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Transform: mission tourism or making a difference? – 6 Oct 2009

Every summer, countless Irish people head off to developing countries to build houses for the poor, to work in an orphanage or to help in some way. It has almost become a rite of passage for Christian teenagers, part of their growing up experience before they head off to college and then get a job. Do these overseas trips benefit the poor or are they a form of mission tourism?

Reuben’s story

My first experience in a developing country was when I travelled to Mozambique aged 17 to spend a month with a missionary group. When I was growing up I had heard exotic stories about Africa and seen slideshows of the enormous poverty. I was excited to think how I’d be able to really make a difference in the lives of the people.
When I arrived after an ardous journey via the dusty roads of Zimbabwe I was disappointed that the missionaries didn’t seem over-joyed to see me, in fact they didn’t seem to know what to do with me. What could I do? I spent a few days shadowing various people until they decided to set me a simple task. I was to build a fence around their school. The first time I placed the posts in the concrete they fell over. The second time the same thing happended. Finally the third time I had success and my fence remained standing. I was really pleased with myself.
I left Mozambique feeling somewhat disillusioned. It had been expensive to travel there and the only thing I had achieved was to build a fence which a local person could have done cheaper and faster. Being passionate wasn’t enough, I needed skills which would enable me to make a real difference in the lives of the poor.
It was the beginning of a journey that lead me to specialise in public health and would take me to the refugee camps of Darfur, to post-conflict Liberia and finally bring me back to Ireland to manage the work of Tearfund. That summer I didn’t make much of a difference in the lives of the Mozambiquans but it transformed my life forever.

Today’s transformations

This summer a small group of Irish students from Grosvenor Road Church travelled to Peru to work with Tearfund church partner AGAPE for 2 weeks. Established in 1992, AGAPE is an organisation that works with street children in Lima, to provide legal, psychological, social and pastoral support to victims of child abuse. image

“I think the biggest impact for the team was meeting some of the families suffering from poverty that Agape are seeking to serve. In twenty minutes we leave for the airport, but it is a great joy to know that God is staying and the work he is doing through Agape will continue.” Excerpt from Andrew Gill’s blog.

The Grosvenor Road students have come back with their faith strengthened and their understanding of poverty deepened and our partner Agape are encouraged to know that Christians in Ireland were supporting and praying for them.

Overseas trips do not always bring immediate benefits to the poor but they can lead to transformation in the lives of the people who go overseas; changing the way they view the world and impacting the future course of their lives. For a trip to be more than mission tourism I believe that we need to go prayerfully asking God if this is the best use of our resources, with real humility realizing the limited skills that we can bring, in true partnership standing alongside the local church, and committing to ongoing prayer and support for their needs.

If your church or youth group is interested in working alongside a Tearfund partner overseas then check out our Transform website. The trips are a journey of discovery where you will learn about God’s heart for the poor and how the church is responding. 
It doesn’t matter what age you are. Transform offers a variety of trips both short and long term, volunteering with Tearfund in some of the world’s poorest communities. It looks a little bit complicated but persevere because it will be worthwhile. Start planning today!

Healing the wounds of sexual violence in Congo

Healing the wounds of sexual violence in Congo – 4 Sep 2009

Sarah has seen sights that no eyes would want to witness. Sights that could disable her mind and shackle her memory to a lifetime of pain, anger and bitterness. Sights that could leave even the strongest faith in humanity blurred and dazed, if not irrevocably shattered.

The incidents of rape, torture and murder that she has seen in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) makes her response to the perpetrators all the more remarkable: `I have very strong faith. I have forgotten everything already. I have forgiven them. If I don’t forgive them, I won’t be free.’ It’s a jaw-droppingly forward-looking statement from a 37-year-old woman who was so traumatised after being attacked that she thought people coming to help her were actually going to kill her.

Sarah’s story begins in Maniema Province in eastern DRC where she was living with her husband and three children.

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Buried alive

Fighting there between government and rebel forces did not spare the civilian population and one day it touched Sarah’s life like a hammer on glass. `There were lots of attacks against people by rebel soldiers,’ recalls Sarah. `They even dug holes and buried people alive. `They told people to have sex with their own partners in the presence of everyone, even to have sex with their own brothers and sisters. If we didn’t do that they would kill us. Many women witnessed that.’

