Archive for the 'Asia' Category

Uganda Roundtable - deadline extended!!

Published
by
Editor
on March 19, 2008
in Africa, Asia, Europe, GENERAL, Latin America, Middle East, Newsletter, North America, REGION RELATED, events, needs and opportunities and news
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The Refugee Highway Partnership Roundtable in Entebbe, Uganda, will be held on June 18 - 22, 2008.

The application deadline is now extended until Monday, March 31, 2008.

See below for more details and to download application. For any questions, contact Linda Moorcroft at Linda_Moorcroft@christiestreetrc.com.

The Refugee Highway Partnership was launched at a historic Consultation in 2001 in Izmir, Turkey. Nearly 200 church leaders from around the globe gathered to build connections, collaborate, and develop strategies to respond to the incredible need of refugees in our world. Since then, annual leadership meetings and roundtables have been held to continue to build and grow the partnership. The RHP’s mission is to mobilize the worldwide church to bring hope and provide refuge for over 30 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world through collaborative strategies. For more information about the RHP visit our website at: http://refugeehighway.net

The Uganda Roundtable, hosted by the Association of Evangelicals of Africa (AEA) – a member of the World Evangelical Alliance – has been designed for participants to:

> Learn more about the RHP and ways to engage their church in refugee initiatives
> See first-hand the impact of refugee movements and internally displaced persons in the host country
>Partner with the African church through prayer, encouragement and engagement
> Participate in World Refugee Sunday celebrations in a “hotspot” in our world

Roundtable Participants:
Our target participants are strategic church leaders which includes pastors, denominational leaders, mission body representatives, and para-church organization leadership. We are intentionally capping the number of participants to allow for strong connections to take place. Our goal is to limit total attendance to approximately 60 to 80 people. The Africa region (as host) will have 10 to 15 church leaders from across Africa in attendance. Other regions and issue group areas have room to include approximately 5 to 10 leaders. Our goal is to involve decision makers who have the motivation, the influence and the ability to mobilize church involvement in refugee ministry when they return; leaders who have had some prior exposure to refugee issues and for whom this event could be the catalyst to greater involvement; and influencers who will share what they learn at this event to engage others.

Draft Schedule:
Wednesday, June 18 - Participants arrive
Thursday, June 19 - Full Day Session
Friday, June 20 - Site Visit to Kampala
Saturday, June 21 - Full Day Session
Sunday, June 22 - Refugee Sunday Celebrations

Monday, June 23, Tuesday, June 24 - Optional site visit to Northern Uganda

The schedule is being designed for optimum learning, listening, engaging, and connecting.

Location:
Imperial Botanic Beach Hotel in Entebbe, Uganda.

The hotel is located just 10 minutes from the international airport in Entebbe and provides free airport shuttle service. The hotel is considered one of the finest meeting facilities in Uganda and boasts visits from both U.S. Presidents Clinton and Bush. More information about the hotel is available at: Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe, Uganda

Optional site visit to Northern Uganda:
Participants will have the opportunity to visit a refugee camp – to view the programs and conditions and to engage with personnel and people living in the camp.

Cost:
Approximately $100 per day for full room and board, local transportation and use of meeting facilities. Travel costs to and from Uganda are in addition.

This is an invitation-only event. Applications to attend can be downloaded below:
APPLICATION (Adobe)
APPLICATION (Word)

Please return this form by: Monday, March 31, 2008. You will be notified if your registration is accepted. Please DO NOT reserve flights or make other arrangements unless your reservation is accepted.

For questions, contact Linda Moorcroft of the Refugee Highway Partnership at Linda_Moorcroft@christiestreetrc.com

Sincerely,

RHP Leadership Team

Sri Lankan refugees in India

Published
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Editor
on March 10, 2008
in Africa, Asia, news and prayer requests
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Ruki Fernando’s personal impressions of Sri Lankan refugees in India:

“Are we the ones to bear this shame, are they the sacrifice”

I remembered John Denver’s passionate song dedicated to the refugees called “Fallen leaves”, as I sat in the Chennai airport, trying to make sense of what I had seen and heard and my own feelings, recalling my visit to Sri Lankans who had fled to India in fear of their lives and live in camps as refugees. One of the lines from the song that kept coming back to me was what I had put as the title to this reflection.

At the airport, I myself felt a bit of a refugee, having come to the airport from an overnight bus. It had not been an easy journey, traveling by a night train, and spending the day at the store house that now serves as a home to 26 families, and then taking an overnight bus back, straight to the airport. And several other train, bus and auto rides in between. But I guess the difficulties in my journey pales when compared to the journeys that the people I met had undertaken, on makeshift boats, often overcrowded. Mine had certainly been a journey by choice, taking advantage of attending a conference in Chennai, while they had not much choice in undertaking the journey, the choice of fleeing to India and remaining in Sri Lanka having being one of life or death.

