Mozambique: MSF helping thousands
08 Apr 2021
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said they will continue to work around the clock assisting thousands of people evacuated from the shores of Palma after violent attacks by insurgents. At the seaport of Pemba MSF teams have been assisting refugees who are scared, traumatised, hungry and desperate. Project director Luiz Guimaraes said, ‘We have three mobile clinics around Pemba city. We provide for 400 to 450 consultations per day.’ He said that out of fear people fled, walking long distances on foot without food and shelter. Teams are also assisting with water and sanitation, as people need clean water to drink. ‘In this situation, they drink dirty water, and they have a lot of diseases caused by waterborne pathogens.’ He said that they had also implemented mental health services to help people cope with their traumatic experiences. Pray for God’s peace to comfort the refugees.
Thailand: fire season - more pollution
08 Apr 2021
It is fire season in Thailand, with hundreds of patches of farmland and forest ablaze in the north, belching toxic fumes into the atmosphere and poisoning the air. Tiny pollution particles caused an estimated 32,000 premature deaths in Thailand in 2019, according to a global report. Along with exhaust fumes and crop burning, smoke from the wildfires contributes to the problem. On the worst days this year, drifting smoke made Chiang Mai the most polluted city in the world. As the years go by, the pollution is getting worse. Each year, on average, northern Thailand has been swathed in smoke for eight weeks, causing thousands of health problems. In the first three months of this year 200,000 people in eight provinces have been made ill by toxic particles in the air, according to health officials. ‘Most of the people hospitalised already had chronic diseases,’ said the director-general of the ministry of public health.
Turkey: priest imprisoned for religious charity
08 Apr 2021
A Turkish court sentenced Syriac priest Father Sefer to two years and one month in prison on terrorism-related charges. This sentence comes just over a year after Father Bileçen was detained alongside twelve others on the charges of aiding the PKK, an internationally recognised terrorist organisation. Father Bileçen said, ‘Two members of the organisation came to the monastery asking for food, and I gave it. It was detected afterwards, and the gendarmerie commander met me through the metropolitan bishop. I did not deny it. I wanted security measures to be taken so that this would not happen again. But no security measures were taken.’ Nevertheless he thought the case was closed. Christians in rural Turkey are caught in the middle of the Turkey-PKK conflict and no matter how they respond - they lose. Religious charity is being criminalised.
Iran: alarm as pandemic numbers shoot up
08 Apr 2021
Iran is currently fighting a fourth wave of the pandemic, according to its health authorities, who announce horrifying rates on a daily basis. As of 6 April, the number of cities under a red alert hit 88, marking a sudden jump from 47 only two days before. One of the latest members of the red zone is the capital Tehran. Of the city’s 175 hospitals, 173 are dealing with Covid patients, whose population has grown by 100% since last week, fuelling fears that in a matter of weeks, if not days, hospitals will be overwhelmed. Over 90,000 nurses battling the pandemic on the poorly-equipped front lines have been infected by the virus. The rates are blamed on an easily transmissible new mutation, which was first identified in the UK and referred to as the British virus. The government traced the spiking rates to negligence of preventive measures during the two-week Persian New Year holidays that ended on 2 April.
Churches and cathedrals reopen for Easter
01 Apr 2021
Many churches and cathedrals which have remained closed throughout the recent lockdown are reopening in time for in-person worship during Holy Week and Easter - but online services and events remain at the heart of festivities. The stay-at-home rule has been replaced. Now up to two households of unlimited numbers, or up to six households of six people, can meet outdoors. The rector of Bath Abbey said, ‘We look forward eagerly to celebrating the life-renewing hope of Easter. It will be a great joy to celebrate Christ’s victory over death, as a church family back in the abbey once again - especially as we were unable to meet at Easter last year.’
Helping Nepalese disabled
01 Apr 2021
The following is part of an email: ‘We give thanks to God for the way the five-year community-based rehabilitation (CBR) project is going in a mountainous district of Nepal. In its first year it has already reached hundreds of people with disabilities and their families, helping them access services, including livelihoods and physical rehabilitation, and is slowly helping to change attitudes in the community so they are included with kindness and respect. C is planning a home assignment after two years without a break! Pray that his successor as leader will enjoy the work, want to stay, and adapt quickly to living remotely.’
Indonesia: grace of God
01 Apr 2021
Father Tulak was preaching at a Catholic cathedral in Indonesia when it was attacked by suicide bombers on Palm Sunday. He said God protected church members and guards, who were only two metres away from the bombers when they exploded. ‘What happened in my church is a personal testimony for the world.’ Indonesia is one the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nations. Christians in the area are unfortunately used to these types of attacks, especially during Christian celebrations. Please pray for the injured church guards, who are in a police hospital for protection.
Anti-Semitism in universities
01 Apr 2021
The Government formally adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance ’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, warned that universities faced funding cuts if they failed to adopt the definition by Christmas 2020. However, anti-Semitism is still allowed in British universities under the guise of Israel Apartheid Week: this means that it is operating in plain sight, with events taking place on taxpayer-funded campuses. These events (this year’s will be virtual) are designed to compare Israeli rule to apartheid in South Africa. See also