UnitingWorld Update Issue 1, 2020

UnitingWorld

UPDATE ISSUE 1 2020

“Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project, not to snatch people away from earth to heaven, but to colonise earth with the life of heaven.”

- NT Wright

UnitingWorld is the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. Together we work for a world where lives are whole and hopeful, free from poverty and injustice. Because every person matters.

THANK YOU

THE LIFE OF HEAVEN Attika has been to hell and back. Many of you know her story: her village was destroyed in conflict between Muslims and Christians in 1999; she lived for years as a refugee before returning to a community shattered by suspicion, resentment and economic ruin.

Last year, Attika (pictured on cover) painstakingly built a new home with $5 weekly savings from a small business our partners helped her establish.

It was then destroyed in a series of earthquakes.

She lives today in its shell with her daughter, waiting for the chance to rebuild.

Here’s where this story has a new and delightful twist: Attika has also become our church partner’s newest Emergency Team volunteer. Connecting with the Protestant Church in Maluku through livelihood training among a group of Christian and Muslim women, Attika is now a vital part of the volunteer effort.

Together, the team deliver food, clean water and

Attika with other volunteers from our partner church providing disaster relief to rural villages around Ambon.

emergency supplies to those hardest hit by last year’s earthquakes on the island. They’re also checking in on people isolated by COVID 19.

in mind. Absolute dedication to each other in the midst of suffering; the ability to love beyond boundaries; the promise of redemption.

“I could never have believed something like this would happen to my home,” Attika told us. “I am so, so sad to see it. But working with the team at Sagu Salempeng Foundation (our church partner organisation) helps me forget my pain and makes me so happy! I have found something to keep me strong.”

Attika refuses to give in to despair, and nor does she long for release. For her, there’s heaven to be found here and now, among the living.

When NT Wright spoke of “colonising earth with the life of heaven”, surely this is what he had

Thanks to all who’ve been part of Lent Event this year. Your gifts are very much needed to continue this vital project, building peace while giving people the chance to increase their incomes and overcome poverty.

YOUR 2019 LENT EVENT GIFTS IN ACTION! Our staff have just returned from critical training sessions with IPTL, our partner in Timor-Leste.

They’re delighted to report that more than 17 teachers took part in new training to implement strategies that protect children against violence, including verbal abuse. As a result: •

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Attendance in Sunday School is up among children and their parents Education and awareness among community leaders is increasing

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Seven focal point workers to keep child protection on the agenda have been newly appointed.

Cycles of poverty and violence are deeply entrenched within Timor-Leste, and you’re playing a critical role in shaping the future for a whole new generation.

Thank you Find out more online about the impact of your Lenten gifts at www.unitingworld.org.au/news

EASTER HAS COME AND GONE! ARE YOU FORGETTING SOMETHING? If you’re yet to return funds you raised from an Everything in Common stall – now is the time!

We need your help to be able to roll out funding for the projects you’re so faithfully supporting. Thanks so much!

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UNITINGWORLD UPDATE

WHAT WE’RE ACHIEVING TOGETHER

INDONESIA How to create a ‘Model Village’ Imagine two groups – one male, one female – crouched around a sheet of butcher’s paper.

In regional Bali, Indonesia, village members have been asked to note on the image of a large clock what their activities are throughout the day, with men and women commenting on each other’s use of time. And the results are fascinating.

“Activities like this help illuminate the differences between men and women, and motivate people to take action,” says Associate Director, Jane Kennedy. “Throughout Indonesia, women are still often regarded as home makers, ‘overly emotional’ and without the capacity to make decisions or offer community leadership.

The result is financial dependency, unequal sharing of domestic tasks, untapped potential and the risk of unchecked violence.”

Your support helps our partners provide health education and services for women and their families in rural Bali.

We’ve heard your commitment to women and men as equal partners in God’s world, and your dreams for healthy and hopeful communities.

approach our partners call “The Model Village”.

We co-operate with a range of donors to address gender justice, health, water, sanitation, education and income development concurrently with the input of all members of the community.

Your funding is helping elevate more women into positions of leadership on committees that design and apply for community grants; it’s providing communities with knowledge about how to protect children and other vulnerable people; it’s giving access to innovation like selling locally-produced tea, coffee or handicrafts online. The Model Village works!

Through our partner the Protestant Church of Bali, we’ve been using your gifts help fund an

We want to keep the work strong as Balinese communities struggle with the impact of

INDIA

COVID-19. Heavily reliant on tourism, the economy and health systems are both at risk of being decimated and plunging vulnerable communities further into poverty.

Your gifts are making it possible.

If you have a particular heart for this work and the wellbeing of our close neighbours, please consider making a special donation via the attached slip or by visiting www.unitingworld.org.au/donate

Freedom to dream

Jaya is a 13-year-old girl from a small village of 300 people in rural Punjab, India.

