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Churches unite to pray for Zimbabwe - 25 May

Churches unite to pray for Zimbabwe - 25 May – 20 May 2011

Peace, reconciliation, healing and revival will be the focuses of the National Day of Prayer on Wednesday 25 May. The day is also a public holiday to mark Africa Day, the day in May 1963 when the Organisation of African Unity, now the African Union, was formed.

The prayer event will involve the country’s three major umbrella church bodies: the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference. Tearfund is also supporting the venture, which desires to see reconciliation between people of various ethnic, religious, political and social outlooks.

Denouncing violence

The day seeks the restoration of social justice, physical health, spiritual wellbeing and economic recovery of Zimbabwe’s people. There’ll also be prayers for the revival of the church and transformation of the nation through a commitment to God, to each other and to the nation for economic, agricultural and industrial revival.

Church leaders will use the prayer gathering to make a public declaration denouncing any form of violence, victimisation, hate speeches, or polarisation of any kind. A spokesman for the Christian Fellowship of Zimbabwe, said, ‘Zimbabwe is going through a period of trials and tribulations. We are convinced that Zimbabwe shall never be the same again but this can only be so when people join hands and pray for their nation.’

Join in prayer with Zimbabweans

Join our prayer group on Thurs 26th May, 6 – 7.30 pm at the Tearfund Office on O’Connell Street. If you are interested contact us 01 878 3200 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Learn more of Tearfund’s work in Zimbabwe here and give today

Prosecuting traffickers in India – 5 May 2011

In 2006, Debbie Walker visited India for a two-week holiday. Confronted by the horrific reality of child trafficking, she ended up spending four years there with Tearfund’s partner Freedom Firm. Reuben Coulter, Chief Executive of Tearfund Ireland, caught up with her while she was visiting her family in Ireland.

How did you get involved in with helping trafficked girls?
During my holiday in India, I met young girls who had been rescued from trafficking. They were of a similar age to me but their lives were so different. I realised that God was calling me to play a part. Tearfund partner Freedom Firm were looking for someone with legal skills and I had recently graduated in law. I agreed to undertake a role to manage the team of local investigators and ensure that rescued girls received appropriate aftercare.

How do these girls end up being trafficked?
For many girls, it is the desperation of poverty which makes them vulnerable. For example, Laxmi was only ten years old when she was trafficked. Her mother was dead and her father was desperately ill, so she got on a train to Mumbai to search of work. She thought she was being offered a job as a maid but, instead, she ended up as one of thousands of child prostitutes in Mumbai.

What happened to Laxmi?
Fortunately, an investigative team heard that the brothel where Laxmi was working had under-age girls. They sent a team in to investigate and gather evidence. In coordination with the police, the brothel was raided and Laxmi was set free from her horrific life at the age of 12.

How did Laxmi recover from the experience?
Laxmi was incredibly traumatised. She initially entered a government refuge for women but it wasn’t a good place. Eventually she came to the Freedom Firm home where we were able to counsel, support and pray with her. We couldn’t undo the past but we were able to provide her with hope for the future. Today she is completely transformed. She is part of a local church and has a good job in a call centre.

You are back in Ireland now. What will you do next?
In September I’m starting a doctorate in law in Minneapolis, USA. I’m not sure where God will lead me but I’ll continue to use my legal skills to fight injustice. Each of us has God-given talents that we are called to use for his kingdom.

Take action this summer.

Refugees continue to flee Ivory Coast

Refugees continue to flee Ivory Coast – 22 Apr 2011

An ongoing ‘precarious’ security and political situation in Ivory Coast is expected to swell the number of refugees seeking safety in Liberia to at least 250,000 by the end of June. Unicef predicts the figure could even be as high as 500,000, as the crisis shows no sign of easing despite the arrest of former president Laurent Gbagbo.

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Tearfund partners are helping thousands of Ivorians who have fled to Liberia, the vast majority of whom are women and children. Latest UN estimates say more than 140,000 refugees are now in Liberia, with 45,000 arriving in one county in just over a month.

Tearfund partners are providing healthcare to the displaced in Nimba County and clean water and sanitation and to distribute food in the adjacent Grand Geddeh County. The World Food Programme has begun airlifting food into Liberia from Niger and Mali but Unicef says the lack of supplies is a ‘major concern’.

Rainy season approaches

Another concern is that April marks the start of the rainy season and this could make getting relief aid to people harder as poor quality roads become impassable.

In Ivory Coast itself, although Alassane Ouattara is now in control, there are still pockets of resistance to his forces and outbreaks of lawlessness. Tearfund partners in Ivory Coast are to join a multi-agency assessment on returning to the western town of Duekoue, where fighting forced them to stop working three weeks ago.

