SPRING ’15
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ENDING AID TO INDIA
Should you support a nation with a space programme? tearfund.org
ETHIOPIAN MIRACLE
GREAT BRITISH BAKER
HELL ON EARTH?
Transforming lives for 2p a week
Interview with Martha Collison
Finding hope in Iraq and Syria
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
2 . TEAR TIMES
WELCOME... UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN
Hope you had a good break celebrating the birth of Jesus at Christmas and are enjoying a happy new year. At the beginning of January, my wife, Sara, and I will be celebrating the birth of our second child. And all the joy – and disruption! – that will bring. That’s why it was particularly moving for me to read the story of Meseret from Ethiopia which we feature in this Tear Times. ‘I was nursing my baby girl but we didn’t have enough money to buy food,’ Meseret says, ‘so I didn’t eat.’ When I think of all the benefits and safeguards most of us enjoy in the UK, it’s hard to imagine how traumatic it must be to worry that your precious child is not getting enough food. But, thanks to your support for Tearfund, women like Meseret have not been abandoned. I won’t spoil the story (you can read it on page 8) but an amazing spiritual and physical transformation happened in Meseret’s life. It’s the same transformation that is happening across Ethiopia, thanks to Tearfund-supported self-help groups which are currently reaching out to more than 1 million Ethiopians. We plan to expand this life-changing work so that more desperately poor families can benefit. Elsewhere in the magazine is an interview with Martha Collison, the youngest-ever baker on BBC TV’s The Great British Bake Off (page 28). She’s a passionate supporter of Tearfund’s No Child Taken anti-trafficking campaign. Thank you for your support for Tearfund. Please contact me with any feedback about the magazine – and please pray all is well with our new arrival!
Editor
Peter Shaw twitter @ TearTimes | email editor@tearfund.org Photo: Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
TEAR TIMES . 3
04
CONTENTS
‘I’M NOW CONVINCED EBOLA IS REAL’
NEWS 04 News Ebola outbreak and more updates 26 Bless this house Philippines typhoon one year on
FEATURES 08
08 2p or not 2p? The question that changed Meseret’s life 12 Hope among the ruins Reflections on life in a Brazilian slum 14 Visiting the world’s worst places Finding church at the heart of disaster
‘SELF-HELP GROUPS HAVE BROUGHT HOPE TO ETHIOPIA’ 16
18 Life on Mars? Should we still support India? 20 Shining in the red-light district Healing broken lives in Mumbai 22 Move over Tear Times... Make way for Footsteps 24 Building on sand Facing climate change in Malawi
PULL-OUT POSTER 16 Tribute to Richard Hanson
REFLECTIONS ‘LOVE NEVER FAILS’
28 Interview: Martha Collison Q&A with the great British baker
28
30 Treasure hunting Reflecting on children’s lives in Mumbai 31 Expect the unexpected Meet our Tearfund volunteers
‘GOD CAN HEAL BROKEN LIVES’
Copyright @ Tearfund 2015. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for the reproduction of text from this publication for Tearfund promotional use. For all other uses, please contact us. Cover image: A girl living in Dharavi slum, Mumbai, India. Warren Allott/Tearfund
4 . TEAR4TIMES . TEARNEWS TIMES NEWS
IN IN THE THE
NEWS
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
‘THANK YOU TO ALL WHO’VE GIVEN GENEROUSLY’
Thanks to your support, thousands of families are being protected from Ebola
EBOLA EMERGENCY: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT Tens of thousands of West Africans are being protected from the deadly Ebola virus by Tearfund partners, thanks to your generous response to our emergency appeal. Health and hygiene education is helping stop the spread of the virus, which has claimed more than 5,000 lives. Tearfund is supporting partners in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Mali, where limited health systems are struggling to cope. Churches are playing a key role in telling people of Ebola’s dangers and counteracting superstition, with our partners training church leaders so they can inform congregations about avoiding infection. Musa Labia, 35, from Pujehun in Sierra Leone, even denied Ebola’s existence
until he attended an education session run by Tearfund partner the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone (EFSL). ‘I’m now convinced Ebola is real,’ says Musa. ‘I will now help EFSL staff to educate my family.’ Thanks to your support: • hygiene kits are being distributed to 2,600 families • 420 quarantined families are receiving food • two Sierra Leone radio stations have broadcast health messages to potential audiences of several hundred thousand people Martin Jennings, Tearfund’s Head of West Africa region, said, ‘Thank you to all who’ve given generously to our Ebola appeal. Please continue to pray for a swift end to this devastating outbreak and for restoration of long-term hope and livelihoods for those who have lost so much.’
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
NEWS TEAR TIMES . 5
BLEAK MIDWINTER IN THE MIDDLE EAST As Iraqis and Syrians displaced by conflicts in the Middle East endure harsh winter conditions we can continue to supply life-sustaining aid thanks to your support. You are enabling us to meet the needs of thousands of families by providing food, clothing, hygiene equipment and cooking utensils through our partners.
‘Please continue to pray for the safety of refugees this winter’ You are also helping 3,800 Iraqis buy clothing, blankets, heaters and fuel as freezing temperatures bite. And with so many people escaping extreme violence, our partners are providing trauma counselling to families. With more than 13 million people – equivalent to London’s population – displaced by the Iraq and Syria conflicts, please continue to pray for the safety of refugees this winter.
People fleeing the conflict in Iraq and Syria face harsh winter conditions
MATTHEW FROST IS MOVING ON Tearfund’s Chief Executive Matthew Frost is stepping down this September after ten years.
Matthew says, ‘I’ve witnessed the incredible impact of Tearfund as it serves our partners and local churches worldwide. Countless stories of lives transformed and injustice confronted will continue to inspire and shape all I do.’ Clive Mather, Chair of Tearfund, says, ‘Matthew’s leadership has been central in setting our vision, shaping our culture and in everything we’ve achieved since 2005. We have so much to thank him for.’ Matthew will talk about his plans and look back over an amazing ten years in the next Tear Times.