Read the rest of his report here.

NZ refugees and mental health screenings

Published
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on February 27, 2008
in Africa, Asia, Refugee Training and news
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Refugees will soon be screened for mental health problems before they get to New Zealand in an effort to reduce the chance of “surprises” such as last week’s attempted aircraft hijacking by a Somali woman.

A review of New Zealand’s refugee resettlement system by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers is believed to recommend mental health assessments at “point of source”, and intensive case management for traumatised refugees for at least two years.

The Labour Department refused to comment on the report yesterday because it “has yet to be finalised”.
Read full report.
By Simon Collins with the New Zealand Herald, 02/12/08.

Inviting you to the Roundtable in Uganda

Published
by
Editor
on February 27, 2008
in Advocacy, Africa, Asia, Europe, GENERAL, Latin America, Middle East, North America, REGION RELATED, RESOURCES, Refugee Training, events, ministry tools, needs and opportunities and news
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Refugee Highway Partnership Roundtable in Entebbe, Uganda


June 18 - 22, 2008

The Refugee Highway Partnership was launched at a historic Consultation in 2001 in Izmir, Turkey. Nearly 200 church leaders from around the globe gathered to build connections, collaborate, and develop strategies to respond to the incredible need of refugees in our world. Since then, annual leadership meetings and roundtables have been held to continue to build and grow the partnership. The RHP’s mission is to mobilize the worldwide church to bring hope and provide refuge for over 30 million refugees and internally displaced people around the world through collaborative strategies. For more information about the RHP visit our website at: http://refugeehighway.net

The Uganda Roundtable, hosted by the Association of Evangelicals of Africa (AEA) – a member of the World Evangelical Alliance – has been designed for participants to:

> Learn more about the RHP and ways to engage their church in refugee initiatives
> See first-hand the impact of refugee movements and internally displaced persons in the host country
>Partner with the African church through prayer, encouragement and engagement
> Participate in World Refugee Sunday celebrations in a “hotspot” in our world

Roundtable Participants:
Our target participants are strategic church leaders which includes pastors, denominational leaders, mission body representatives, and para-church organization leadership. We are intentionally capping the number of participants to allow for strong connections to take place. Our goal is to limit total attendance to approximately 60 to 80 people. The Africa region (as host) will have 10 to 15 church leaders from across Africa in attendance. Other regions and issue group areas have room to include approximately 5 to 10 leaders. Our goal is to involve decision makers who have the motivation, the influence and the ability to mobilize church involvement in refugee ministry when they return; leaders who have had some prior exposure to refugee issues and for whom this event could be the catalyst to greater involvement; and influencers who will share what they learn at this event to engage others.

Draft Schedule:
Wednesday, June 18 - Participants arrive
Thursday, June 19 - Full Day Session
Friday, June 20 - Site Visit to Kampala
Saturday, June 21 - Full Day Session
Sunday, June 22 - Refugee Sunday Celebrations

Monday, June 23, Tuesday, June 24 - Optional site visit to Northern Uganda

The schedule is being designed for optimum learning, listening, engaging, and connecting.

Location:
Imperial Botanic Beach Hotel in Entebbe, Uganda.

The hotel is located just 10 minutes from the international airport in Entebbe and provides free airport shuttle service. The hotel is considered one of the finest meeting facilities in Uganda and boasts visits from both U.S. Presidents Clinton and Bush. More information about the hotel is available at: Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel, Entebbe, Uganda

Optional site visit to Northern Uganda:
Participants will have the opportunity to visit a refugee camp – to view the programs and conditions and to engage with personnel and people living in the camp.

Cost:
Approximately $100 per day for full room and board, local transportation and use of meeting facilities. Travel costs to and from Uganda are in addition.

This is an invitation-only event. Applications to attend can be downloaded below:
APPLICATION (Adobe)
APPLICATION (Word)

Please return this form by: Friday, March 7, 2008. You will be notified if your registration is accepted. Please DO NOT reserve flights or make other arrangements unless your reservation is accepted.

For questions, contact Linda Moorcroft of the Refugee Highway Partnership at Linda_Moorcroft@christiestreetrc.com

Sincerely,

RHP Leadership Team

Report from Sri Lanka, RHP-Asia, Feb. 08

Published
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Editor
on February 26, 2008
in Asia, news and prayer requests
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Refugee Ministry in South Asia

During 2007, intervention of the Alliance Development Trust impacted over 8,000 IDP and refugee families in Sri Lanka. (The Alliance Development Trust, or ADT, is the relief and development arm of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, NCEASL.)

