All The World (July 2010)

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 VoL 48 No 3

these pictures will

save lives HEALTH FLIP CHARTS MAKE VITAL INFORMATION FREELY AVAILABLE

Contents

small change, big deal

Contents India

W

HY do so many people find change difficult to deal with? I would have said that I cope well with change and even enjoy the variety it brings. But recent experience has shown me I’m no different to most people – I can get thrown by even the smallest of changes.

In January this year I changed desk. I didn’t move far – about three metres – but I now face the opposite direction to before. I didn’t think anything of it until the first time I sat in my chair at my new desk, ready to work.

It just felt wrong! My body wanted to turn round so that I faced towards St Paul’s Cathedral as I had for the previous five years.

Even now, six months on, I have to think carefully if I’ve been away from my desk to make sure I come back to the right one.

How silly is that? Same building, same floor, same layout and yet this small change completely threw me!

When I think about the other changes I’ve been through since becoming Editor of All the World back in January 1999 – constantly changing personnel at work, fatherhood (times two), moving away from Queen Victoria Street and back – this one is insignificant and yet it was, unexpectedly, more difficult to adjust to.

I don’t know why this is. It could be that this change affected me alone whereas others have been shared with colleagues or my

family. It may be that I didn’t register this as a change – more like ‘the same but slightly different’ – and so hadn’t prepared myself.

I’m genuinely puzzled!

Change is a constant feature in All the World. In one of my early editorials I wrote that I wanted All the World to show how God is using The Salvation Army to change people’s lives around the world. I believe the magazine still does this, as can be seen throughout this issue.

In India, women are being offered a way out of the red-light district, in Haiti the inhabitants of a Salvation Army emergency camp are being cared for, and flipcharts already in use in Malawi – with more countries set to use them – are helping people to live healthier, better lives. It appears that change can be a good thing! Perhaps there’s hope for me yet.

From the next issue, All the World readers are in for a change of their own. We’ve been working on a redesign that will, we hope, make a good thing even better. You’ll get more pages, new features and a fresh new look.

I encourage you to spread the word so that even more people can read about the amazing things happening through The Salvation Army.

Please let me know what you think. I certainly hope you’ll agree that, unlike my change of desk, it’s a change for the better!

3

Red-light district work is a labour of love

Tanzania

6

Parallel lives move from hurt to hope

Haiti Relief work moves forward little by little

Health

7

9

Flipcharts spread vital information

World Youth Convention

14

Event coordinator talks about what to expect

Refugees

16

From Africa to a new home in Australia

In the news

19

Recent happenings from the international Salvation Army

Visit All the World online at:

www.salvationarmy.org/alltheworld

Editor: Kevin Sims Artwork and design: Berni Georges Editorial Office: The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom Tel: [44] (0)20 7332 0101; fax: [44] (0)20 7332 8079 Email: IHQ-AlltheWorld@salvationarmy.org Founder: William Booth General: Shaw Clifton Editor-in-Chief: Major Laurie Robertson 2 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

Annual subscription from Salvationist Publishing and Supplies (periodicals), 66-78 Denington Road, Denington Industrial Estate, Wellingborough, Northants NN8 2QH, United Kingdom (United Kingdom £3.00, worldwide surface £3.50, worldwide airmail £4.50). Single copy 40p (UK), or from any Salvation Army headquarters. Published quarterly Published by Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army, and printed in Great Britain by Lithmark Ltd © The General of The Salvation Army 2010

India

... with

love

by Jonathan Hibbert-Hingston

I

T never fails to raise eyebrows when my ‘respectable’ friends ask, ‘Where have you been for the last three weeks?’ and I respond with something along the lines of: ‘Well I’ve been visiting the red-light districts of western India actually.’

In fact, since starting to work for The Salvation Army I have spent more time in red-light districts and slums than at any other time in my life. I love it and I will try to show why through the examples of women from three different cities in western India.

Since The Salvation Army was established its mission has been to reach the most forgotten and rejected people in society. Those for whom there is no support, no love and no future. There are few who meet the above criteria as well as the prostitutes of Mumbai, Maharastra and Gujarat.

My India journey starts in the hustle and bustle of Mumbai. There are around 20 million people in Mumbai and of these Above: Major Sunita Sunil Wagmare gives an Operation Christmas Child present to the daughter of a sex worker at a Salvation Army drop-in centre in Sangli

my guide and the Territorial Projects Secretary for India Western, explains that the women in this area are strictly controlled by their pimps so the Army has to approach the subject with care.

I turn to one woman, Smita, and ask her what she likes about the centre.

‘We like the fact that The Salvation Army is looking to the education and feeding of our children,’ she says. ‘We like coming here too – we experience the peace of Jesus.’

A little taken aback, I probe further: ‘Is this something you had experienced before?’

‘No,’ she says. ‘We are Hindus, we have come from the village, we have never heard of Jesus before.’

I discover that when Smita arrived in Mumbai she was sucked into an underworld of violence and entrapment.

Soon her daughter came to live with her and Smita panicked when she started

We are Hindus, we have come from the village, we have never heard of Jesus before 100,000 work in the sex industry. Many are thought to be held in their jobs against their will.

As we walk down a potholed alley the pungent fumes from an open sewer assault our senses and then mix with the alluring smell of curries as people cook their lunch.

