Zprávy HCJB 20.5.2008

 Potíže zdržují pomoc misií obětem barmské katastrofy
   Misie oznamují, že pro jejich dodávky i personál pro cyklónem postiženou Barmy je teď hranice prostupnější, protože barmská vláda zaručila přístup obojího na místo určení - k postiženým obětem. Podle oficiálních zpráv je 77 738 mrtvých a 55 917 nezvěstných. Samaritan’s Purse dostala povolení zahájit leteckou pomoc v Barmě deset dní po cyklónu Nargis a tým Rescue24 Baptist World Aid (BWAid) má povoleno předávání pomoci v nejhůře postižených oblastech. Podle Christian Newswire obyvatelé Irawaddy Delta říkají, že vojáci odvážejí pomoc z oblastí osídlených převážně Kareny, což by odpovídalo dřívějšímu vládnímu útlaku Karenů, největší barmské křesťanské národnostní menšiny. Christian Freedom International (CFI), která zajišťuje řadu humanitárních projektů v Barmě ku prospěchu utlačovaných Karenů, začala posílat shromážděné finanční dary obětem prostřednictvím sítě podzemní církve. „Doprava pomoci se zdá být hlavním problémem,“ stojí v prohlášení Gospel Aid Network (GaiN). „Armáda ji vozí pomalu a objem přepravy je nedostatečný.“

I přes zprávy o mizení materiálu Gospel for Asia (GFA) uvádí, že je zajištěno, aby se pomoc dostala těm, kdo ji potřebují. Řekl to prezident GFA K.P.Yohannan. Navíc, což se podle něj podobá zázraku, barmská vláda dala církvi speciální povolení otevřít v jejich prostorách i lékařská zařízení. Yohannan řekl, že nejnaléhavější potřebou jsou nyní kvalifikovaní lékaři pro tato zařízení a je třeba se modlit se za pomoc místních lékařů sester, protože vláda zatím nepovoluje cizincům přijet a pracovat zde. Skupiny domorodých křesťanů – doktorů a mediků s vybavením v batohu se tak ve spolupráci s podzemními sbory od pátku 16. května pokoušejí dostat alespoň k některým ze dvou milionů lidí postižených cyklónem.

Mezitím World Vision zakládá centra „Dětská útočiště,“ která dětem poskytují ochranu a přiměřenou péči. Poskytují prostředí pro hru i možnost nějakého vyučování. Pomáhají dětem překonávat pocity obav a ztráty. Odhadem asi polovina postižených při cyklónu Nargis jsou děti. Asi třetinu barmské populace tvoří osoby mladší 18 let a tak asi 480 000 přeživších jsou děti, které jsou při katastrofách zvlášť zranitelné. „Navyklá strategie pomoci zahraničních dobrovolníků je v případě Barmy nepoužitelná. Musíme aktivizovat místní lidi,“ řekl odborník na obnovu GaiN USA. Jeden z místních dobrovolníků na to řekl „A začíná jim to jít.“ Zdroj: OneNewsNow, Christian Newswire, BWA, BosNewsLife, VOANews.com
 
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   OBSTACLES DELAY MINISTRY RESPONSE TO BURMA CATASTROPHE

Sources: OneNewsNow, Christian Newswire, BWA, BosNewsLife, VOANews.com
Ministries report their aid shipments and personnel are finding a more open border into cyclone-devastated Burma (Myanmar) with the Burmese government granting approvals for supplies and personnel to enter and help victims. The official death toll is at 77,738, with 55,917 people reported missing. Samaritan's Purse was cleared to start flying relief supplies into Burma ten days after Cyclone Nargis hit, whereas a Baptist World Aid (BWAid) Rescue24 team was granted access to hand out aid in the worst stricken area. Residents in the Irawaddy Delta say the military is diverting aid from areas heavily populated by ethnic Karen villagers, according to Christian Newswire, a claim consistent with the government's history of discriminating against the Karen, Burma's mostly Christian minority ethnic group. But Christian Freedom International (CFI), an organization that has established numerous humanitarian projects in Burma on behalf of the persecuted Karen, has begun wiring donated funds for relief aid into the country through its network of underground house churches. "Logistics seems to be the main problem," said a statement by Gospel Aid Network (GAiN). "Army distribution is slow and has limited capacity."

Despite reports of aid materials being diverted, Gospel For Asia (GFA) has been assured that these will get to those in need, according to GFA President K.P. Yohannan. Additionally, in what he described as a near-miracle, Yohannan said Burma's government gave special permission to the church to open medical clinics in its compounds. Yohannan communicated the most pressing need at these clinics is for trained medical personnel, requesting prayer that "God would lead us to Burmese doctors and nurses who are already in the country, since so far the government has not allowed outsiders to come in and work." Teams of indigenous Christian backpack medics working with underground churches attempted Friday, May 16, to reach at least some of the cyclone's two million survivors, according to BosNewsLife.