The refugee situation in Sri Lanka interconnects with number of South Asian countries. Because Sri Lanka has been experiencing civil war for the last 3 decades, over 1 million Sri Lankans have left the country to seek refuge in North America and Europe. The encouraging fact is that most of the refugees in Europe and North America were able to establish local congregations, and then support the congregations in Sri Lanka. NCEASL plans to initiate a networking project with the Sri Lankan Diaspora churches to raise awareness on the Sri Lankan situation. It also aims to build bilateral partnerships with Diaspora church and the local congregations, to equip and strengthen the churches on both sides.

Refugees in India
Estimates report that over 65,000 Sri Lanka refugees are housed in 133 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu, India, and that over 40,000 Sri Lankans live outside these refugee camps. In the last 18 months alone, over 9,000 people have crossed the Sri Lankan borders seeking refuge in India.
Most of the refugees are poor farmers, laborers and fishermen. To pay their boat fares, they had to scrape together several thousand rupees – which in many cases were their life savings. Women and children have died making the risky journey. The Sri Lankan navy, which patrols the straits between the 2 countries, has arrested refugees; and in a number of cases, refugees were killed in middle of the ocean.

Refugee camps are pathetic. The 287-acre camp at Mandapam has high walls with electric barbed-wire fencing. On the other side is the sea, patrolled by Indian coastal guards. The refugees live in a dilapidated row of houses. Bathroom and toilet facilities are virtually non-existent. According to people living in the camps, the so-called Indian standards of food rations and dole payments are not enough to live on. The refugees have become a source of cheap labor, exploited ruthlessly by local employers. In some instances, women have been forced into prostitution and substance abuses.

There is significant development in reaching out to these refugees. Two local churches have sent their workers to India, to work among the refugee congregations; and in the meantime, the refugees in the camps have begun a number of congregations. ADT will initiate a refugee ministry among these refugees to bring holistic intervention - to meet the spiritual, physical and psychological needs of the refugees in India. ADT has initiated a need-assessment project and looking for financial resources to implement the project without any delay.

With the escalation of violence and with the military plans to advance towards the rebel-held areas in Sri Lanka, it is anticipated that more people will flee the country using the sea route towards India. (If you wish to support this initiative, please write to us at nceasl@sltnet.lk )

Internally Displaced People
In the last 12 months, Sri Lanka has seen terrible violence. According to human rights groups, over 6,000 people have been killed or disappeared (abducted and killed) due to escalating violence. UNHCR estimates over 350,000 people are internally-displaced in north and east districts.
According to the defense spoke’s person, there will be a mass exodus of IDPs (internally displaced peoples) from the rebel-held Wanni region to government-held areas in coming weeks due to military plans to advance towards rebel-controlled territories. ADT and the local churches are planning to address the needs of IDP communities in coming months.
ADT will continue the livelihood-recovery activities for displaced communities. In 2007 we were able to impact over 8,000 lives through various projects and 300 families were assisted with livelihood recovery projects. Recreational and psychosocial projects were initiated in refugee camps.

In 2008, we anticipate 600 families will recover their livelihoods and over 1,500 children will gain access to nutritional and education activities. Due to poor standards in water and sanitation, ADT has initiated a special sanitation awareness project among the children in the refugee camps.

Pakistani Refugees in Sri Lanka – S-SARC
S-SARC is an initiative to support the asylum-seekers from Pakistan coming to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is not considered a “host country” for asylum-seekers, so after these asylum-seekers gain refugee status in Sri Lanka, they are settled in host countries by UNHCR. ADT has been providing practical assistance for Pakistani asylum-seekers and is networking with the other agencies that are providing similar services.

NCEASL urges you to uphold the ministry and the staff members who are vulnerable to security concerns and hardships. Thank you.

FY 2008 Funding Opportunity

Published
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on February 26, 2008
in Asia and Middle East
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Fiscal year 2008 funding opportunity announcement for programs assisting refugee populations in Pakistan and recent returned refugees in Afghanistan. Offered by the U.S. State Department on January 25, 2008.
See State Department announcement

Dreams along a Refugee Highway

Published
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on February 26, 2008
in Asia, Europe and GENERAL
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Sam Holdsambeck, trainer with Entrust, shares a special story:

The following story was related to me recently by an Afghan widow who has been living in Athens, Greece, for close to five years. She embraced Christ just a few months after arriving in Athens, but until very recently has known very few other Afghan women who are followers of Jesus. She has experienced mostly rejection and scorn from her countrywomen.