‘I’ve witnessed Tearfund’s incredible impact’
Photos clockwise from top left: Jim Loring/Tearfund, Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund, Candice Roggeveen/Tearfund, Clive Mear/Tearfund
6 . TEAR6TIMES . TEARNEWS TIMES NEWS
Photo: Cally Myddelton/Tearfund
IN THE
NEWS WE’RE BACK AT THE BIGCHURCHDAYOUT
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
SANDRA’S GIFT TO MALAWI Working alongside local churches in Malawi gave Tearfund supporter Sandra Giles a heart for people in poverty. Before her death in February 2014, Sandra made several visits to Malawi with a team from St Peter’s Baptist Church in Worcester, which had links with Chikondi Baptist in Lilongwe. With husband Rob, Sandra was involved in church-planting in Malawi and went on to support school sponsorship, micro-loan schemes, adult literacy, a primary school and rural clinic.
We are excited to be partnering with the BigChurchDayOut again this year. This means more camping, laughter, mud, fun and – most of all – more of you helping us follow Jesus where the need is greatest. Around 25,000 people attended the BigChurchDayOut last year, enjoying Christian bands from across the world. More than 1,300 of you signed up to support No Child Taken – enabling us to protect more than 4,000 children from the dangers of trafficking, disease and disaster. ‘We plan to recruit a team of 250 volunteers,’ says Janet McRae, Tearfund’s Events Coordinator. ‘We need volunteers to speak to people in the audience and work in our café. It’ll be busy but lots of fun.’ The BigChurchDayOut takes place over the bank holiday weekend of 23-24 May at Wiston House in West Sussex. Find out what it’s like to be a Tearfund volunteer on page 31, or visit tearfund.org/events – where you can also register as a volunteer.
Rob says, ‘Experiencing life in an extremely poor country greatly enhanced our understanding of people’s needs. We know of the valuable work Tearfund does in countries like Malawi. Sandra was very happy to leave a legacy in her will knowing it will be put to good use.’ Kirsty Hawes, Tearfund’s Legacy Executive, says, ‘We’re very grateful to Sandra and many people like her who remember the work of Tearfund in their wills and in doing so help us respond where the need is greatest.’ For more information about leaving a gift to Tearfund in your will, please contact Kirsty at legacies@tearfund.org, call 0208 977 9144 or visit tearfund.org/will
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
NEWS TEAR TIMES . 7
Giving thanks for REMEMBERING OUR FRIEND RICHARD HANSON Tearfund is mourning the death of former staff photographer Richard Hanson, who died following a long illness last August. He was 45. Richard worked with us for eight years, travelling to more than 40 countries covering development work and major humanitarian crises. He continued to work for Tearfund after going freelance, and many of his photographs continued to grace the pages of Tear Times. Tearfund’s Louise Thomas, who commissioned Richard for many trips, says, ‘Richard understood the sensitivities of working with people living in poverty, and was deeply committed to Tearfund.
‘Richard consistently delighted us with wonderful images and was generous with his time’ ‘His constant quest to improve his art meant he always sought to better his own high standards. He consistently delighted us with wonderful images and was generous with his time and knowledge to the benefit of many, me included.’ Two weeks after returning from a trip to Ethiopia with Toilet Twinning in May 2013, Richard was diagnosed with leukaemia. Richard died on 14 August 2014. He is survived by his wife, Ingrid, and two children, Jessica and Isaac.
The thousands of Tearfund supporters who marched in London last September to highlight the need for inter-governmental action on climate change Donations and prayers that have enabled us to help people forced to flee their homes in Iraq Participants in Tearfund’s Big Bake who cooked up culinary delights to help end child trafficking, disease and disaster as part of our No Child Taken campaign
PRAYER
PULSE
Praying for South Sudan’s hunger crisis to abate and for the country’s civil conflict to end, bringing lasting peace and recovery Church representatives who encourage support for our work among congregations nationwide, enabling us to follow Jesus where the need is greatest The continuing recovery of 3.5 million people in Haiti affected by the earthquake five years ago that claimed 220,000 lives
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
8 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
2 OR NOT 2 ? P
P
THAT IS THE QUESTION THAT CHANGED MY LIFE My name is Meseret and I live in Ethiopia. I want to tell you my story to encourage you to support something that inspires women like me to work together to make the most of our skills and provide for our children...
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
D
MESERET, WIFE TO BELAY AND MOTHER TO KALKIDAN AND YIEDIDIA
I had my first daughter, Kalkidan, with my childhood sweetheart, Belay, when I was 19. We rented a tiny, unfurnished room. We slept on the floor. We were so poor people thought we were beggars. I was nursing my baby girl but we didn’t have enough money for food, so I didn’t eat. I was so hungry, I struggled to breastfeed little Kalkidan. Belay eventually found work as a poorly paid wage labourer, saving food from his lunch to bring back for us. This was not what I had hoped for my life. My childhood was simple but good. I was the eldest and had two brothers and two sisters. My father worked as a driver while my mother cared for the family. I was a good student and planned to go to university. My world changed when I was 14. After falling sick, my father died. My mother cried every day. As the eldest, I knew it was up to me to provide for our family. TWO TOUGH YEARS I could only find work selling the local alcohol, which I began to brew myself at night and at the weekend. I stayed at school but my work suffered. When I was 18, I married Belay. I was overjoyed. But, as I have said, our sufferings only increased. So there I was, in this tiny room, fearing that my child was becoming malnourished and my husband barely earning anything. I felt helpless. Until I met some amazing women from the neighbourhood... Their lives were very different from mine: they had a sense of ambition, of hope. They were part of a self-help group who came together to support each other. Every week they met to share ideas for income
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 9
generation and each saved 1 Birr [about 2p] to give out loans to each other. When they asked me to join in, I laughed. I didn’t believe saving 1 Birr could change my life. But I decided to join their group, because they seemed so much happier than me. That’s when something amazing happened. We performed a drama to raise awareness of self-help groups among local women. The play was about a family who lost their father and how the mother struggled to cope on her own. As I acted it out, I had tears streaming down my face. It was my story.