Sarah was raped but survived although after the attack there was no treatment available for her physical injuries, let alone the emotional ones.
Tearfund has been working through local church partners in DRC for 20 years.

Surgery

One of those partners is Heal Africa which runs medical services centred on a hospital in Goma, in neighbouring North Kivu province, and it was its workers that found Sarah.

The prevalence of conflict-related rape in eastern DRC means Heal Africa counsellors travel long distances into danger areas to help women like Sarah. She recalls, `At first we were very scared and refused to go with them because we didn’t know where we were going and feared maybe these people were going to kill us. When we heard it was a hospital, we agreed to go.’ Based now in Goma, Sarah is receiving treatment for her physical injuries and is awaiting surgery.

She’s also getting help from Heal Africa staff for her deep emotional suffering, which has been compounded by being rejected by her husband who has kept two of their children. `When we have counselling we are told that we are human beings and we feel better in our hearts and encouraged.’

Her family’s rejection means Sarah will be vulnerable economically when she eventually leaves hospital and starts rebuilding her life. Here too Heal Africa is helping with its Healing Arts Programme. This teaches women, who have been attacked and rejected, new skills that can enable them to earn an independent living, such as how to make clothes, bags and crafts.

When a Tearfund team visited recently, Heal Africa’s hospital had 164 women like Sarah who have been sexually attacked, with operating rooms and surgeons dedicated to their treatment. In addition it runs a mediation service to help reunite women with families that have rejected them because they have been raped. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has praised the work of Tearfund partner Heal Africa in helping women who have suffered sexual attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mrs Clinton made her comments during a visit to conflict-affected North Kivu province in August.

There she met with hospital workers and patients, including women recovering from the physical and psychological effects of rape.
`Heal Africa is doing amazing work,’ said the Secretary of State, who is on a seven country tour of Africa.

But the scale of the problem is immense, with the UN Children’s Fund estimating that 200,000 women and girls have been assaulted over the past 12 years in DRC, as rape has been used as a weapon of war. With the recent arrest of a key rebel leader improving the prospects of peace, Tearfund has launched an emergency appeal for those affected by conflict in DRC to further support the work of partners like Heal Africa and that of our own disaster response teams.

Recovery work

Since last August, some 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to fighting between Congolese and rebel forces, with North Kivu being particularly badly affected. Another 150,000 have been displaced since last December in north east Province Orientale where Ugandan LRA rebels have entered DRC.

Tearfund’s emergency appeal aims to help these people and also to assist in longer term recovery work, such as that in South Kivu. Here Tearfund teams have supplied new homes, rebuilt schools, provided sanitation and given agricultural support so people can earn a living again. Since 2002, more than 50,000 people have been helped to resettle into their conflict-affected communities and to rebuild their lives.

It would be easy to consider a country that in recent years has seen more than 5 million people die and another 2 million become homeless due to war and humanitarian crisis as a lost cause. But Sarah, who has seen so much of its suffering, has an attitude that offers hope and challenges indifference. `We want to live in peace and unity. If we live in unity, there will be many people willing to help us.’

• Names have been changed to protect identities.
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Bollywood film director and Tearfund partner comes to Ireland

Bollywood film director and Tearfund partner comes to Ireland – 1 Jul 2009

Timothy Gaikwad is an acclaimed film-maker from Mumbai, India. He’s also the Director of Tearfund partner IMCares. He and his wife Sonali spent a week in Ireland sharing with Tearfund supporters across the country about their work with vulnerable children on the streets of Mumbai and the horrifying reality of sex trafficking.

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire exposed the world to the experiences of children in the slums of India. ‘The reality is more complex and the solutions must be sustainable. But we are seeing lives transformed as we work with the local church to support vulnerable women and children and address trafficking, poverty’ says acclaimed Indian film-maker and charity manager Timothy Gaikwad, who lives and works with the forgotten children of Mumbai, India.