“I had a dream that I was sitting in a big circle with my family in Afghanistan. I remember seeing my father and mother. We were praying together. I didn’t think this was unusual since I was from a strong Muslim family and we often prayed with guests in our home, especially before a meal. As we were praying, suddenly I looked up and saw a big cross! Nobody else seemed to notice it. I reached up and took hold of the cross and brought it to myself, holding it to my chest. At that moment I awoke.”

“I looked at the clock and saw that it was 4:00 AM. I was wide awake now, marveling at this dream. I asked God, ‘What does this mean?’”

With tears streaming down her face she continued. “He spoke to my heart and said, “I am for you. You are Mine.”

This dream was a precious assurance to this lady that she is safe in the Everlasting Arms of an Almighty God.

God is speaking to many Afghans, showing them His love, and asking them to lay hold of the cross and draw it to themselves. They are responding in increasing numbers. Their dreams of a better life are being met in a dramatic and unexpected way.

Somalia - Prayer Initiative

Published
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on December 19, 2007
in Asia, events, news and prayer requests
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Calling for a year of prayer for Somali People

Love Somalis by Prayer

The Need
“When Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Since 1992, the world media has been reporting the desperate situation and hopeless condition in Somalia. Since the overthrow of the dictator Siad Barre, the country is covered by war, violence, hunger, destruction, hate, fear and despair. The Somali people are in desparate need of a new hope.

The Vision
Throughout the year 2008, we want to see the worldwide church of believers in Jesus Christ saturating Somalis with the love of Christ by prayer!

General Goals
As God’s intercessors we want:
> to humble ourselves and repent about neglecting the needs of the Somali people
> to intercede before God so that the thousands of Somalis will be released from the kingdom of darkness
> to believe the Lord of the harvest and for HIM to build HIS church
> to proclaim God’s glory and for His glory to be revealed to the Somali people

Join us in prayer for Somalia
A prayer guide can be accessed on www.PrayForSomalia.org.

Removal of Ethnic Tamils’ from Sri Lanka - Stayed!

Published
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on December 10, 2007
in Advocacy, Asia, Europe, GENERAL and news
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“Removal of Ethnic Tamils from Sri Lanka - Stayed!”
“The European Court of Human Rights has asked the UK Government to put a stay on removal of refused asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, pending the hearing by the Court of several communicated cases relating to forced returns by EU countries to Sri Lanka of refused ethnic Tamils’.

“The Court has made it clear, ‘Having regard to the current security situation in Sri Lanka, *Rule 39 has been applied on each occasion an interim measure has been requested by an ethnic Tamil’.

“Which means that if the Home Office (UK) try to remove any ethnic Tamil who has been refused asylum and all legal avenues exhausted, the individual can apply to the ECHR to have the removal stayed, pending any ruling by the ECHR.

“If you know of any Tamils’ in the UK (refused asylum) whether in the community or in detention facing removal and the Home Office has not stayed the directions/ and if the person is in detention, not released the person from detention, please contact admin@ncadc.org.uk.

“*Rule 39 is a ‘Interim measure’ served on a EU government by the ECHR, preventing that Government taking any actions against the person named, pending a decision by the ECHR.

“There are two documents that must be filled in and faxed to ECHR in applications for ‘Interim relief’, under Rule 39.”

For the two documents referred to above, visit the website from which this report was taken:

 http://www.ncadc.org.uk/archives/filed%20newszines/newszine87/Tamils’.html.  

from nepal

Published
by
tom
on September 19, 2007
in Asia, GENERAL, events and news
. 2 Comments

news from Brian O’Connell…

———-

This encouraging note came from one of the chuch leaders in Nepal who organized a KidsGames community outreach for 7 Bhutanese refugee camps children. As requested they need prayer for the follow up.

Greetings from Nepal.

The refugee kidsgames success left a huge positive impact towards the Church and community in East Nepal. Yesterday, I had a long conversation with brother Santosh regarding follow up kidsgames program in the camp. Pastors and leaders shared their great stories of the event and fantastic testimonies from the 2000 kids. Kids increased 10-20 percentages in every church sunday school. We are working to find out the exact number of kids from the 7 different camps who had committed their faith to the Christ through this event. We are planning for the next Kidsgames in 2008 as well.

We are working and planning to use ” To becoming a complete player” curriculum in their every Church Sunday school program as a Kidsgames follow up. We need your prayers.

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