‘THEIR LIVES WERE VERY DIFFERENT FROM MINE: THEY HAD A SENSE OF AMBITION, OF HOPE’ AN OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE At that moment, I realised I had an opportunity to change my future. I committed myself to the group, to keep aside and save what little money I could. The group members were an incredible support to me: they encouraged me to do things for myself. But the next two years were the toughest of my life. Belay left to find better work in another town and, shortly after, I heard the devastating news that my mother had died. My sisters from the self-help group supported me night and day for four days while I coped with the loss of my mother. They took care of Kalkidan as I travelled back home to sort out my mother’s arrangements. While I was away, they paid my weekly contribution to the savings group so I could stay a member.
10 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
RENEWED DETERMINATION I came back with renewed determination. I borrowed 50 Birr (about £1.50) from the group and set up a business producing charcoal from firewood. With the money I saved from the profits, I started to make and sell handicrafts. Through this, I paid back the original loan, paid for Kalkidan’s schooling and built and furnished my own house. Around a year and a half after he left, Belay came back. He was astonished by my achievements. I can’t fully express in words what the women from my self-help group mean to me. They are my sisters: we support each other in everything. We have been together for seven years now. And we help to look after the rest of the community. Selfhelp groups are not just about economic change, it’s about a life change with Jesus. It was a great privilege for me to join the group and to come to know Christ. By saving and investing in small businesses, and by the grace of God, I was able to completely transform my life. I am now in charge of women and children’s affairs for the local government. I am a leader for the self-help group group network, and I now have a degree in human resources management. I will continue to help other women to become part of self-help groups, so that they too can change their future. That’s why I’m asking you to support Tearfund to set up more self-help groups across Ethiopia. There are many thousands more women like me, desperate to support their families, come to know the love of Jesus and live life to the full.
Almost 40 per cent of Ethiopians survive on less than £1 a day
Photos: Cally Myddelton/Tearfund
AMAZING TRANSFORMATION ACROSS ETHIOPIA Tearfund has been supporting self-help groups since 2002 and today there are more than 12,000 across Ethiopia, having an impact on more than 1 million people. They are making a dent in poverty in Ethiopia where 39 per cent of the population live below the poverty line, surviving on less than £1 a day. For £10 a month you can set up and sustain another self-help group. Please complete and return the form between pages 8 and 9. Or visit tearfund.org/meseret
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 11
‘People knew me only because of my poverty. I felt ashamed, inferior and worthless because everyone was always having to help me.
‘THEY SHOWED ME HOW TO SAVE MONEY, SOMETHING I HAVE NEVER DONE BEFORE’ Self-help group member Tiruwork Demmelash
‘ SELF-HELP GROUPS BROUGHT HOPE TO ME AND MY FAMILY. ‘I thank God for the love he has shown me through my self-help group and for the support of [Tearfund partner] Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church’ Self-help group member Hawa Musa
12 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
HOPE AMONG THE
RUINS BY CHRISTIAN GUY, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTRE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
His body was covered by a blanket, beside a battered motorbike. We were leaving Recife, Brazil’s fifth-largest city. Traffic passed slowly as the emergency services began clearing up. We fell silent. Just one of the 40,000 people who die on Brazilian roads every year. ‘Treacherous’ doesn’t cover it. Motorbikes and lorries swerve between cars, street sellers and stray horses. Speed bumps appear from nowhere. So do goats, cows and wandering children. Overtaking into oncoming traffic comes as standard. Flash flooding leaves people stranded on rural roads. On its roads, as elsewhere, Brazil is a nation in a hurry. The economic powerhouse of Latin America had, until recently, one of the fastest growth rates on the planet. Much social and economic progress has been won of late. But, as I discovered, it is also a nation in battle. Social unrest, inequality, poverty, corruption, bureaucracy and environmental vulnerabilities blight the lives of millions of Brazilians.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
CHILDREN SELLING SEX ON THE STREETS Through Tearfund I saw life in its lower tier. The group of teenage boys we met on our first day, for instance. Five hours west of Recife, two pastors at a youth project called a halt to their football practice so we could talk. For the boys growing up in the dusty poverty of rural Brazil, football meant hope. ‘What would you be doing if you weren’t here?’ I asked. A few of the braver ones answered. ‘The streets,’ said the translator. ‘And your hopes for the future?’ ‘No more hunger, no more violence,’ one said quietly. For these boys the simple ambition was survival. We found that same fusion of fear and hope in the favela too. Walking between the shacks with no sanitation meant treading over burning rubbish, flowing human waste, rotting nappies and discarded furniture. It also meant stray dogs, gun-toting slum lords, wild pigs and the stench of poverty. In one tiny damp room we met a mother and some of her seven children who share two mattresses – often getting wet as the rain seeps in. The father had been murdered a few years ago. In another, we passed a toddler sleeping on a rotting bed, yards from the river responsible for the shack’s dark water stains. FINDING JOY IN THE FAVELA But in the midst of the ruins, we also found joy – children playing and mothers laughing. Young women wanting photographs, dancing with their friends and asking if we knew One Direction. Bulletproof youth workers from Diaconia, Tearfund’s partner here, took us through the lawless streets. The government tends to ‘pacify’ slums with tanks: these men clear them using education. Through them, we were greeted with open arms by some of the most dangerous people in Brazil.