We leave the mayhem of the street and walk into a tiny room with 15 or so women sitting on the linoleum floor. This is Jeevan Asha, a drop-in centre supported

by The Salvation Army’s United Kingdom Territory with the Republic of Ireland. The officer in charge, an incredibly gifted and committed woman, explains that the women present are all members of the centre, which provides care for their children while the women work, offering food and extra classes to help them through school. Major Benjamin Randive,

continued on page 4

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 3

India ... with love continued from page 3

asking what the women were doing on the street corner every night.

Smita turned to The Salvation Army and entered her daughter into a children’s home, the visiting regulations of which are tight. The officers in charge do everything they can to prevent the children entering the sex trade. Some children are even sent to homes in other towns for their protection.

The principle is similar in the hot and dusty town of Sangli. Here the UK Territory is funding an anti-trafficking programme. By offering food, health and education to children the Salvation Army team members build trust with their mothers. It works – since the project started they have helped 17 women leave the sex trade and have assisted 15 children to access high-school education. They are working with four people living with HIV and nine with TB. Other organisations are taking note and they are now key members of a committee of non-government agencies (NGOs) and government agencies tackling the problem of minors and trafficked workers in the town.

By offering food, health and education to children they build trust with their mothers At a meeting I attend there are more than 100 mothers and children present.

One child, Khusi, stands up and shares her thoughts. She describes the individual attention that the staff give to each and every child.

‘If we miss one day,’ she says, ‘a member of staff comes to the house to Above left: these boys from a Salvation Army children’s home in Pune were rescued from a red-light area; above right: this daughter of a sex worker attends a Salvation Army drop-in centre in Pune; left: Major Ted Horwood (International Projects Officer) and Major Benjamin Randive (Territorial Projects Secretary) with sex workers receiving literacy training in Mumbai

4 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

check up on us. They also take the sick to hospital.’

Her mother explains with a laugh that now the children are coming home and teaching their mothers to read and write.

As the staff describe their ambitious plans for the future and Operation Christmas Child boxes are given out (three months late but never mind!), there is a mood of hope. It is almost impossible for me to believe that in a few hours these beautiful women will be out on the streets offering their bodies for as little as 60 rupees (£1).

The mood in Satara, our next stop, is quite different. As reported in Rhidian Brook’s book More than Eyes Can See, Satara has a bit of a reputation in the sex trade. Women journey from all over southern and western India to work there and my guide, Major Randive, wants to introduce me to some of them.

At about nine o’clock in the evening we pull into a rather dark and grotty layby in the middle of the town. Slightly disorientated, I can just about make out a small group of elaborately dressed women illuminated under a solitary orange street light. An older woman comes running up

India

Above and above right: The Salvation Army is working with men, women and children living on the streets near its India Western Territorial Headquarters in Mumbai to stop people including this young girl from getting caught up in the sex trade in the nearby red-light district; right: children at a home in Mumbai where The Salvation Army provides care for street children and those whose mothers are involved in the sex trade

to the car, greets us and exchanges a few words with the major before shutting the door. We roar off in the car and, a few minutes later, we are sitting in a cafe surrounded by 15 ‘women of the night’ on an impromptu tea break.

Geeta, the older woman from the lay-by, turns out to be the girls’ ‘madam’.

There are no pimps here – instead, this woman looks out for the girls and helps to find them work.

I get the distinct impression from Geeta, who has been in the sex trade for 40 years, that she detests their way of life and wants to find a way out.

In her husky voice she tells us of two of ‘her girls’ who had been beaten up three days before by the police and were in hospital, of their landlords who were constantly threatening to evict them, and of the lack of any alternative to the sex trade. She tells us that people from The Salvation Army are the only ones who talk to them.

The Salvation Army does not currently have a project in Satara but Geeta begs us to come back and help with vocational training to give her and the other girls a way out.

Tea break over, we head back out to the orange-coloured gloom of the lay-by where I first saw Geeta and her girls.

The women insist on having multiple pictures taken before we are nervously ushered back to the vehicle by Geeta. I shudder as I see one of the girls, who could not have been more than 17 – the same age as my sister – negotiate with a man in a small car, nod and drive off with him.

I said at the beginning of the article that I love these visits, and I do – despite the awfulness of the situations I have seen.

Turning my back and driving away is painful considering what these women will be enduring night after night, but knowing there are people who do not turn their backs fills me with hope.

It is tremendously inspiring that there are dedicated staff, officers and fundraisers spending themselves on behalf of the hungry and working for the release of the ‘prisoners’ – including people trapped in a lifestyle they cannot escape on their own – one life at a time. It is a model of ‘faith in action’.

Jonathan Hibbert-Hingston works in the International Projects and Development Services Section of The Salvation Army’s International Headquarters JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 5

Tanzania

Esther (front) and Maria (right) with friends from Shukrani College

Young women come through suffering to meet and meet again at Salvation Army education facilities

M

ARIA and Esther could be twins, their lives have followed such amazingly similar paths.

Both experienced suffering as young children but now both young women are benefiting from ‘twin’ Salvation Army institutions in Tanzania which provide education for disabled students.

Esther is 21 years old. Born in 1989, the youngest of five children, she experienced the death of her father when she was five years old. Around this time she caught polio, which was not properly treated and left her with a permanent disability that means she is mostly confined to a wheelchair.

She grew up in Dar es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania, but she is a member of the Nyakusa tribe, which has by Major Chris Watson its base near Mbeya. Thanks to sponsorship from the Roman Catholic sitting in a sling on her mother’s back, her Church, Esther was able to attend The mother had a seizure and fell into the fire.

