AUSTRALIAN PRAYER NETWORK NEWSLETTER

* SLAVE TRADE ALIVE AND WELL IN NEPAL

* GLOBAL PRAYER FOR NEPAL 14th/15th APRIL 2007 * TACKLING PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S AIDS EPIDEMIC

* CONTROVERIAL NEW BIBLE SEEKS TO MAKE A POINT

* MUSLIM PUPILS BEAT TEACHER TO DEATH IN NIGERIA

* CATHOLIC SCHOOLS REJECT NON-FAITH QUOTAS

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SLAVE TRADE ALIVE AND WELL IN NEPAL

In the undergrowth, 13-year-old Junu Shrestha hacks away to gather fodder for her landlady’s cattle. When she has collected a pile bigger than herself, she hoists it onto her back and fixes it with a headband. She trudges back to the house, 20 minutes away. She is one of at least 20,000 girls in western Nepal who are working as indentured domestic servants in conditions campaigners say amount to slavery. Parents send them away in exchange for a sum of money paid by landlords, who sometimes keep the girls for years. “I get up at six,” Junu says shyly. “I clean the house, sweep the yard, fetch water and feed the cattle. “I walk to the jungle to cut fodder. Later I wash the dishes, then I bring water again and collect fodder again. Sometimes I wash clothes.” She says she misses her school, and her friends who are now too far away for her to visit. She is an orphan, and used to live with her uncle. She says he was an alcoholic who sent her away 18 months ago after a house-owner promised him four thousand rupees a year – about $60 – for Junu’s services. Junu gets no money herself. The landlady and her daughter see nothing wrong in having Junu as a kamlari. They say the payment is good and that her uncle is happy with it. In the cold winter mist, women draw water from a well and children play marbles in the dust. Families are living in small houses they have built themselves. These are the kinds of people, mostly from the impoverished Tharu ethnic group, that send their daughters to be indentured labourers. Most of these families were until recently bonded labourers themselves. Some offer their daughters in exchange for landlords letting them cultivate the land and keep some of the crop. Traditionally, many people have seen the kamlari system as positive – a money-earner in big families. There have, however, been major efforts to end the system, spearheaded by a Nepalese charity, Friends of Needy Children (FNC) – especially during the Tharus’ winter festival. In a park in the highway town of Lamahi, a cast including former kamlaris stage a play with a message against indentured labour. A drunken father sends his daughter away, defying his wife. The girl is beaten and treated cruelly by her landlords. The crowd, including children and many parents, are captivated. At the end people from the audience come on stage to try to persuade the father he’s wrong. One succeeds by telling him to pay not for alcohol but for his daughter’s schooling. The young girl is acted by Siba Chaudhary, who was a kamlari for five years. Siba worked for two families, including that of her landlady’s sister who lived nearby. Siba says she was usually fed with leftovers, and was beaten and verbally abused by some of the women she worked for and had to withstand constant sexual harassment from males in the families. Human rights campaigners seek to free the girls by providing their families with economic recompense in the form of a goat or a pig to earn them income. But there are many girls still working, and a lot of persuading and education for campaigners to do.

Source: Intercessors Network

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GLOBAL PRAYER FOR NEPAL 14th/15th APRIL 2007

Someone said, ‘prayer is like an intercontinental ballistic missile. Through prayer you can reach across oceans and continents and strike the forces of darkness wherever they are at work.’ In recent years through prayer God has intervened in our nation breaking the deadlocked political crisis in Nepal. As a result not only the internal war has ended in peace but the country has also been declared a secular state. The new Government of Nepal is hoping to conduct an election of the Constituent Assembly some time in June through which a new constitution will be made by the people of Nepal for the first time in Nepal’s history. After over half a century the Nepali Church has grown rapidly as a result of God’s opening of a door for the Gospel, but He is now opening another new door towards a new Nepal. What has happened in the past and is happening now in the land of the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal is a miracle although it has taken many lives. Many public and private properties and infrastructures have also been destroyed as a result of the political upheavals during the course of the people’s movement over the past 10 years. What was impossible for people was possible for God, who is the true source of peace, justice and reconciliation. With such belief and conviction and having heard and learned lessons from other countries around the world, we the Christian community of Nepal continue to seek God’s mercy for our country and call for a Global Day of Prayer for Nepal each year. With much prayers and consultations, we have now decided to call for the Global Day of Prayer for Nepal (GDOPFN) from sunset on the 14th April till sunset on the 15th of April 2007. We, therefore, urge churches, individuals, families, prayer groups, organizations and institutions around the globe to join us in prayer for the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal for permanent peace, reconciliation, justice, healing and spiritual revival.

Source: Global Prayer for Nepal Network

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TACKLING PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S AIDS EPIDEMIC