Photos: Sam Barker/Tearfund
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 13
Returning to our car from the favela, one of the youth workers wished us a safe journey home. As we waved goodbye, I felt immensely guilty, grateful, inspired and inadequate all at once. What I saw, who I met and how I felt in that favela will stay with me for the rest of my life. Despite the steady progress some were making, it is impossible to convey how abandoned it felt there. I have seen harrowing UK deprivation over the past ten years but nothing as disturbing as that favela. From the relative comfort of Westminster and our global institutions flow endless debates about capitalism, inequality, climate change, poverty and politics. But many thousands of people in that favela (flooded with devastating effect again a few months ago) and millions of others like them in Brazil, need practical help in order to help themselves. I thank God for Tearfund and all of you who give your support. Christian Guy is Director of the Centre for Social Justice (centreforsocialjustice.org.uk), an independent think tank established in 2004 to seek effective solutions to the poverty that blights parts of Britain.
More than 11 million people live in Brazil’s favelas (slums).
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
14 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
Camp in the grounds of a church in Erbil, Iraq
I’VE BEEN TO THE WORST PLACES ON EARTHrch
and found the Chu
WRITTEN BY KATIE HARRISON, HEAD OF MEDIA, TEARFUND There are times when you think you’ve heard all the most horrible things that could ever happen to someone. And then you hear something even worse. The reality is that our work at Tearfund brings us alongside the people who’ve experienced some of the worst of human suffering. We work in war zones, countries recovering from conflict, famine areas, natural disaster zones and communities where daily back-breaking poverty is utterly exhausting. I’ve worked for Tearfund for six years and, in the last couple of years alone, I’ve had
the privilege of going to the Syrian border where we are helping refugees who have made the difficult journey into Lebanon or Jordan. I’ve worked with rape survivors in Rwanda and the Central African Republic. I’ve met former child soldiers in Uganda. And I’ve been to the Kurdish region of Iraq just a couple of weeks after Da’esh (socalled IS) forced hundreds of thousands of people out of Mosul with the threat ‘convert or die’. It’s been a whistle-stop tour of some of the worst the world has to offer.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
INVENTING NEW WAYS TO SIN I’ve heard plenty of stories. The man in Jordan who showed me that his fingernails had been pulled out before he left Syria. The guy in Uganda who told me the horrific story of how, as a child, soldiers had forced him to watch his uncle being killed by his own dog. And the many women who have held my hand and wept as they described in graphic detail how they were raped until they bled or lost consciousness. Then there was the sex slave markets in Iraq, so feared by many people who had fled Mosul. Women are removed from husbands and families, rounded up and taken to a market square, graded and priced according to their desirability and sold into sex slavery. Virgins command the highest price. I sometimes wonder how people come up with these things. If you put me in a room for days, I would never have thought of these acts of cruelty. There’s a grotesque ingenuity to evil – the dark side of creativity. If we believe – and I do – that God is wholly good and created all things to be good, then it is the very essence of sin that those good things are turned into ways to overpower, control and hurt. A GLIMPSE OF GLORY Take our imagination. We have so much potential to create, celebrate, bring pleasure and inspiration. Yet some use their imagination to dream up horrible ways to hurt and abuse. Like rape. Sex is something God created to be literally life-giving – joyful, loving and intimate. Yet some people use it to crush the spirit, break up families, injure bodies and damage dignity and self-respect. But that’s not the end of the story. God is taking us towards a time and a place that is better than the one we now inhabit. And every single day, I’m blessed to see a glimpse of glory: a tiny insight into the way the world could be, should be and one day will be.
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 15
On my Tearfund postings, those glimpses often come through the church. Everywhere, even in the places you might least expect it, the church is active. Churches are welcoming displaced people in Iraq and Lebanon, hosting them, providing food, clothes and helping people find work. CHURCH TRANSFORMING LIVES In Rwanda, the church is building strong families by teaching about healthy relationships and marriages. They also take women who’ve been raped to the police station and clinic, and help bring rapists to court. They’re bringing people together to hold local and national governments to account for the promises they make, strengthening democracy and challenging corruption. And in many countries – every single day – churches help people earn money, save money, share what they have and turn dreams into reality. With the hope the church can bring, to all the people in their community whether or not they attend the church, transformation truly is possible. I know because I’ve seen it. Many times. I hope, through the stories we share, you see it too.
‘EVERY DAY I’M BLESSED TO SEE A GLIMPSE OF GLORY’
Katie visits a camp for people fleeing conflict in Iraq
Photos: Left, Mariam Tadros/Tearfund. Above, Candice Roggeveen/Tearfund
RICHARD HANSON, PHOTOGRAPHER (1968-2014) Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:8 (One of Richard’s favorite Bible verses) Read a tribute to Richard on page 7
Celine and Yvonne Akoue who work for Tearfund partner Groupe Biblique des Hôpitaux, Ivory Coast Photo: Richard Hanson/Tearfund
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
18 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
LIFE ON MARS? WE ASK WHETHER INDIA, A COUNTRY WITH A BOOMING ECONOMY AND A SPACE PROGRAMME, SHOULD CONTINUE TO RECEIVE AID FROM THE UK. In September last year, images from Mars were beamed millions of miles across space, not from an American or Russian satellite, but from an Indian space probe. This has caused many to question whether a nation that can spend $74m on a satellite, should still receive development aid. We asked Kennedy Dhanabalan, head of our longstanding Indian partner Eficor, if it’s time for India to go it alone... There is clearly a great deal of rapid development in India which you can see when they send rockets to Mars, and when you spot the Indian names among the world’s richest people. Despite the ‘global’ recession hitting in 2008, wealth in India is estimated
to have grown from $2,000 per adult to $5,500 between 2000 and 2012. There is also a growing gap between the richest and the poorest. While India is experiencing huge economic growth, its prosperity is restricted to better educated people with higher social status and people who live in urban centres like New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. CALLED TO BE SALT AND LIGHT In rural India, just three in ten people have access to clean water – that’s just 91 million people out of a total population of 1.2 billion.