Salvation Army’s Matumaini School for As a result Maria’s left leg and face were the Disabled in Dar es Salaam. She started severely burned. She was treated in in 1997 and completed Standard 7 – the hospital but her leg was too badly end of primary education – in 2003. damaged to be saved and had to be Sadly in 2004 Esther became an amputated below the knee. At the same orphan with the death of her mother. She time her face was treated and ‘repaired’. attended a normal secondary school in She still has scars on her face which Dar es Salaam before being accepted restrict her facial mobility, though she can at The Salvation Army’s Shukrani smile a little. An artificial leg helps her to International College of Business get around.

Management and Administration in 2009, Thanks to the sponsorship of the where she is studying for her Lutheran Church in 1997 Maria – Diploma in Office Management She loves like Esther – was able to attend and Administration.

Shukrani ... The Salvation Army’s Matumaini She hopes that when she School for the Disabled in Dar es graduates from Shukrani she will because Salaam. She too graduated from work as an executive secretary or she feels Standard 7 in 2003. From there an office manager. safe there she was able to attend a Maria was born in 1990 in mainstream secondary school and Lupila village in the Iringa district of she passed her Form IV to complete her Tanzania – the other side of the country to secondary education in 2008.

Dar es Salaam. Her mother was already a In 2010 she was accepted to join widow by the time Maria was born.

Shukrani International College of Maria’s mother suffered from severe, Business Management and Administration untreated epilepsy – a condition that to study the first level of a three-year would have terrible consequences for her Diploma in Secretarial Studies. With the daughter. When Maria was two years old, happiness that came from being able to

friends reunited

6 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

study for a practical qualification that will help Maria find a good job came the unexpected joy of being reunited with her schoolfriend.

‘I was very surprised to see Esther when I came to Shukrani,’ says Maria.

Esther says she was ‘very happy’ to see her old friend at Shukrani.

Esther says she loves Shukrani because of the friends she has made, and because she feels safe there. Maria loves the gardens and ‘the environment’ and is enjoying her studies.

These two young women have much to look forward to thanks to the education and training they have received through The Salvation Army. Their journey has taken them from pain and despair to Matumaini, the ‘school of hope’, and on to Shukrani, the ‘college of thanksgiving’.

They thank God that the opportunities they have been given mean they can look to the future with both hope and thanksgiving.

Major Chris Watson is Principal of The Salvation Army’s Shukrani International College of Business Management and Administration

Haiti

small changes g als and

big

by Damaris Frick

T

HE eyes of the world don’t seem to be on Haiti any more. As I write, focus has moved on to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Football (soccer) World Cup. Don’t get me wrong, I worry about environmental damage and enjoy watching the World Cup but it seems amazing how quickly people have forgotten Haiti.

Football is big news in Haiti, even though the country did not reach the finals and despite the difficult circumstances people live in. In the earthquake emergency camp overseen by The Salvation Army in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince – appropriately in a former football arena – two small ‘cinemas’ had opened and the people have been able to watch the World Cup there.

For 90 minutes of a match, the tragic last months following the massive earthquake, the mud and the difficult living conditions are forgotten and the camp residents are like everybody else in the world, cheering for their team.

Everyone in Haiti seems to support Argentina or Brazil – there are flags and Top: a quick game on a patch of ground in the camp designated as a safe play area for children; above right: the beach football game between a Salvation Army team and a camp committee team

Football brought laughter, relaxation and team spirit T-shirts everywhere. I kept my eyes open but I couldn’t see any signs of support for my country, Germany. And it was even harder for my colleague Brad Watson from Australia – not only did his team lose 4-0 against Germany in their first game, most Haitians didn’t even know Australia were taking part!

To celebrate the World Cup we invited the camp committee and security members – the local people who help to keep order in the camp – to the beach for a game of football against a Salvation Army team. The Army team was well beaten!

It was a simple thing but the football brought laughter, relaxation and team

spirit and made life in the camp a little bit more bearable.

Apart from football-related changes there have also been some other improvements in the camp in the past few months, especially with regards to water, sanitation and health. Working with our partners, more toilets were constructed, some of which even feature colourful hygiene-promotion messages.

One hundred camp residents received training in first aid. They will be the first contact point for any sickness and injuries and will then be able to deal with minor cases themselves.

Other improvements include the starting of a proper drainage system and improved lighting in the camp.

But, despite football, toilets and more lights, life is still hard and pretty horrible in the camp. Months after the earthquake in January the camp is still home to 20,000 people. And with rains and the hurricane season soon to start, things may get even more challenging.

The situation in Port-au-Prince is still very difficult and some of the usual recovery techniques don’t work there. For instance, it’s difficult for The Salvation continued on page 8

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 7

Haiti small changes and big goals

Right: the rainy season brings new challenges to the camp; below: artwork on a toilet block gives important hygiene information

continued from page 7

Army to repair or rebuild people’s houses because hardly anyone in Port-au-Prince owns the land or the house they used to live in. We can’t erect temporary houses like we can in other parts of the country because there is no space to build them.

Moving people out of the city is also not a viable option as most people don’t want to move away from their

Life is still hard and pretty horrible in the camp

neighbourhood where they have their connections, relationships and little livelihoods.

The fact is that the people in our camp have nowhere else to go and there are no quick-fix solutions that would enable them to leave.