Papua New Guinea and its population of just under six million is in the grip of an HIV/Aids epidemic. Health Minister Peter Barter shocked a recent meeting of world health officials by saying that infection rates had reached double digits in some remote parts of the country. With nearly 2% of the population now believed to be living with HIV and Aids, experts fear Papua New Guinea is heading for a crisis similar to that in sub-Saharan Africa. The country’s government was for a long time accused of lacking the political will to do anything about infection rates that were rising at an alarming 30% a year. But now Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare has brought the issue under his control and the government is working with agencies in the country on a coordinated approach to tackle the crisis. But tackling the problem in a country such as PNG is very difficult. There are about 800 different cultures and languages, and trying to translate the message in a society that is only 34% literate is a monumental task. HIV is spread largely through heterosexual sex in Papua New Guinea. Unprotected sex, both paid-for and casual, is reported to be widespread. The problem is particularly prevalent around the capital Port Moresby and other towns, major transport routes as well as mines and plantations. “Women at most risk – those whose partners have multiple wives or who travel a lot – often say they have no control over the use of condoms and cannot refuse sex,” Amnesty International recently said. Deep-seated traditional and cultural belief systems are another factor. he said, admitting: “It will take some time and, unfortunately, loss of life before the message catches on.” On a practical level, experts say the country’s health care infrastructure and resources are not adequate to cope with such an epidemic. Earlier this month, Peter Barter told the World Health Organisation’s annual Asia-Pacific conference that HIV infection rates in some areas had reached double figures, even 30% in isolated cases, he said. The World Health Organisation has warned that the number of infections in Papua New Guinea could reach one million by 2015, unless decisive action is taken. Dr Bernard Fabre-Teste, WHO adviser for Asia-Pacific region, said he was seeing a real determination by the PNG government to tackle the crisis. WHO staff are helping to train local doctors and nurses, support the implementation of care for sufferers and help implement the government’s HIV/Aids programme. Cambodia once faced a similar HIV/Aids epidemic, Dr Fabre-Teste says. “Now the situation is much better. There was a very important political commitment and HIV/Aids rates there are now decreasing. It’s slow progress, but we believe we can avert the kind of trend we have seen in sub-Saharan African,” he said.

Source: Intercessors Network

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CONTROVERIAL NEW BIBLE SEEKS TO MAKE A POINT

A new Bible translation is causing controversy by cutting out difficult parts related to economic justice, possessions and money. The new version, released by the Western Bible Foundation in the Netherlands, has created a storm by trying to make the Christian gospel more palatable. According to Chairman Mr. De Rijke the foundation has reacted to a growing wish of many churches to be market-oriented and more attractive. “Jesus was very inspiring for our inner health, but we don’t need to take his na ¯ve remarks about money seriously. He didn’t study economics, obviously.” According to De Rijke no serious Christian takes these texts literally. “What if all Christians stopped being anxious, for example, and started expecting everything from God? Or gave their possessions to the poor, for that matter. Our economy would be lost. The truth is quite the contrary: a strong economy and a healthy work ethic is a gift from God.” The foundation wanted to “boldly go where no one else has gone before” by cutting out the confusing texts. “We don’t use them anyway! Show me where Christians are selling their possessions and giving the money to the poor.” Some of the most important passages of the Bible: the Ten Commandments, sections of Isaiah, Proverbs, and the Sermon on the Mount, contain holes where the original translation urged radical actions around money, justice or affluence. Hundreds of Western Bibles have been sold in the first few weeks, whilst anxious Christians filled newspapers and web logs with their doubts. The Western Bible however is an attempt to confront Christians with the fact they are not taking the words of Jesus on money and justice issues seriously. It is published by Time to Turn, a network of Christian students and young adults in the Netherlands “who want to choose a sustainable and just way of life, based on their faith in Jesus Christ.” Time to Turn is linked to the international student movement Speak. Frank Mulder, chairman of Time to Turn, is surprised by the commotion. “Many Christians accept the Western lifestyle, including the degradation of creation and the injustice of our trade, and they only take the easy parts of the gospel. But it isn’t until we publish this gospel with holes, that they get upset and confused!” There is a lesson in that for us all!

Source: Intercessors Network

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MUSLIM PUPILS BEAT TEACHER TO DEATH IN NIGERIA

Muslim pupils at a secondary school in Nigeria have beaten a teacher to death after accusing her of desecrating the Koran, police and witnesses said. Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was supervising an all-girl class while they were taking an Islamic Religious Knowledge examination. In accordance to school procedure, she collected papers, books and bags before the exam and accidentally dropped them in front of the class. One of the girls responded by starting to cry and telling her classmates that there had been a copy of the Quran in her dropped bag. The girl claimed that because Oluwatoyin was a Christian, she had desecrated the Quran by touching it. The students began to shout “Allahu Akbar (God is Great)” and then beat, stoned and clubbed Oluwatoyin to death. They dragged her corpse outside of the building and burned it. Police commissioner Joseph Ibi confirmed the killing and said their intervention had prevented the incident from turning into a riot. The incident was similar to one in February 2006 when five people were killed and several churches burned down by Muslims infuriated that a Christian teacher in a secondary school had tried to confiscate a Koran from a student who was reading it during class. Word got out that the teacher had desecrated the Koran, infuriating Muslims who went on the rampage. At least 15,000 people have died in religious, communal and political violence in Africa’s most populous country since 1999, when Nigeria returned to democracy after 30 years of almost unbroken military rule.

Source: Intercessors Network

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CATHOLIC SCHOOLS REJECT NON-FAITH QUOTAS

The Roman Catholic Church has rejected British Government proposals requiring faith schools to reserve a quarter of places for children of other faiths or none. The proposals, included in an amendment to the Education Bill, are intended to increase community integration.

But Archbishop Vincent Nichols, chair of the Catholic Education Service, said, the church’s schools ‘are essentially for Catholic children’. In the week that a new report showed that Catholic schools are more ethnically diverse than other schools, he said, ‘In terms of improving community understanding, Catholic schools are not the problem; they are part of the solution.’ The Board of Deputies of British Jews also dismissed quota proposals as ‘nonsensical’ if it actually prevented Jewish children from attending Jewish schools.

Source: The Guardian

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