Her father died when she was four and her mother couldn’t afford to raise her, so she left Jaya with her grandmother. Jaya’s grandmother works as a cook, and over the years it became increasingly difficult for her to look after a growing child by herself.

Jaya began studying in a local government school, but the standard of education was poor and when she returned home there was no one who could help her with homework or give her care and attention. With the absence of proper health and hygiene conditions in the village, she often fell ill.

In 2017 our partner church connected Jaya with the girls’ hostel project we support, which was set up to help vulnerable girls access high quality education, accommodation and care during the school term.

Jaya has freedom to dream at the Church of North India’s hostel project.

When Jaya arrived, she was poor in health and lagging way behind in her studies. Spending time with other girls in the hostel encouraged her to stick to her studies until they started to improve. Each year, her grades have gone up, and she now loves having the time to be able

to play outdoor games, dance, create art and participate in all the group activities at the hostel.

“Jaya is so loving and respectful towards others,” says the project manager Rev Samantaroy. “Her health has also improved due to the monthly medical checkups and regular health education sessions at the hostel. She now dreams of becoming a policewoman when she grows up.”

Jaya’s story is an example of how, with proper care and nutrition, access to quality education and a loving environment, young girls can explore their true potential and work towards their dreams.

Thank you for supporting this life-changing project run by our partners in India.

ISSUE 1 2020

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PRAY FOR ZIMBABWE Between 2018 and 2019, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Zimbabwe rose from 29% to 34%.

That’s an extra million people living on less than $1.90 a day in just the space of a year.

An El Nino-influenced drought and Cyclone Idai has reduced agricultural production over several seasons, worsening the situation across many rural areas. The economic contraction has caused a sharp rise in prices of food and basic commodities and one tenth of rural households currently indicate they are going without food for a whole day. The unemployment rate has been estimated at 90%.

In rural Zimbabwe, agricultural production has been ravaged by drought and Cyclone Idai, making staple foods expensive and forcing many to go hungry.

All of these pressures are exacerbating problems for the most vulnerable in Zimbabwe, creating higher rates of human trafficking, child abuse, gender-based violence and discrimination against people with disabilities.

Our partners the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe (MCZ) and its relief and development agency, the Methodist Development and Relief Agency (MeDRA) play a vital role in serving their communities and advocating for the people in national politics.

Despite the huge challenges, the Zimbabwean people remain generous and resilient.

We continue to support their work and stand with them during these extremely hard times.

Please pray for Zimbabwe and the work of our church partners there.

You can read a letter we received from our partners on World Prayer Day at www.unitingworld.org.au/news

NOTES FROM THE NATIONAL DIRECTOR Recently I visited Sri Lanka, where I was born and had my early childhood.

I was there with my mum for family stuff, but I took the chance to catch up with the leadership of the Methodist Church, who have a strong presence throughout the country.

“What exactly is the Prayer Department?” I asked when I saw it on the organisational chart.

The answer was an introduction to two women. Shy and softly spoken, one of them read from a script she’d written, and the other quietly asked that her story be told for her.

They both spoke of personal tragedy; of loss and death and plans come undone. But it’s from this experience of pain that they’ve both discovered the power of prayer and they’ve committed themselves to nurturing it as widely as possible.

The Methodist Church of Sri Lanka (MCSL) has a serious commitment to being a prayerful

church. These two women lead a program of initiatives to inspire and educate communities across the country, calling people to their knees. They also personally support the leadership in prayer, being available to pray with or for people in complete confidence.

I don’t know why I find this so deeply moving.

It’s not a story of outcomes and impact.

But I think it was George MacDonald who suggested that prayer is like a child coming to her mother because she feels hungry. The child thinks she needs food; what she really needs is her mother.

Please, if you’re able, do make a special gift to support our work in work in Sri Lanka, Maluku, Bali, India, Zimbabwe and around the globe. Right now people everywhere are hurting, and we need each other more than ever.

In love and hope,

That hits home. Four years ago, when I first met the current MCSL President, I asked him why their church was experiencing renewal, and he said to me, “Oh, we started praying.” Truth!

Please continue to pray for our partners, many of whom are dealing with COVID-19 in extremely difficult circumstances. In times of global crisis, people in poverty are always hit in the most devastating ways.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @UnitingWorld UnitingWorld is an agency of the Uniting Church in Australia.

Dr Sureka Goringe, National Director, UnitingWorld

This newsletter was printed using vegetable-based inks on paper that was sustainability-sourced from plantation forests.

UnitingWorld PO Box A2266, Sydney South NSW 1235 info@unitingworld.org.au ABN 16 939 630 947 Telephone 1800 998 122 www.unitingworld.org.au