COMMITMENT
F0r ’LifE
Feeling the cold
When disaster strikes it is always
the poorest and most vulnerable who suffer. Unexpectedly cold weather in much
of the north of Bangladesh in January created misery for
thousands of poor families. More than 220 people died as a result of the cold
while many more suffered severe hardship. In a country where many labourers are
paid only for the hours they are hired, thousands were unable to work to earn
their usual income. Seed beds of winter rice were also severely affected by the
low temperatures.
Our partner CCDB was once again in action.
Their Disaster Preparedness Programme had stockpiled blankets made by women in
the Chittagong Hills —and emergency rations of food. Their ability to plan for such
emergencies and to distribute quickly to the areas in which they work has
enabled thousands of poor families to be helped through bad times. This
long-term work to prepare villagers to cope with almost inevitable disasters is
an essential element in the fight against poverty.
Emma Pugh, one of the FURY group
that visited Bangladesh in 2003, helping to distribute
blankets during an earlier cold spell
Bangladesh
March 2004
Living with Hope and Love
HIV/AIDS is not yet widespread in Bangladesh but experts fear that many social
factors are present which might lead to its rapid spread, especially among the
young. Raising awareness is essential now to change attitudes and behaviour.
In December CCDB launched the Living
with Hope and Love exhibition, which displayed art by people living with
HIV/AIDS and those who love them.
The exhibition was put together by Ashar Alo (Light of Hope), a
self-help group established and supported by CCDB, and dedicated to those who
are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. These people face stigma and
discrimination and are frequently unable to get the medical help they need.
Living with Hope and Love is one of a number of initiatives
through which CCDB aims to remove stigma, discrimination and fear and
demonstrates how people living with HIV/AIDS can make a positive contribution
in response to the epidemic.
Travelling hopeful…
I
am writing this letter in a few snatched moments as I wait for the next stage
of my journey to begin. My train reached the station here rather later than was
planned, and the connecting train had already gone. I know the time that the next
connecting train is due, and I known that, if it is on time, it will get me to
my destination with just a few minutes to spare —enough time to trot from the station to the church without being too out
of breath when I arrive....
But will the connection be on time? Will it, too, be
held up by whatever circumstances slowed the first part of my journey - to reduce to shreds my carefully planned timetable of easy
travelling, ample time to complete the journey, and even a few moments for a
cup of coffee, and a browse in the station bookstall?
We are used, in these days of modern communication,
and the choice of personal or public transport, to being sure that we will get
to our destination at more or less the anticipated time — to such an extent that we can generally face unexpected
delays with equanimity —
or resignation if the
delays are frequent, of course.
Travelling
in Jesus’ day, whether you think of the journey of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem at the beginning
of the story, or the last journey Jesus took, up the Jericho road, with its
evil reputation, to the Mount of Olives, and the crowning view over the City of
Jerusalem, was a much more hit and miss affair.
The
same is true as we think of the story of the Passion and Easter. We can hear it
read, or act out in liturgy the various scenes of the story told in the
Gospels, with a clear and confident knowledge of where the road leads — to
Gethsemane, certainly, and to Golgotha, but also we can be sure that it
ultimately leads, beyond the empty tomb, to the Resurrection, the Mount of
Ascension, and the Gift of the Spirit.
It
was not so for those who took the original journey — even, it seems, to Jesus! who
understood the territory the road had to cross in a way that the disciples were
unable to grasp.
____ Pull the plug on it!
Keep
water out of GATS
Sparkling
or still: bottled water has become one of the ‘must have’ signs of our times.
Yet, more than one billion people still do not have access to safe water.
In
many poor countries around the world, governments and not-for-profit
organizations are making considerable progress towards the United Nation’s goal
of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by
2015.
Botswana’s water delivery has been in public
hands since the l970s. Their Water Utilities Corporation (VVUC) operates on
commercial principles and sets tariffs that allow a fair return on its
services. The number of houses serviced by WUC has risen
100 fold because the corporation has a policy of subsidizing poor communities
with profits from more affluent areas, so that poor households are not denied
clean water.