And almost two-thirds of the population don’t have access to adequate sanitation. The World Bank estimates that unsafe drinking water causes 21 per cent of all diseases in India. But the statistic we should pay most attention to is the fact that 30 per cent – almost a third – of the world’s poorest people live in India. It is also important to consider two more key indicators of poverty: infant mortality rate and malnutrition status. Although there has been progress in recent years on both of these, India alone still accounts for 20 per cent of child mortality worldwide and nearly half of Indian children under the age of five are chronically malnourished.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
This is a big challenge for Eficor and the church. The church is a minority in India: less than three per cent of people are Christians, and they are mostly concentrated in communities in the south and north-east. Yet even in the comunities where Christians are a tiny minority, we are called to be salt and light. FACING UP TO THE SCALE OF THE PROBLEM The scale of the problem is so big it means that we cannot release people from poverty purely through welfare alone. It is crucial we empower people to take responsibility for their health, to know their own rights, and ensure existing laws intended to benefit poor communities are implemented. Poor people often do not know about these new laws, so we must give them the knowledge they need to benefit from these government schemes and claim their rights.
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At Eficor we believe passionately in empowering people to change their own communities through their own decisions and actions. We do this by running training courses for local churches and organisations, focusing on development from a biblical perspective. An example of this is the Malto community in northern India (one of the primitive tribes from Jharkhand state). Until Eficor started to work with them in 1992, the infant mortality rate was 250 deaths for every thousand births and the literacy rate was just one per cent. Now, the mortality rate has dropped to 133 and the literacy rate has risen to 24 per cent. Life expectancy has increased and there are older people in the village; when we started, there was no one over the age of 45. Children are now going to school, income has increased and exploitation has been reduced.
NEGLECTING HALF OF THE WORLD’S POOR While it is encouraging to see such progress, we still face huge challenges. So, when you look at the economic development in India, you must also see the children who are dying or who are malnourished. If you neglect India, you are also neglecting half of the malnourished children on the planet, and one third of all poor people in the world. So the question we should ask is not ‘Should we support India?’ but rather, ‘Should we be supporting poor people?’ I believe that to fulfil the biblical call to look after poor people it is crucial to continue to support poor communities in India. Kennedy Dhanabalan is a pastor in Delhi and head of Eficor, the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief.
Almost a third of the world’s poorest people live in India
‘IF YOU NEGLECT INDIA, YOU ARE NEGLECTING HALF OF THE MALNOURISHED CHILDREN ON THE PLANET’ Photo: Warren Allott/Tearfund
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
20 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
JESUS SHINING BRIGHT IN THE RED-LIGHT DISTRICT Written by Tim Magowan, Northern Ireland Director, Tearfund
I’m walking through Mumbai’s red-light district with a rugby player in front of me, three church leaders behind me, surrounded by sex workers touting for business. I never imagined I would do something like this. We’re a group from Northern Ireland visiting Mumbai to experience Tearfund projects on the front line in the fight against sex trafficking. With me are professional rugby player Paddy McAllister and church leaders Rev Mairisine Stanfield, Rev Charles McMullen and Senior Pastor Andrew McCourt. What we experience will change our perceptions for ever.
Photos: Above, Marcus Perkins/Tearfund. Right, Mark Lang/Tearfund
We walk through the humid streets, seeing just a few of Mumbai’s 15,000 sex workers – dressed in saris and adorned with gold jewellery. We turn down a side street, duck through a dingy doorway and arrive at a project run by Oasis India, Tearfund’s partner here – a heavenly light in the midst of the darkness. ‘The women we work with are like beautiful glasses which have been thrown out from the fourth floor – broken into a thousand pieces,’ says project director Sachin. I respond to visual images, so this instantly resonates with me. But for Anala, one of the women we met, the shattered pieces were not a picture: it was her past.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
STANDING IN THE LIGHT Anala grew up in a poor, rural family and never went to school. When her mother died, Anala was sold into sex work in Mumbai. She was 13. Pimps would drug and force her to have sex with up to 20 men a day. For ten years, Anala was kept as a sex slave – regularly beaten and burned if she tried to resist. ‘I can’t describe how much wrong has been done to me,’ she says. By the time staff from Oasis India found Anala, she’d developed a serious drug addiction. After months of relationshipbuilding, the care workers persuaded Anala to go to a drug rehabilitation centre. Three months later, drug free, she came back to the project. The team gave Anala the love and support she needed to build a new life, and to flourish. Thanks to their encouragement, and your support, Anala secured a job, became a volunteer at the project and started to rebuild her relationship with her family. Encouraged and supported by the staff, she joined the local church and, in 2005, she chose to follow Jesus. ‘My life was once worthless and like a dark dungeon,’ Anala says, ‘but God made me stand in the light.’ This story of a life torn apart has an incredible, happy ending. Anala joined the Oasis India team. She shares her own experience of brokenness and abuse to encourage sex workers that there is a way out. GATHERING UP THE BROKEN PIECES Anala is part of the amazing team, funded by Tearfund, who work right in the centre of Mumbai’s red-light district. Thanks to your support, Oasis India provides food, medical treatment, counselling, education and job training for scores of incredibly vulnerable women and their children here. Anala is an inspiring woman of God. Not only has she helped many women to leave the sex trade, some of the women she has supported have set up their own projects to help sex workers. Sex traffickers have built an infrastructure of evil to sustain this modern-day slavery.