  • 40,000 children are abducted every year in India
  • 25 % of approximately 2.3 million sex workers in India are minors
  • Almost 2 million children have been orphaned by AIDS in India

God raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. Psalm 113: 7 – 8

Rachel was abandoned by her mother when she was only 6 months old. Her mother was a sex-worker in Mumbai and when the police raided her brothel she ran for her life and left her child behind. IMCares staff found Rachel in a rubbish bin and took her in. She was very sick and was soon diagnosed with AIDS. This was the first time IMCares had encountered a person with AIDS and they were afraid and didn’t know how to help her. Fortunately IMCares was able to receive support from Tearfund and they learnt about how to work with children with AIDS. They were able to influence Indian government policy on providing free anti-retroviral medication for people living with HIV. Today IMCares has been recognised by the UNAIDS as a ‘best-practice’ organisation in the area of HIV support. Rachel is now a vibrant and healthy 20 year old and is graduating from school.

‘We are working with local churches and partners to bring about sustainable solutions.’ says Reuben Coulter, Chief Executive of Tearfund Ireland ‘The work of Timothy and IMCares in vital as address immediate needs but also deal with underlying causes of children’s vulnerability, strengthen local church & community responses and advocate for change in government policies.’

A quiet miracle in Cambodia

A quiet miracle in Cambodia – 16 May 2009

I was in Cambodia in February and witnessed the quiet miracle that is taking place. Hidden from the gaze of the world, small vibrant churches are springing up.

During the genocide, almost 2 million people were killed, the country was devastated and the tiny handful of Christians in this Buddhist country were almost wiped out. But now, less than 30 years later, there are an estimated 270,000 Christians (two per cent of the population) and the country is beginning to develop.

I spent a week visiting church leaders and our Christian partners to find out how this miraculous transformation had come about.

“The village of Pun Lu is extremely poor but things are changing now because of these Christians” the village chief, Eng Keng, a Buddhist, explained to me. “At first we were very suspicious of people in our village who were Christians. We thought they had abandoned the religion and traditions of their ancestors. However they are now helping to improve our village and we are working together in peace.”

The local church in this community supported by Tearfund has been demonstrating faith in action. The local pastor Jam Rahn has encouraged her church to work with their neighbours to improve their school, ensure all the households have clean water and that the people affected by disability and HIV are being looked after. As a result, the church is thriving. “Many of our Buddhist neighbours now want to know more about our faith”, says Pastor Rahn.

Sri Lanka Emergency Response

Sri Lanka Emergency Response – 27 Apr 2009

Tearfund partners are feeding thousands of hungry Sri Lankan civilians fleeing intense fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers. Tens of thousands of people have escaped the conflict zone in the country’s north east in recent days as the offensive against the rebels nears its climax. Conditions within the zone are said to be atrocious with food shortages causing severe hunger. People are living in tents and facing inadequate access to water and sanitation. Visit the BBC News website for latest details.

An email came in from our partner World Concern who are helping casualties being evacuated by ship from the fighting in the north of Sri Lanka.  They wrote:

“We are providing medical assistance to casualties now arriving on fishing boats ferrying patients from the ship.  We are now transferring the injured to hospital and the dead to the mortuary. I won’t forget a young mother who died named Jayanthini. She was only 20 years and had a child of 2 months. It was so sad to watch the young father trying to feed the child with a feeding bottle, a church volunteer was trying to teach him how to prepare the milk to feed the child at 1 am. Words cannot simply express the help you are doing to all of us. Thank you all for all your prayers.”

Our partners are providing emergency medical assistance, food and shelter to the conflict-affected people. But with tens of thousands still fleeing the fighting and the final military push expected imminently, the need for help remains great and all our partners could use a lot more money and prayer.

Heartache and hunger in Zimbabwe – 12 Apr 2009

Last year, Sifiso and her family were facing extreme difficulties. Originally living in the city of Bulawayo, the death of Sifiso’s husband nudged the family into a downward spiral. They now live in a small house on the outskirts of the city with very limited income.

Sifiso’s family has been helped by Tearfund partners and the local church. They have been receiving food on a regular basis for the last 7 months which means that the whole family are showing signs of improved health. In addition, Sifiso has received some chickens which they are breeding for sale. Recently, they were able to sell three chickens to pay for medicines when Sifiso contracted pneumonia. When telling her story recently she said, ‘I’m alive! Saved by the chickens!’
 
In the last 12 months, Tearfund partners have been able to provide food for 35,000 orphans; seed and fertiliser for 530 families; shelter, food and blankets for 1,500 victims of political violence; and support to local churches speaking out on behalf of the poor in their communities. With the food situation worsening, Tearfund is scaling up its response to provide support for those most in need.

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