Donate today

  • €31 can pay for school fees for a vulnerable child
  • €55 can provide a family of with essential household items,water containers and blankets

You can help the refugees by giving to our Emergency Fund today

Ethnic tribes in Myanmar receive aid

Ethnic tribes in Myanmar receive aid – 13 Apr 2011

Tearfund partners are successfully managing to bring vital aid to thousands of isolated villagers hit by a powerful earthquake in eastern Myanmar (Burma) nearly three weeks ago.

About 100 people died and another 150 were injured after a 6.8 magnitude tremor struck Eastern Shan State at the end of last month. Assessments put the number of people affected at 18,000 across 90 villages, with widespread damage to roads, bridges, schools, churches and monasteries. In the 50 most severely affected villages, more than half of all buildings have either been damaged or destroyed.

One church building in the Lahu ethnic community of Kya Kuni collapsed while a large gathering of women were inside, with 25 people reported to have been killed and many more badly injured.

Three Tearfund partners have been working in the affected areas since the immediate aftermath of the quake. Isolated ethnic Akha and Lahu communities, which have received no other outside help, are being assisted by two partners.

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Leprosy

Food, water, medical kits, temporary shelter and non-food items, such as cooking utensils, have been supplied and work is progressing to set up a trauma care and support service for those affected. From an initial response in five villages, relief work has spread to 22 villages.

Another partner is offering help to five villages where leprosy is heavily prevalent, once again offering food aid, water and sanitation.

Partner staff also plan to set up Village Relief Committees which will help implement recovery activities, with special attention towards people with disabilities, the elderly, women and children. Using partner expertise on reducing the impact of disasters, homes will be rebuilt so they are better able to withstand future earthquakes and villagers will receive disaster response training.

Land restoration and repairs to water supplies will also be carried out.

Give today to support our Emergency Work

Setting the captive free – Karishma’s story

Setting the captive free – Karishma’s story – 11 Apr 2011

It’s estimated that 575,000 children are trapped in sex trafficking in India. Tearfund’s local partner Freedom Firm is battling to stamp our sex trafficking. While the laws in India against sex trafficking are strong they are rarely applied. Freedom Firm investigates brothels suspected of soliciting minor girls, works with the police to raid these brothels, prosecutes the brothel keepers and helps to restore the girls. The work is dangerous and often disheartening but they are seeing successes. Without the intervention of Tearfund’s local partner Freedom Firm, Karishma would still be in captivity.

Help us bring freedom. Give today

Karishma, a young girl age thirteen was discovered in a brothel by a Freedom Firm undercover investigator. She was ‘for sale’ for 70 rupees (€1.20).

Freedom Firm reported it to the police and requested that they intervene. But when they raided the brothel Karishma had been moved. She was no-where to be found. Freedom Firm investigators searched for her over the next five months with no success. Then a local informant gave a tip off that she had been taken to the Sadar Bazaar, a red-light district in the city of Kolhapur. However it’s a massive slum with thousands of people. It seemed she might never be found.

Then the miracle happened. After days of searching, equipped with only scant information and an old photograph of Karishma, an informant was found who recognized her from the photo. The investigators were led to a brothel on the edge of town. The building was raided and Karishma was found, traumatized but alive.

That was over four years ago.

The brothel keeper was arrested but after a long trial was unjustly acquitted despite the overwhelming evidence. It has been discouraging for the team but an appeal has been made. It is hoped that the brothel keeper may still be convicted but bringing justice requires perseverance.

Karishma now lives at a Freedom Firm aftercare home. The scars of her past are deep and recovery from her awful experience takes time. With six other rescued girls she is experiencing emotional healing through counselling and prayer. She is learning to look after herself and receiving a basic education and skills training to set up her own small craft business. Finally she is experiencing the goodness of life.

She is free at last.

Will you help us to bring freedom? Only €22 per month can pay for an undercover investigator to raid a brothel & set a girl free.

Give today or Give monthly

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Ivory Coast Crisis – 8 Apr 2011

Well over 130,000 Ivorians have fled their country into neighbouring Liberia amid fighting caused by a disputed presidential election last November. One million people have been displaced, creating massive humanitarian need and placing an increased strain on border communities that are ill-equipped to deal with such an influx.

‘The situation in Ivory Coast is extremely worrying as it has potential to destablise the entire region’ says Tearfund Ireland Chief Executive Reuben Coulter, who worked in Liberia for two years ‘We have excellent local partners who have been able to provide vital assistance to the refugees.’

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Agencies involved in medical work are reporting an alarming caseload of people needing treatment for gunshot and machete wounds. Of the refugees registered, 60 per cent are under the age of 18 and 54 per cent are female. Most are living with host communities in overcrowded conditions without adequate access to food, water and sanitation.

Tearfund partner Equip is supporting 40,000 refugees in Liberia’s Nimba County by offering healthcare, which includes screening children for signs of malnutrition and treating diseases such as malaria.

Please help them to respond to this immense human need. Give what you can today.

Only €31 can provide a tarpaulin for shelter for a family and €55 can provide a family of with emergency household items,water containers and blankets.

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