Some problems can’t be solved even with money or the best efforts.

This all means the camp is likely to exist for quite a while.

But that also means The Salvation Army will still be there with the residents, facing the never-ending challenges, trying to improve the situation little by little, bringing some hope and support.

Football is bringing some normality and joy to the people and our work in the camp is improving the situation to make their lives a little more dignified. But the reality of this work is also that some circumstances can not be fixed easily.

Sometimes living and working in disaster zones means persevering in a situation where we don’t seem to be able to make a lot of difference. However, our presence alongside the beneficiaries, our worrying with them about what the hurricane season might bring, even our shared frustration about the situation – all these shared experiences are making a difference in people’s lives. Even if it is only, for now, a small difference.

Damaris Frick is a member of The Salvation Army’s International Emergency Services team

An Army Needs an Ambulance Corps

by Harry Williams

SPECIAL PRICE

£5.00 (USUALLY £8.95)

Commissioner Harry Williams, a pioneering surgeon in India for 30 years, describes how Salvation Army medical work developed from basic health services in late 19th-century England, through two world wars and many ups and downs to the present day. He recalls the days of large Salvation Army hospitals in the developed world and explains how soaring costs and the ever-increasing need for specific technical skills – along with an improvement in government provision – changed the Army’s medical role beyond recognition.

Published jointly by Salvation Books (IHQ) and Crest Books (USA).

Send a cheque for £5.00 (made payable to ‘The Salvation Army’) to: Communications Section, The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom.

Price includes postage.

8 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

Health

P

REVENTION, so they say, is better than cure – and education is vital to both! So how do you provide health education in places like rural Africa, where education levels are minimal and many people can neither read nor write?

Back in the mists of time The Salvation Army was one of the sponsors of a health education programme, along with other agencies, that produced a book called Facts for Life. It is still being published and is on the WHO (World Health Organisation) website for anyone to use.

The book outlines facts that everyone should know about basic health education. Many of our Salvation Army corps (churches) and centres in Africa used this resource in the 1970s. Kenya particularly had a vibrant home league (women’s group) education programme based on the book.

When my husband, Major Dean Pallant, and I took up our appointments as International Health Services Coordinators in October 2007, we took on the challenge from our predecessors to try to resource the Army’s health programmes across the world.

A recent survey had asked how the health department could help territories and commands, and Malawi had asked for health education resources for their home leagues. Command President of Women’s Ministries Lieut-Colonel Diane Payne had previously been in an appointment in Kenya and had been involved in the Kenyan health programme, but had been unable to find in Malawi either the

Top: the cover illustration from the HIV/Aids flipchart; above: this picture is linked with information about the contraceptive implant

by Major Eirwen Pallant

show and tell All illustrations

by Mark Read

The majority of women can neither read nor write. The message therefore had to be conveyed in pictures resources they had used in Kenya or anything similar.

Rather than reinventing the wheel, we also looked for these resources. We found some for HIV/Aids and occasional other topics but no complete resource.

Malawi Command explained to us that they needed the resource for all their home leagues but especially wanted it for the home leagues at outposts. These outposts are usually very rural, with few facilities and are long distances f r o m a n y h e a l t h c a r e institutions.

Educational opportunities in these areas are also very few and the majority of women can neither read nor write. The message therefore had to be conveyed in pictures.

We found plenty of written information but few pictorial resources. So after a year of looking and asking others in the same field without success, we

decided the only option was to make our own. Tearfund kindly provided £10,000 for this project and so we started.

We decided to produce the information in the form of flip charts that could be produced in-country and taken around by trainers to various locations.

The charts would contain basic information and would help stimulate discussion.

The first task was to determine the base of our health education. Facts for Life has been tried and tested for more than 30 years and refined and updated over that time so we decided we would base our health education on this book.

Each flip chart covers a subject and in all there are 10: HIV/Aids; Breastfeeding; Diarrhoea & Hygiene; Malaria; Safe Motherhood; Coughs & Chest Infections; Immunisation; Nutrition & Growth; Injury Prevention; and Birth Spacing & Contraception.

The second task asked: How do we convey facts about health education messages in pictures and make them understandable and relevant to Malawian women?

The best people for this task were obviously the women of Malawi. So Lieut-Colonel Payne called together a continued on page 12

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 9

TRAINE R

’S PAGE

Left: Major Angela Hachitapika leads a workshop for trainers in Malawi; bottom: new trainers practise with the malaria flip chart at Birsoni Home League

‘We seek to put life-saving information into the hands of people who most need it’

10 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

TRA IN

ER’S

PAG E

Below left: community members from Birsoni, where training took place; bottom: Major Angela Hachitapika presents a certificate to a workshop participant

‘The home league has a longstanding tradition of incorporating education, worship, service and fellowship’

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 11

Health showandtell continued from page 9

group of women officers for the task.

We met with them, gave them a copy of Facts for Life and together decided which messages needed to be emphasised and what pictures would convey this message clearly, in a way relevant to daily Malawian village life.

That was the fun part – and it was fun, sharing together. Then came the hard work, producing the resource.

First came the pictures. Hiring a professional artist for the job was too expensive but then we remembered Mark, a young Salvationist, who was doing an art degree at a London college. He had also been to Malawi for two weeks with the UK Territory’s Journey Programme, helping to decorate a women’s refuge.

Mark was a godsend – he spent hours producing the artwork for minimal reward, and has willingly adjusted them as the flip charts have been refined.