Successful
not-for-profit approaches to water delivery like this are being threatened by new proposals which form part of the General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS). ‘Water for human use’ is not currently covered by the
GATS, but the UK Government, as part of the European Union, is now pushing for
its inclusion. It wants 72 countries, including Botswana, to place their water services
under binding GATS rules. Critically, this will close the door to not-for
profit water delivery and hand water supplies over to big business.
“[Water] is a product which would normally be free and our job
is to sell it” Gerald Mestrallet, Suez Lyonnais.
Experience
indicates that big business cannot be trusted to guarantee such a basic human
need as water. They are unlikely to make the cuts in profits that are necessary
to ensure universal access to water. Privatization of Jakarta’s water system in Indonesia in 1997 has resulted in 82% price
rises over S years, and they are set to increase again. In January 2003,
hundreds of students protested against these crippling price rises, demanding
the cancellation of water privatization.
Florists - Garden &
Gifts
|
What we do that matters
We
have just come through the time in the Christian calendar of Lent - a period of
prayer, penance arid abstinence. At this time we hear a lot of people asking
“what have you given up? I find it difficult. The temptation is too much at
times.
But
is it what we give up, should it not be ‘what we do that matters’, like going
to church to give thanks to God for all that he has done, stopping for
those precious moments to pray to God even at the busy times, turning to help
all in need arid letting Gods love flow to all no matter whom they are, f or
they are all God’s people, his children arid God’s love is for all. Not an easy
thing to do. but what a wonderful gift. A gift
that brings peace to The world.
So
as we approach Easter, let us remember that God so loved the world he gave his
son Jesus to die on the cross. To take away our sins, to set
us free and rose from the grave.
He
is alive, He won the victory over sin.
It
is riot what we give up, it is what we do and
doing it in Gods wonderful love.
May
you know the joy of the Lord at Easter time and always.
Methodist Relief and development Fund
Twenty year old Siga. lives in the village of Njawara in Northern
Gambia. Three years ago, her
grandfather gave her one hectare of land to encourage her to stay and farm.
Since then, Siga has become determined to make a
livelihood out of her grandfather’s gilt. To help her achieve her aim, she
joined a training programme supported by Methodist Relief& Development Fund
partner, the Methodist Mission Agricultural Programme. This provided her with
the skills she needed to grow a di verse range of
crops and to take care of the soil and environment.
Just like many other farmers in Gambia and other African countries, Siga
will have to wrestle with changing climate patterns, varying harsh economic
conditions and the total dependence upon fanning fbr
livelihood and financial gains.
By
forming different partnerships~ such as the Methodist Mission Agricultural
Programme. the
MRDF provides for the resources and facilities to teach skills to many like Siga, so they can farm in a sustainable way which will
provide food for their families, help them sell produce at market and also
nurture the land.
They are taught to farm in
a sustainable way in an effort to win back the soil conditions which once
prevailed and enabled plants to grow. Pillage through ignorance, desperation
and market forces have been responsible for desolating the land and leaving
many parts barren.
Thirty six million people
die every year because they lack enough food for their daily requirements. 800
million people worldwide are chronically short of food. Each year 2 million
people migrate away from areas of environmental disaster in order to find
sufficient food for survival.
“Food Security is defined
in simple terms as “having secure and affordable access to food’. It’s ironical
that, most of the time, people do not go hungry due to lack of available food,
but, because they are too poor to either grow or buy enough to feed their
families. Most poor people try to earn a living by growing food. This means as
many as 80% of the population in some African countries are vulnerable to
climate and economic changes.
Since 1974, the MRDF, with its
partners, has endeavoured to work towards improving the “Food Security” for the
people in Africa at local levels. It has directed funding to where it
is most effective in providing the conditions where families are able to live
off the land, sustain it and make some financial gain
by selling off the surplus food. Where this has occurred, there is money for
treating the sick and educating~ the children.
Hence, the collections made
during two weeks in March, will, with
God’s blessing, contribute
to enhancing the quality of life of another
Siga.
Moira and Douglas