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 21
Praise God that Anala, whom they once held captive, is setting women free. Like Oasis India, she is a beacon of goodness, light and hope. As I leave the project, I ponder on Paul’s amazing words in Colossians 1:20: ‘All the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe – people and things, animals and atoms – get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.’ (The Message)
‘I CAN’T DESCRIBE HOW MUCH WRONG HAS BEEN DONE TO ME’ ANALA, MUMBAI Through the practical support of Oasis India, and the love of Christ in her heart, Anala has gathered up the broken pieces of her shattered life. She has put them together into a ‘vibrant harmony’ which is bringing life to herself and others. I pray that I can do the same. You can see a film from the trip Tim made to India here: tearfund.org/redlight Tearfund partner Oasis India’s offices in Mumbai’s red-light district
22 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
MOVE OVER TEAR TIMES... Make way for Footsteps, the magazine that’s transforming the world Written by Alice Keen, Footsteps Editor
You may be surprised to learn that Tear Times is not Tearfund’s only magazine. Footsteps, our magazine for international readers, turned 25 this year and is now in its 96th edition! In 1989 founding editor Isabel Carter launched Footsteps with these words, ‘On the front page is a diagram of footsteps showing how all of us have to walk, step by step, towards the wholeness and health which God has planned for us.’ This is still our heart. The magazine shares information and inspiration about topics relevant to people working to release communities from poverty in more than 120 countries.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATION We know that transformation doesn’t happen overnight: it takes commitment. We have seen God work in incredible ways over the years through Footsteps, through people inspired to put into practice what they have read.
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 23
We would love you to sign up for the email version of the magazine: follow the link from the Tilz website or email publications@tearfund.org Follow Footsteps on Twitter @footstepseditor
The practical information in the magazine comes from our understanding of how God’s love is demonstrated in word and deed. The regular Bible study feature is often used by church groups to help people engage with God’s word to discuss sensitive subjects such as HIV or harmful cultural practices. A recent readers survey prompted some amazing responses. It’s been humbling to see what God has done through incredible unsung heroes in places which rarely make it into the news. CHURCH OF MULTIPLICATION Pierre from Togo, for example, read about diabetes in Footsteps 87 and recognised his symptoms. When tested at his local health clinic, they confirmed he had the disease and he is now being treated. The story could have stopped there but Pierre decided to share what he’d learnt by organising awareness-raising events for his church and his association of cotton growers. Pierre is not alone. We regularly hear of readers taking what they have read and sharing it with others, multiplying the impact of each magazine. And it’s all thanks to your generous support for Tearfund that this transformation is made possible. Thank you! FOLLOWING FOOTSTEPS To read past issues of Footsteps, visit the Tearfund International Learning Zone (Tilz): tearfund.org/tilz The website also hosts a range of other resources for Christians passionate about seeing our world transformed for good, including publications, research and practical guides, available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
FOOTSTEPS 96: HUMAN TRAFFICKING Our next edition looks at the crucial issue of human trafficking, focusing on ways that vulnerable communities can prevent women, men and children from falling prey to the fastestgrowing crime on earth. We will share examples of great work being done in this area by Tearfund partners, and offer practical advice and tools to equip readers for action in their own communities. We have an interview with a survivor who has returned home to Uganda to rebuild her life, after working in the sex industry in Thailand. The Bible study looks at the life of Joseph, who was sold by his brothers, trafficked by the Midianites and ended up as a slave in Egypt. We would love you to join us in praying that this edition will make a huge impact on all our readers and on the places where they live. Footsteps 96 will be published in late-January 2015.
Photos: Left, Margaret Chandler/Tearfund. Above, Star Rays Education Centre
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
24 . TEAR TIMES FEATURE
BUILDING
ON SAND WRITTEN BY BEN NIBLETT, CLIMATE CAMPAIGNER, TEARFUND I’m fond of sand. It reminds me of sandpits, holidays on the beach, sandcastles and happy toddlers brandishing spades. But there’s a jar of sand in my office with no seaside memories. Instead, it contains a warning – and a sign of hope. This sand came from a field in Malawi, belonging to Grace and Andrew, in a village called Fombe. Back in 2007, Tear Times told the story of how the village was suddenly flooded when the river burst its banks, leaving several feet of sand behind when the water receded. Andrew and Grace’s field was covered. Andrew’s a strong man and a skilled farmer, but it took him a long time to dig down through the sand to reach the soil underneath and sow next season’s maize.
‘FLOODS, DROUGHTS AND LESS RELIABLE RAIN ARE HAPPENING MORE OFTEN’ Photos: Simon Mitchell
Villagers in Fombe, Malawi, came together to clear sand from Andrew’s field
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
CLIMATE WARNING There was no way he could plant enough for a decent harvest. He had to leave his wife and young family and go to work in the city, sending money home so they could get by. So the sand in my jar is a warning of climate change. It speaks to me of the hunger caused and the damage done by more floods, more droughts and less reliable rain, all of which is happening much more often in community after community where Tearfund serves.
‘THE SAND IS A WARNING OF CLIMATE CHANGE’ And it’s also a sign of hope. Tearfund’s partner, Eagles Relief and Development, works in Fombe village, through the local church. They serve in many ways: providing literacy classes for women who didn’t get to go to school, drilling boreholes for clean, safe water, and helping local churches reach out to their communities.
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STAND UP FOR FAMILIES LIKE ANDREW AND GRACE’S Here are three places where you can make a difference this year: A church hall near you: It’s the general election in May. Candidates will be phoning and knocking on doors, and churches will be hosting hustings. Let’s make sure poverty, justice and climate are part of the debate. Visit tearfund.org/election, email campaigns@tearfund.org or phone 0208 977 9144 and we can help with hints, tips and ideas. Westminster: On Wednesday, 17 or 24 June, the Climate Coalition is holding a mass lobby of parliament so that soon after the election MPs hear why a huge, varied group of people want them to act on climate change. Please email or phone using the contact details above if you are interested in taking part. Paris: In December, a major UN climate summit will be held in Paris. Getting a strong global climate agreement will be a major step forward, and this is the best chance we’ll have for a few years.