The artwork is in a cartoon-like form and is colourful and bright to attract the attention.

Next came the text. Originally we found a writer to do this but unfortunately she moved to Thailand with her husband to work for the church there. So it fell to me.

We were keen for the education not to be in lecture-style, so with each picture we

12 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

ask people about what it says to them, their experiences of the issue, to get them to discuss it with each other and be involved.

Then there is a basic explanation of what is needed and why, and a summary at the end, emphasising the main message.

Jonathan Carmichael, a Salvationist graphic designer at UK Territorial Headquarters, set the text and pictures.

The pictures and text have been looked at by a team at each stage. Emails to Malawi and responses have been really helpful, as has input from staff at International Headquarters. Our researcher, Ben Cotterill, has coordinated all the responses to refine the finished article.

Production costs staggered us when we enquired for that which was needed.

So how could we do this in an affordable way, and how did we get them to the place they were to be used?

To have them produced in Malawi would obviously be ideal but facilities there are limited, so we did what often happens in the Army – we made a plan and did it ourselves.

Malawi Command is now the proud owner of an A3 colour printer, laminator and binder. Jonathan send the flip chart as an electronic file to Malawi and copies are produced as needed.

Two IHQ staff went out to Malawi to assist with a pilot trial. Ben went with Major Angela Hachitapika, a Zambian

Above: an illustration showing how mosquitoes spread malaria; below left: singing during a home league meeting – the training is integrated into the normal programme; below right: Ben Cotterill (right) with workshop participants including Command President of Women’s Ministries Lieut-Colonel Diane Payne (left) and a selection of flipcharts

officer who has a nursing background, to show a group of Malawian women officers how to use the flip charts. The Malawian officers then split into three groups, each taking a flip chart to a corps in the area to lead a home league.

Debriefing followed, with discussions on how the home leagues responded, what the officers felt about the flip charts and presenting them, and of course how they could be improved upon.

Needless to say there were further improvements which have since been incorporated.

Being convinced that health is not only about physical well-being, these resources are not meant for use alone. The home league has a longstanding tradition of incorporating education, worship, service and fellowship.

We are planning to produce home league programme outlines to go with these flip charts, putting the health education within the context of total health, the spiritual, mental and physical well-being for holistic health that The Salvation Army has always understood.

Health

MALAWI:

the trial

by Ben Cotterill

I

N October 2009 I was brought on to the International Health Services team at International Headquarters (IHQ) principally to coordinate the production of 10 health flip charts for Africa.

To achieve this task it was necessary to trial the resources in Malawi, an impoverished, landlocked country in southern Africa where there is growing momentum to treat and prevent HIV/Aids, malaria and tackle undernourishment. The reason for being in Malawi was to train 25 officers to engage with their communities in issues of health, giving life-saving information to those who most need it.

It was still mid-morning in Malawi when I arrived at The Salvation Army’s command headquarters in Blantyre, Malawi’s second city. The short trip from the airport brought a familiar sight of dirt roads, of passing women and children walking barefoot with water jugs, fuel wood, and other bundles. As I approached the training room I could hear the allf emale d elegatio n to the tr aining workshop singing in spine-tingling harmony as they anticipated the start of the training which I would help facilitate with Major Angela Hachitapika (IHQ).

The first three days of the training were spent becoming familiar with just three flip charts – HIV/Aids, Malaria and Nutrition & Growth. Produced in Chichewa, one of the main languages in

Right: Ben with home league members and their children; below: bright illustrations mean the flipcharts engage community members, making it easier to get information across

Malawi, the charts enable a facilitator to interact with a group of people through pictures. There is more text visible only to the facilitator, including questions and explanations to help communities to discuss the given topic. The officers made numerous constructive comments about how best to amend the text and pictures which I would convey to medical and design personnel back in London.

On the fourth day the delegation split into three teams with each given a topic to trial in a community. Major Angela, Lieut-Colonel Diane Payne (Command President of Women’s Ministries) and I

The reason for being in Malawi was to train 25 officers to engage with their communities each accompanied different teams as we drove our separate ways. My team headed for Birsoni Corps (church), a two-hour journey by car. My eyes were again transfixed on the bustling road scenes as people eked out survival from an unforgiving terrain.

‘Preventing Malaria’ was the topic for the home league at the corps and the nowtrained delegates ably took turns in facilitating discussion on the use of antimalarial bed nets and looking after their surroundings to discourage the presence

of mosquitoes – the carriers of the disease.

Many of those in possession of bed nets hadn’t been fully aware of their importance and had mentioned they had been useful for fishing and decoration in their homes!

On a personal note it was my honour to be the only man at a 100-strong home league meeting – and I reluctantly took the opportunity to show off some African dance moves, much to their delight and my embarrassment!

On the fifth day of the workshop the three groups evaluated the success of the field trial and what needed amending before prayer and farewells concluded our week together. In time I was able to send the amended flip charts to Malawi for them to be rolled out across the command through the home league.

Lieut-Colonel Diane Payne has since expressed numerous stories of misconceptions about HIV transmission being corrected in communities, of new up-to-date knowledge being received by communities who thought they knew everything there was to know about malaria and nutrition, and of the overwhelming success and appreciation of the communities that The Salvation Army serves.

The flip charts have since had strong interest from other territories in Africa who feel under-resourced in community health work and we are currently arranging the implementation on a much larger scale. Flip charts are now available in Swahili.

