contrary to the Education Ordinance of 1939 and the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1978, which state that no child can be forced to observe religious activities that are not of her or his faith.

Two jeans, three t-shirts and a hunger for education

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s if being vision impaired is not enough of a challenge, Sivakumar, a bright A grade student from the North of the former war zone of Sri Lanka, has been dealt a poor hand in areas of economic sufficiency too.This has hampered his access to higher education.

company was unable to sustain their funding further than that and Sivakumar was compelled to stop his studies for 3 weeks.

Undeterred, Sivakumar explored several avenues of receiving funding but his immediate circle of contacts yielded no assistance. The Mahapola Scholarship for University Students was only available from mid 2014.

He then turned to Alliance Development Trust (ADT).

Providence smiled upon him and he was successful in funding a further 6 months through ADT which supplied him with a scholarship og Rs. 5,000 per month for his expenses for a period of 6 months.

Sivakumar, is a national scholar; coming 8th in the Advanced Level Examinations in the district of Vavuniya in 2011. He scored three A’s and a B, and is determined to follow his vision of going to University and becoming a Government Agent for Vavuniya.

Unfortunately, his family has been unable to funds for his higher education being racked with poverty themselves. His mother is a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, who has faced harassment at the hands of her employers and had to seek sanctuary with the Sri Lankan Embassy. His father is a daily paid labourer who also earns an income gathering and selling firewood.

Of his two sisters, one is married and the other is in primary school. Sivakumar only possessed two jeans and three t-shirts.

Sivakumar is now a second year student in the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka studying in Tamil.

He uses his monthly stipend from ADT on travel expenses, food and stationery items. There is hope for Sivakumar’s dream; a vision for the vision impaired to become a government agent for Vavuniya. One wonders, however, where the next donor will come from for Sivakumar,when the funds stop in 6 months.

If you are keen on helping Sivakumar further his education, please email us at communications@ nceasl.org

With the help of a philanthropic company that gave him Rs. 5,000 a month, Sivakumar was able to fund a university education at the University of Peradeniya for period of 1 year in the year 2013. Unfortunately, the

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Mutual trust and cooperation

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

ADT is equipping 35 villagers with necessary training and guidance to successfully manage a community poultry farm.

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t has been nearly 5 years since the conclusion of the armed conflict.

However Vimala still remembers the war as if it was yesterday. Even though she tries to forget the rattling of the guns, the scars of destruction around her still give her nightmares. Each day she wakes up to the reality of the disabilities her family has to cope with. With barely audible sighs she tries her best to hobble around her daily chores while her right leg slows her down. She lost the function of her leg to a shell attack while fleeing with her family from the fires of the war. Just like Vimala, many others in her neighbourhood bear marks of pain or loss. At

and guidance to successfully manage a community poultry farm. At present, these group of beneficiaries attend a training programme on ‘Start Your Business’ which is specially designed to enable unemployed persons to successfully begin and sustain their business ventures. Simultaneous to the training, the beneficiaries joined efforts to construct large chicken coops for broiler chickens and chickens raised for eggs.

Thereby, now that the training is complete, the beneficiaries can begin their livelihood without delay. Together, the group combines efforts to support each other in their time of need. This mutual support and cooperation will

this onset of development, many have forgotten the sorrows sowed by the war, but the rural community of Theravil still strive to tie their lives together. It is only hope that can bring the dawn of a brighter tomorrow into homes of these war affected persons.

The Theravil community living in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu, was recently selected by Alliance Development Trust (ADT) for its community development programme. In a bid to help this community regain their former dignity through economic sufficiency, ADT is equipping 35 villagers with necessary training

General Secretary: Godfrey Yogarajah Design and Layout: Chandrika Abeysekera

Telephone: 00945511358

Email: communications@nceasl.org Web: nceasl.org adtlanka.org facebook.com/ADT.Sri.Lanka facebook.com/NCEASL twitter.com/nceasl

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be their secret of success.

As the beneficiary group includes war widows and persons with disabilities, for those like Vimala this community poultry farm is a great opportunity. This initiative is not merely a source of income but the special training programme also teaches them valuable skills. “Most of us were not even good at math but through this training we have learned how to calculate, how to use a bank account and basic marketing skills” said Vimala. “Theravil is a poor community and most of us are labourers and we are grateful for the development taking place in our village.”

Writers Jovita Arulanantham Deepthi Senanayake Melanie Pereira Chandrika Abeysekera Address P.O. Box 113, Dehiwala, Sri Lanka

Why

vegetables?

Did you know: o Vegetables have no cholesterol (when eaten without a sauce) o Vegetables contain potassium, that helps lower blood pressure o Vegetables are rich in vitamins A, C and E that keep your eyes and skin healthy, provide essential fatty acids and help heal cuts and wounds as well as helping iron absorption o Vegetables contain folic acid that is an essential part in red blood cell formation o Vegetables of course, contain fibre. Fibre helps reduce cholesterol, reduces heart disease, promotes proper bowl function and helps to make you feel fuller with less calories.

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hy should children eat vegetables? After all nutritionally vegetables contain very little protein or fat. But what 60 Change Makers of Ratmalana discovered on 11th February at a Hygiene Seminar presented to them by Alliance Development Trust’s Children’s unit was that vegetables are important. They contain fibre, carbohydrates, vitamins, provitamins, minerals and something called phytochemicals which have antioxidant and antibacterial properties amongst other things. They also discovered as they would have in school that eating sufficient amounts of vegetables and fruit can help prevent heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. Vegetables also provide much needed potassium, that helps stop cramp and the formation of kidney stones.

Children enjoying a nutritious meal of vegetables at ADT’s Hygiene Seminar on the 11th of February, 2014 at Ratmalana

At their monthly meeting at the nearby temple premises the Change Makers were presented with dishes of raw vegetables such as carrots, bell peppers, cabbage, cauliflower and they were provided with the nutritional information.

At the same time they were given a chance to experiment with the correct method of cleaning and preparing them and finally tasting them as snacks with some salad cream.

The children enjoyed the vegetable snacks. They were also given a lesson on how to wash their hands. This they enjoyed thoroughly; laughing and splashing the water among themselves while they rubbed their hands rhythmically with soap and water as they went through the five step process of washing hands.

Like most children they showed a reluctance to eat vegetables at the onset but as the programme continued they relaxed and started enjoying the different flavours and said that they would be more inclined to eat more vegetables at home from now on. There were several mothers who came to help in the activity. “It is very difficult to get my children to eat vegetables at home” said one mother. “We are happy that through the club activity children are encouraged to eat vegetables” she added.

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