HOPE THOUGH THE LOCAL CHURCH So after Fombe’s floods, the church mobilised the village to work together to clear Andrew and Grace’s field of sand. Today their soil is fertile again, producing a good crop. With some extra funding from Tearfund through DFID, they built a stone dyke to defend the village from future floods. In 2015 there’s a lot we in this country can do to be part of the same story of the church bringing hope in a changing climate, starting with our prayers, prompting us into action. Please fill out the ‘For the love of’ card attached here, and let your MP know you care about creation.
Thanks to the community building a dike, Andrew’s land in Fombe village is better protected from floods
26 . TEAR TIMES NEWS
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
Rodrigo and Analie outside their new home provided by Tearfund
BLESS THIS HOUSE PHILIPPINES TYPHOON, ONE YEAR ON Super typhoon Haiyan shook Rodrigo and Analie’s rickety home with such ferocity that they thought an earthquake had hit. Along with their seven children, Analie sheltered under the bed, while her husband, Rodrigo, attempted to secure their belongings. They emerged to find their home destroyed and 700 chickens missing. Analie was worried about their daughter, Roxan, 30, who has polio and cerebral palsy. ‘She was wet and cold so I wrapped her in a blanket,’ says Analie. ‘Then we all just prayed.’
ANSWERED PRAYERS Thanks to you, we have distributed food parcels, blankets, mats and cooking equipment to 200,000 people, rebuilt livelihoods for 29,000 people, and provided trauma care and support for 8,000 children and trained 4,000 people in how to prepare for future disasters. You have also provided shelter for 24,000 people... ‘I am very grateful to the Lord that Tearfund provided a house for us,’ says Analie. The whole family were trained and helped to build the secure home themselves.
is with us and we ‘I AM GRATEFUL TO THE LORD God thank him for using the people to help THAT TEARFUND PROVIDED A British our community,’ says Rodrigo. HOUSE FOR US’ ‘When we lived in the shanty, people would ‘We are confident
They built a shelter from the debris surrounding them. ‘We felt desperate,’ says Rodrigo. ‘But we put our trust in God that someone would help us.’ Halfway across the world, their prayers were answered. Thanks to your generosity to Tearfund’s Philippines typhoon appeal, we have been able to reach more than 220,000 people so far whose lives were torn apart.
mock and bully our children,’ says Analie. ‘But we feel secure in our new house. We are all smiles.’ PRAYER FOR FILIPINO FAMILIES Thank you for your generous response. Please continue to pray for Tearfund and our partner staff, who are providing support, training and practical help, and for those families still recovering from the devastation caused by the typhoon.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
Fruit that lasts
FEATURE TEAR TIMES . 27
THE FRUIT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IS A TREE OF LIFE PROVERBS 11:30 For more than 45 years, support from people like you has provided for the poorest people on earth through Tearfund. By leaving a gift in your will, you will bless future generations – a tree of life that will bear a bountiful harvest. Writing a will is the single most important thing you can do to safeguard the people you care about. It’s also the best way to make sure your wishes are carried out, so that your family and friends are provided for, as well as people in poverty. Just one per cent of an estate will make a huge difference to struggling communities.
To find out more, contact Tearfund’s Legacies team: call 0208 977 9144 | email legacies@tearfund.org | visit tearfund.org/will
Photo: Math Oudom, five, eating water melon at dusk, Takeo province, southern Cambodia. Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund.
28 . TEAR TIMES REFLECTION
FLOUR POWER
Mixing it up with Martha Collison Last year Martha took part in BBC1’s top-rated TV show, The Great British Bake Off. Aged 17, she was the youngest-ever baker on the show, reaching the final five. During the competition, Martha was also taking her AS-levels, and she plans to become a food scientist. She has also decided to use her new-found popularity to get behind Tearfund’s No Child Taken anti-trafficking campaign.
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
Was it exciting when you found out you’d been selected to be in the final 14 of The Great British Bake Off? During the auditions, they would phone to tell you what was happening. I was in Spain doing work experience in a café on my own when they called to say I was in the final 14. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t have anyone to tell! There were all these Spanish people around me looking at me, wondering, ‘What’s going on with that girl?’ But it was really exciting. I’ve been baking since I was about eight. My parents were really good, because they used to just let me make a mess in the kitchen, which is how I learnt how to bake.
Photo: Tom Price/Tearfund
REFLECTION TEAR TIMES . 29
How does it feel when you are being judged on camera by [Great British Bake Off judges] Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood? When I had to take up the very first tray of lemon cakes to be judged, I was more nervous than I had ever been in my whole life. I felt sick. I’ve never felt that level of nerves, which is probably a good thing, because if the thing I’m most nervous about in life is ‘Will Paul and Mary like my lemon cakes?’ then, that’s a good life. But it’s really nice to get positive comments, because you put a lot of effort and a lot of work into each bake. It kind of becomes part of you – as cringey as that sounds. Because it’s your recipe and it’s your flavours. So if they like it, you feel really happy that you’ve made something that’s good. You first heard about Tearfund’s No Child Taken campaign at the BigChurchDayOut. What made you decide to get involved? At the BigChurchDayOut, I wondered how I could use baking not just for myself but to express my faith and show what I’m really passionate about, which is helping people who are less fortunate than me. I think that vulnerable children who are being trafficked are a perfect example of people who need help. Especially because they are children. I’m still technically a child at the moment, so it really resonates with me
that it’s horrible that that kind of thing is allowed to happen all over the world. I heard about No Child Taken at BigChurchDayOut and I thought, ‘I just really want to make a difference.’ Getting onto The Great British Bake Off, I thought, would be a really good way to show that I care. What is it about Tearfund which makes you want to offer your support? I think that Tearfund is a really good organisation that does a lot of fantastic work in loads of different countries. I’ve had a couple of friends who’ve been on volunteer trips to different places with Tearfund. It’s really great how they’ve shown the love of God and the love of Jesus all over the world. A lot of charities can step in and try to help stop trafficking but, with the Christian faith behind it, it just gives hope to people whose lives have been destroyed since they were a child. That that’s quite hard to undo. But God can heal broken lives, so I think it’s really good to include that in the rescue mission.