The beneficiaries of this project will be well into the tens of thousands, and that could be a conservative estimate.

Please pray for all involved as the logistics and funding come into place and as we seek to put life-saving information into the hands of people who most need it.

For more information on this initiative email IHQ-inthealth@salvationarmy.org JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 13

World Youth Convention

trulyglobal The World Youth Convention (WYC) taking place in Aula Magna, Stockholm University, Sweden, from 15 to 18 July this year promises to be The Salvation Army’s first truly global event. The 1,000 delegates – aged from 18 to 28 – will be joined online by an unlimited number of participants.

The theme for the event is ‘Raised Up’ and the focus is Salvationism. During the convention delegates will study and debate General Shaw Clifton’s book New Love, which includes contributions by writers from around the Salvation Army world.

It seeks to show that Christian holiness is relevant to every human situation, including the major global issues of the day.

All the World: Let’s start with an obvious question. What’s the World Youth Convention all about?

Colonel Birgitte Brekke: There will be 1,000 delegates from every Salvation Army territory and command in the world. Every country where the Army operates is included, including new openings. The young people will share fellowship and be inspired. We will talk about what God raised up The Salvation Army to be.

It’s not going to be a conference where we will end up with lots of recommendations for International Headquarters. Delegates from each territory will discuss between themselves the relevance of what 14 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

The event is being coordinated by Colonel Birgitte Brekke, a Danish Salvation Army officer who has served in Denmark, Norway, the UK, eastern Europe and as far afield as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Colonel Brekke spoke to All the World ahead of the convention and explained what is planned and what her hopes are for this international gathering.

they’ve learned. We want them to say: ‘How can we apply what we’ve heard?’

And we have chosen young people we believe will influence others when they get home.

We also hope delegates will discover more clearly God’s will for them. It’s about personal application.

AtW: So what is the advantage in having a world convention as opposed to national or territorial gatherings?

BB: Delegates will get a better understanding of each other’s situations, the circumstance others live in, the challenges they are facing.

Young people in the developed world face the challenges of materialism, the

pressure of having to do well, make money and be successful. In the developing world the challenges are ‘How do I survive?’, ‘How do I get an education?’

Personal relationships are important because when you meet people whose everyday situation is different to yours, suddenly it’s not about numbers or stories but real lives – they have a face.

It is also inspirational. The Salvation Army is growing in Africa and Asia. We hope to get some of that excitement to territories that are perhaps struggling.

AtW: How have the delegates been selected?

BB: They were chosen by their territorial commanders or officers commanding.

They also had to have recommendations from their corps officers (ministers) and

World Youth Convention divisional commanders. We had criteria – age group, their involvement in the corps (church) and their commitment to service upon return. There will also be some cadets and some young officers.

We hope to have an equal number of male and female delegates.

The number of delegates was determined by the number of soldiers in that territory. There will be a majority of Africans and Asians because that’s where you find the largest number of Salvationists.

The only issue will be whether embassies will approve visas, which can be a problem. We hope to have at least some representation from each country.

It’s been achieved on paper!

AtW: What are the delegates going to be doing?

BB: There will be spiritual meetings of course, times of worship and praise.

Then there will be main sessions – we will talk about commitment, sacrifice, discipline and justice. There will be many focus groups and workshops where we will look at issues such as poverty, what the Army is doing around the world when it comes to development and projects, emergency services, health services.

AtW: What else is happening?

BB: We have two pre-convention events.

The first is ‘Time to be Holy 458’, a two-week residential course at the Centre for Spiritual Life Development in London. Twenty-six delegates have been chosen for this event – an international group with all parts of the world represented. They will be together for two weeks of teaching on holiness.

We hope this could become a regular feature at the Centre for Spiritual Life Development – maybe on a yearly basis.

The group from ‘Time to be Holy 458’ will go on to ‘Time to Serve 24-7’ – two weeks of outreach in Denmark. Having spent two weeks concentrating on God and what holiness means, they will put it into practice on the streets of Denmark.

There will be outreach in the red-light district and also in a very deprived suburb of Copenhagen. The 26 delegates will be joined by the Danish delegation to the convention so there will always be someone who can translate.

AtW: Is anything happening online?

BB: All the sessions in the main venue at Aula Magna, Stockholm, will be broadcast live on the Internet through our website (www.raisedup.org).

We will talk about the Army’s stance on alcohol, about lifestyle choices – marriage as opposed to just living together. Should we be getting more into politics? If so, what role should we play?

Young people all over the world – in fact anyone who wants to – can watch the proceedings live, from the raising of the Salvation Army flag outside the centre to the meeting that concludes the whole thing on Sunday evening.

We will also look at how we can live together with people of other faiths – especially Islam.

There will also be live links to other groups of young people around the world. India Eastern Territory holds its

youth congress at the same time, with 4,000 young people attending, and we hope to connect with them. In New Zealand the Central Division is holding an all-night event so they can link with us. We also plan to link with London – at Poplar, close to where the Army started – with New York, USA, where Railton landed with seven Army ‘lasses’, and with South Africa, where the last international youth event took place in 1997.

We hope we will be truly global because that is possible now. It’s not necessary to bring everybody to Sweden. Anyone can be part of it and can still have their say.

AtW: So anybody can take part in online discussion?

BB: Yes. We have a discussion website (http://connect.raisedup.org). To take part you simply have to get one of the delegates to invite you.