World Vision meanwhile, is establishing centers called Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) to offer children safe places where their unique needs can be met. The centers provide a protective, structured environment for children to play and take part in informal education. CFSs offer support to help children deal with their feelings of fear and loss. Some half a million of those affected by Cyclone Nargis are estimated to be children. With a third of Burma's population under 18-years-old, more than 480,000 of the survivors are likely to be children, who are especially vulnerable in disasters. "The usual strategy of foreign volunteers is not possible in this effort. We must empower the local people," said a GAiN USA disaster recovery expert. Then of the agency's local volunteers he said, "They are stepping up to the plate on this one."

CHINESE CHURCHES CALL FOR PRAYER, HELP AFTER EARTHQUAKES

Sources: Adventist Press Service, VOANews.com
Despite some congregations losing their churches in a May 12 earthquake, some Seventh-day Adventists in China are still planning to meet for worship this Sabbath, church leaders said. Adventist leaders are also calling for prayer after the 7.9 earthquake in central China killed tens of thousands, destroyed buildings and left many people buried. The Adventist church in the city of Chengdu has gathered limited funds to purchase food, water and other necessities to distribute, according to David Ng, a ministries director for the church's Chinese Union Mission (CHUM) in Hong Kong. Chinese officials have reported 40,000 people are dead, warning that the final death total could be more than 50,000. Regional government officials upped the confirmed death toll to more than 19,500 and left 26,000 buried. An additional 14,000 are still missing. China said on May 15 that over 50,000 people had likely died in the devastating earthquake as time runs out to save survivors buried in the rubble of broken communities.

PAKISTANI CHRISTIAN DOCTOR ARRESTED ON CHARGES OF BLASPHEMY

Sources: ASSIST News Service in Pakistan, International Christian Concern
A Pakistani Christian medical doctor has been arrested following accusation that he made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad's beard. In Chatha Hafizabad, Dr. Robin Sardar was accused of making sacrilegious remarks against the Prophet Muhammad's beard. Christian rights groups including All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) have been campaigning for repeal of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws. Sardar's family members and area Christians told APMA that some months ago Dr. Robin had only asked a Muslim man to get his beard trimmed. Another report claims that the envy of a former friend, Muhammad Yousaf prompted him to tell police that Sardar had made derogatory comments about the Prophet Muhammad's beard and the Holy Quran. One report claims two men whom Sardar had asked not to establish shops that would obstruct his clinic, conspired to implicate the physician in a blasphemy case to settle their personal scores. Pakistan's blasphemy laws treat insults against Islam as severely as they do cases of homicide.

*HCJB Global Hands sent two medical teams from Ecuador to Pakistan following a powerful earthquake on Oct. 8, 2005, that left tens of thousands dead and thousands more injured and homeless. Staff members helped SIM International with relief efforts.

PASTOR WILL BIKE 4,000 MILES FOR MOTHERS AND BABIES IN MALI

Source: Christian Newswire
This summer, Plattsburgh, New York pastor Bruce Overstreet will bicycle from California to Maine to benefit The Koutiala Hospital for Women and Children in Mali, West Africa. According to a survey by the Malian government, one out of every four children will never reach their fifth birthday, and 1 out of every 10 women will die in childbirth. But this sad statistic is changing, Overstreet says, thanks in great part to Koutiala Hospital, operated by the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA). Overstreet, who pastors the North Country Alliance Church at Plattsburgh, hopes to raise at least $1 million to expand and better equip the hospital, where the number of women and children seeking medical attention continues to grow each month. Plans are under way to build, equip, and staff a third maternity building and a pediatric clinic.

RESCUE OF GIRLS IN NIGERIA IGNITES ISLAMIC RAMPAGE

SOURCE: Compass Direct News
Islamists under the auspices of a paramilitary force last week destroyed six churches to protest a police rescue of two teenage Christian girls kidnapped by Muslims in a town in Nigeria's Bauchi state. Police recovered the two Christian girls on May 12 after Muslims in Ningi kidnapped them three weeks ago in an attempt to expand Islam by marrying them to Muslim men. The girls had been kidnapped in southeastern Nigeria and spirited away to Wudil town in Kano state. After their rescue, Muslims under the Hisbah Command, a paramilitary arm of Kano state's Sharia Commission, went on a rampage on Tuesday (May 13), attacking Christians and setting fire to the churches. Joseph Abdu, pastor of the Deeper Life Church, told Compass that damages to his church property amounted to about 13 million naira (US$112,857). He said his congregation had shrunk to 40 people from the 130 who attended before the attack.

*HCJB Global Voice, together with SIM and the Evangelical Church of West Africa, airs weekly half-hour programs on a local FM station in Nigeria in the Igbo language. HCJB Global Voice has also helped with a partner station in Umuahia.

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