Find out more about No Child Taken and Tearfund’s work with trafficked sex workers in Mumbai on page 20. To get involved and offer your support to No Child Taken, visit tearfund.org/ nochildtaken
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
30 . TEAR TIMES REFLECTION
Treasure Hunting Children pray for Henrietta at Focus, Camber Sands
BY HENRIETTA BLYTHE, PEOPLE DIRECTOR, TEARFUND I always feel nervous about public speaking. Last July, I was invited to join a No Child Taken panel discussion about child trafficking on the main stage at Focus, Holy Trinity Brompton’s gathering at Camber Sands. About an hour before, as I sat nervously outside the Tearfund café, I received an amazing blessing. A group of children approached and asked if I’d like them to pray for me. They were ‘treasure-hunting’ – asking God for people to pray for – and felt the Lord prompt them to pray for a woman in a red top sitting outside the café. That was me. I said yes, so Alice – aged ten – prayed for me. Then another group of children came by and prayed for me again. God was on my case and I was mightily encouraged. But it also made me think about the contrast. There I was, preparing to talk about Tearfund’s child trafficking work and here were group of young children confident enough to pray for a complete stranger! It was a beautiful sunny day, reminiscent of a day I spent in Mumbai some years ago, visiting Tearfund projects in the red-light district. And, although the sun was blazing in the sky, it was one of the darkest streets I have ever walked down. Along the shacklined road sat a pretty young girl from
Nepal, looking rather incongruous in bright red lipstick. Girls like her, often as young as Alice, are tricked into the sex trade with promises of good jobs in the city, an offer that desperately poor families find hard to resist. Unemployment is rife in Nepal, forcing men to travel to India to find work – often becoming clients of the sex trade. So more children are trafficked to meet the demand. It’s literally a vicious circle.
‘A GROUP OF CHILDREN APPROACHED AND ASKED IF I WOULD LIKE THEM TO PRAY FOR ME’ The panel discussion went well. I came away from Focus even more resolved to do everything I can to end child trafficking. Tearfund’s partners are also determined to develop safe communities so that children who are targets for traffickers are protected and can thrive, just like Alice. Please join us and support Tearfund’s No Child Taken anti-trafficking campaign: tearfund.org/nochildtaken
Following Jesus where the need is greatest
REFLECTION TEAR TIMES . 31
EXPECT THE
UNEXPECTED Two members of Tearfund’s BigChurchDayOut team explain how your whole world can change when you volunteer with Tearfund...
Helen Parsons volunteered in Tearfund’s café, serving hungry festival-goers. She recently returned from a Tearfund volunteering trip to Bolivia It’s been great fun working in the café – we’ve been really busy. But that’s cool and Tearfund have looked after us well. Ever since my trip to Bolivia I’ve been passionate about ending human trafficking.
Helen and Zack at The BigChurchDayOut
Zack Purver joined the audience team, encouraging people to support Tearfund’s No Child Taken anti-trafficking campaign
Since coming back, I’ve decided to I really enjoy volunteering. Tearfund have switch university courses. I was looked after us well and in between you planning to study hospitality can hang out at the festival. It’s been great management but am now to spark up conversations about No Child about to study international Taken, something I am passionate about. development. Visiting Bolivia with Tearfund confirmed to The best chat I had was with an older me that’s what I wanted to couple. They have a grandson my age and do with my life. I’ve been they were really interested in what I’ve been hanging out with people doing for the last few years. I told them my who work for Tearfund parents live abroad and it ended with them and finding out what giving me their address and I plan to keep it’s like to work for a in contact. They gave £100 to Tearfund and charity. So it’s been offered to be my honorary grandparents! I great experience didn’t expect that when I signed up to be a to be part of the Tearfund volunteer! team at the BigChurch DayOut. JOIN THE TEAM AND HELP END CHILD TRAFFICKING
If you’d like to have a life-changing experience, we are looking for volunteers to join the Tearfund team at the next BigChurchDayOut, 23 and 24 May 2015. Visit tearfund.org/events to find out more about volunteering, and bigchurchdayout.com for details about the event. Photo: Peter Shaw/Tearfund
‘It’s me or my baby’ Poverty in Ethiopia doesn’t mean women don’t have choices. But it often means they have only bad choices. At her lowest point, Meseret faced an agonising decision: feed herself so she could keep producing breast milk for her baby – or feed her baby and risk her breast milk drying up. Self-help groups supported by Tearfund are transforming the lives of more than 1 million people. BY GIVING £10 A MONTH, YOU CAN OFFER MUMS LIKE MESERET GOOD CHOICES THROUGH SELF-HELP GROUPS, SO THEY CAN CARE FOR THEIR CHILDREN PROPERLY – AND THEMSELVES.
Please fill out the form between pages 8 and 9 or visit www.tearfund.org/meseret
100 Church Road, Teddington TW11 8QE Tŷ Catherine, Capel Cildwrn, Llangefni LL77 7NN Challenge House, 29 Canal Street, Glasgow G4 0AD 241 Newtownards Road, Belfast BT4 1AF
tearfund.org +44 (0) 208 977 9144 email enquiries@tearfund.org twitter twitter.com/tearfund facebook facebook.com/tearfund Photo above: Cally Myddelton/Tearfund Registered Charity No. 265464 (England and Wales) Registered Charity No. SC037624 (Scotland) 31283-(0115)
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