AtW: When the WYC’s over, is there a particular outcome you’re hoping for so you can say the event was a success?

BB: If the young people leave with a commitment of service to God and the Army. We hope some delegates will make the decision to become soldiers and some will decide to become officers.

The Army is still growing, moving into new countries, and officers are needed if we are to carry on growing.

We also want the young people to leave with a renewed sense of optimism and also a sense of belonging to the international Salvation Army. We want to focus on the good, the positive, the special purposes for which God raised up The Salvation Army. We think we have a unique role to play within the Church worldwide.

AtW: It’s getting close now. Are you excited?

BB: I am – it will be great! We know God will move hearts and minds to make us on fire for our mission. I can imagine 1,000 young people representing the Army from around the world, singing and praising God together. It’s going to be amazing!

Left: Oslo Temple dance troupe – one of the WYC arts teams; above: the main convention venue

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 15

Refugees

Photos by Shairon Paterson

finding freedom from fear

The subject of refugees is an emotive one. Around the world misunderstanding can lead to feelings of resentment towards refugees, many of whom have escaped terrible situations. In Australia, an annual Refugee Week (this year June 20-26) seeks to address how people look on refugees. This year’s theme – and the theme for 2009 and 2011 – is Freedom from Fear. As part of Pipeline magazine’s focus on Refugee Week, Simone Worthing spoke to refugees who have found a welcome at Auburn Corps (Salvation Army church) in Sydney. The corps is a spiritual home to people from more than 23 different nations, including many refugees. Many of the corps’s ministries are designed to address refugees’ spiritual, emotional, material and legal needs.

16 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

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HE United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) defines a refugee as: ‘Any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country.’

When refugees flee they are forced to abandon everything they know and love.

They are separated from family members, lose belongings and are left with little or no money. Some are traumatised by their

Refugees experiences. Many spend years in camps, lost in no-man’s-land while their fate is decided. Most have no idea what kind of future awaits them.

In seeking refuge in another country, refugees are hoping to find freedom from fear and simply want the opportunity to lead a normal life, as part of a community, where they can live in safety and security, find work and send their children to school.

Johari

visa to come to Australia. I arrived on 5 May 2005. I just thanked the mighty Lord for bringing me from Africa to Australia in one piece.

My case worker helped me get set up in Australia. Life was changing, there was hope. I could see that life in Australia was good. The first two years were very hard for me, though. I thought constantly about my children back in Congo, worried about them, and had flashbacks all the time about what we’d seen and experienced in Africa.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

MY NAME IS JOHARI and I am a mother of eight children: four boys and four girls. We come from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

When the war started in my country in November 1996 my family and I were living in a small town called Baraka. We were terrified of the soldiers who were carrying machine guns, killing people, and raping women and girls. We escaped to the island of Ubwari. After a year there we decided to return home.

The second Congo war started in 1998. Again the soldiers came shooting and raping, and we had to escape. We all just ran from wherever we were at the time the shooting began. I grabbed my three youngest children and yelled at the older ones to run away as fast as they could.

The next two years were dark and desperate ones for me. My husband died, also in 1998, and I didn’t know where my older children had escaped to, or even if they were still alive.

In 2000 we left Congo for Tanzania and eventually arrived at Lugufu, a refugee camp where we lived for five years. Life was very difficult. We lived in a small tent without enough food, water or medical care. We only stayed there to save ourselves from being killed by the rebels.

Through a miracle from God I got a job in the camp with World Vision as a Christian outreach worker. With my very small salary I could buy food and clothes for my children, and also help other children whose parents were lost in the war. I prayed that someone would be helping my kids too, wherever they were.

God continued to work miracles in my life and in March 2005 I was granted a

When refugees flee they are forced to abandon everything they know and love

My case worker, through his contacts, was helping me try to find my children. We have also been working with some legal people associated with The Salvation Army to bring my children to Australia.

God worked more miracles in my life in 2007 – one of my missing sons was found and he came to Australia in July of that year. Four months later, we found out that the other children were alive and in Uganda. I can’t explain the incredible joy, the sheer relief that flooded me. Now I had peace, and the energy to start studying English.

This year, three more children will join me in Australia, and then there is only one left – my eldest son who is living in South Africa and is married with two sons of his own. I am a grandmother!

I would like to thank the Lord and all those who prayed for my reunion with my children. People at The Salvation Army have been especially good to me.

They help and encourage me so much.

We really like Australia. It is a good country and offers so many opportunities to help us build our future. My children and I are all studying. I am studying childcare, working part-time and trying to improve my English. I pray that one day we will all find jobs here.

My source of strength is expressing my gratitude to the Lord and walking in his steps. He is the only one who leads me. I hold onto Ephesians 3:20: ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever.’ continued on page 18

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 17

Refugees finding freedom from fear

morning we crossed into Guinea. We could no longer stay in Sierra Leone.

In Guinea, we lived in camps for nine years. Because we couldn’t speak their language, French, we were mistreated. As refugees we couldn’t get work so were just given rations of wheat and oil. I tried to do whatever odd jobs I could, just to survive.

It was a miracle when we found out that our relatives in Australia were looking for us. We thought they were dead! I remember our interviewer telling us that we were going to Australia; I was just crying and could hardly speak for all the emotions running through me.

The day we left for Australia was the best day of my life. It is so good here; it has brought us life and peace.

It is hard here, though, for me to find a job. I face racism sometimes in applying for work – people see my

continued from page 17

Philip SIERRA LEONE

Sierra Leone is so rich in natural resources but it’s been ripped apart by people trying to get wealthy illegally, and by years of war, terrible violence and bloodshed.

People came to Sierra Leone in 1990 and 1991 to mine our valuable diamonds illegally and take the money out of our country. Then rebels started coming in and attacking people. They killed so many and it was very bad.

The government soldiers didn’t help; they were fighting for themselves to get rich. They did many terrible things, and allowed other violence to happen. They cut off people’s hands, cut babies from their mothers’ wombs – they would take babies and pound them to death the same way they pounded flour. Most of my family died during the wars.

The non-government organisations (NGOs) were trying to stop the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) which is a deeply ingrained part of our culture. My wife was working with an NGO trying to stop FGM. Supporters of FGM were stirring up strong national feelings and anti-Western sentiment.

Attacks against anti-FGM workers were increasing. My wife was attacked with a group of others, including her cousin. They were all taken into the bush and violently assaulted. Some of them bled to death. When I tried to rescue my wife I was stabbed in the hands and arms.

We gave the women what first aid we could that night, and then early the next

name, know I am from Africa and won’t give me a chance.

We want to build a life here and be good citizens of Australia. We are ready and want to work. My wife is pregnant and I want to support my family. I just need to stay positive – one day I will get a job.

Racism can be a problem here. When I get on a bus, sometimes people try to take up a whole seat or put their bags on spare seats so they don’t have to sit next to me.

We are very thankful, though, for all the support, love and encouragement we have been given. We are so thankful that we have found people like those we meet at The Salvation Army. We thank God for you people.

When I tried to rescue my wife I was stabbed in the hands and arms

Article reprinted with permission from Pipeline magazine

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18 ALL THE WORLD JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010

Prices quoted include postage if purchased from Salvation Books at International Headquarters.

Please send a cheque made payable to The Salvation Army and addressed to: Salvation Books – Attention: Debbie Condon The Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom.

Salvation Books publications can also be purchased from Amazon.co.uk

in the news AUSTRALIA

It is feared that many young and vulnerable women will have been trafficked from other African countries to South Africa – and within the country itself – for the World Cup and forced to work in the sex trade, which took advantage of thousands of visitors to the country.

The vuvuzelas were one of a number of items having an anti-trafficking message, with others including footballs, water bottles and red cards. They all featured a toll-free number that people could ring if they were suspicious that trafficking had taken place or if they were a victim of trafficking.

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de Other schemes for the World Cup included kids clubs and soccer clinics through which children were taught how to keep safe.

Mission teams from Australia and the USA also played their part, joining with the crowds to speak to people and spread the good news of the gospel.

PrAYer CALLS to SePtember 2010

The Salvation Army’s Southern Africa Territory used the noisy horn for good, however, by giving out vuvuzelas that carried a warning about the dangers of human trafficking.

!

Vuvuzelas are a common sight (and sound) in football (soccer) games in South Africa but their use in the World Cup caused some controversy, with players complaining they could not hear the referee’s whistle and TV fans driven to distraction by what sounded like the world’s largest swarm of angry bees!

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‘Any initiative that can increase the availability of services for those in need,’ he said, ‘is a really welcome development.’

SOUTH AFRICA The Salvation Army played a part in one of the talking points of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup. The tournament – the first World Cup finals to be held in Africa – will be remembered for many things, chief among these being great goals, controversial decisions and love-themor-hate-them plastic trumpets called vuvuzelas.

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These include people who are deemed too well off to need legal aid but who, says Gary, ‘can’t afford the AUS$300 an hour charged by law firms’.

An Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) report into the new scheme highlighted its importance. Associate Professor Ben Saul, Sydney University, told a TV reporter that Salvos Legal addresses a real need.

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‘It will help with social equity,’ he explains, ‘so it’s not just the rich who have a choice of lawyers, and it will help those who don’t fit in with the current system.’

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Salvationist lawyer Luke Geary says the service will not compete with Legal Aid or community legal centres for government funding.

He adds that the set-up will deal with more than legal needs: ‘We want to treat our clients holistically and can also address issues such as addiction, homelessness, financial management and employment through internal referrals.’

G RE M 20 AT E % N PR BI E IC G W E GE FE R AT UR ES

The scheme – called Salvos Legal – will initially operate out of Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra. It will fund its free legal service by also taking on paid commercial work.

From october ...

SA

The Salvation Army in Australia is working to establish a self-funded legal service for the poor and marginalised, says a report in the Australian Warcry magazine.

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY

For further information and to see these posters in more detail go to www.salvationarmy.org JULY–SEPTEMBER 2010 ALL THE WORLD 19

Peace in our time, O Lord , to all the peoples – peace!

Peace surely based upon thy will and built in righteousness.

Thy power alone can

break the fetters that enchain the

sorely stricken soul of life, and make it

live again.

(John Oxenham)

cAll to PrAYer ‘They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.’

SundAY 19 SePtember 2010

Micah 4:3 New International Version

‘Once again The Salvation Army is calling its people to prayer for peace.

The nation of Papua New Guinea has set an example in some of its towns and villages. People have exchanged their weapons for Bibles, with the encouragement of The Salvation Army. Pray for our Army of peace, our Army without guns, that we might set an example of peace in the world.’

(General Shaw Clifton)