home | gallery | news | northern uganda | contact
Bangladesh

Empowering marginalised women is one goal of CMS working with the Church of Bangladesh. Many women are forced into slavery and prostitution to support their families, and also lack basic education.

The Church of Bangladesh’s wide-ranging social development programmes show Christian love in action, enabling the poorest — mainly women — to gain respect and dignity as well as increased income.

One of the Church’s projects, the Ekota Literacy project, aims to help women to read and write — empowering them to to fend for themselves and their families, giving them their first chance of a new way of life. It also encourages women to come together to generate income and save, allowing them to see a life beyond slavery and prostitution, one where they can change their own situation.    
Democratic Republic of Congo

RAPED FOR THREEE YEARS. INFECTED.
WHO WILL TELL ME WHAT I'M WORTH?

Thousands of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been raped in the recent civil war and its aftermath. CMS partners are helping them rediscover dignity, self-respect and healing.

Harriet (28) was abducted by rebels, along with her little brother and her three-month-old daughter. The soldiers, commenting on her youth and beauty, took her to their commander, where she was forced to become his "wife".

The rapes went on for three years. When Harriet discovered she was carrying the commander's child, the small family decided to try and flee. Twice they were caught and beaten. By now Harriet was seven months pregnant. She begged to be allowed to go, and finally was thrown out of the camp, with no transport and little sense of where the road ahead of her might lead.

Disoriented, she somehow reached Bukavu and was directed to the cathedral…

Here Harriet's luck finally begins to change. She meets Cecille, part of a Mothers' Union team who are reaching out to hundreds of abused women and who have received trauma counselling training through CMS. The team clothe her and take her to the hospital. It is soon clear that the rebel commander has infected Harriet with HIV.

Cecille and her colleagues now counsel Harriet through the birth and months of deep distress and depression. Sometimes this means sitting with her as she cries for days at a time. Always it means assuring her of her own value and the love of those around her. Amazingly, through liaison with CMS mission partner Judy Acheson, it has been possible to find Harriet's family back in Kindu, and let them know she is still alive. Soon we will get her home.

CMS has stood alongside the church in the Congo for many years. Now our support is right behind the effort and commitment of local Christians to reach out and help those who have suffered most.

Baby Zawadi, born in March 2004, will never know his father.
  back   
India

As the HIV/AIDS pandemic in India threatens to spiral out of control, CMS partner Dr Lalita Edwards is convinced that the Church must rise to the challenge.

Lalita is an HIV/AIDS consultant and trainer for the churches. From her base in Pune, she uses grassroots church networks to train volunteers to care for people living with HIV/AIDS, who are often rejected by their communities, and to raise awareness in others.

Lalita recalls a young boy with AIDS in hospital, being looked after by his father. He was deteriorating and had a particularly bad skin condition. The hospital called Lalita and asked her to come and see the boy. When she arrived, they said, ‘Please, will you just touch him?’ She did so, asking ‘Why did you call me?’ The answer came, ‘Because we knew no one else would touch him.’

Lalita is calling on her fellow Christians to get more involved. ‘I think it is for the Church to stand up in a time of need,’ she says. ‘The crisis will reveal the Church’s character.’
  back   
Israel/Palestine

CMS supports the Sabeel project, based in Jerusalem: it is Arabic for ‘the way’ and also ‘a channel’ or ‘spring’ of life-giving water. Sabeel is a movement of Palestinian Christians which seeks to deepen their faith, to lead them to act for justice and love, and to transform society.

In the Palestinians’ daily life of occupation, violence, discrimination and human rights abuses, Sabeel strives towards justice, peace, non-violence, liberation and reconciliation for people on all sides of the divide in the Middle East.

CMS’ Louise Gleich, currently volunteering with Sabeel, says, “Sabeel claim that forgiveness, not revenge, is the truly human response to suffering caused by others. They call on Palestinians and Israelis to forgive and thus end the cycle of violence.”
  back   
Philippines

There are an estimated 1.5 million street children in the Philippines. Many surive through pick-pocketing, drug trafficking and postitution.

CMS supports Living Streams Ministries, Singapore, which has two aims in the Philippines: to meet the physical needs of the poor, and to plant churches.

Since May 2003 they have launched four children’s clubs in the slums, regularly reaching over 400 children: ‘We see the children glow with joy when given time and attention, the chance to play, to hear of God’s love, to be children.’

A current worker in the Phillipines reports how the project is touching the lives of the young volunteer mothers. ‘God is using this work not only to enrich the lives of the children but also to empower the local people and highlight their individual skills and talents.’
  back   
Uganda

THEY MADE ME BEAT MY BROTHER TO DEATH.
CAN I EVER BE NORMAL?

In the last 18 years, 28,000 children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda, many forced to become child soldiers. Often they are made to commit horrific acts against their own family. CMS partners are helping children to become footballers not fighters.

How do abducted children who escape the rebels, or those who live in fear of being taken, begin to forget the horror and be normal children?

CMS sponsored an under-14s football league, run by the Anglican Diocese of Kitgum, as one gesture of our solidarity with the people of northern Uganda.

“This is the first initiative of its kind,” says William Opoka Otti, District Sports Officer for Kitgum. “The children are from camps, nearby villages, and from the town. Each team has 30 children, in all there are nine teams, but there are 456 members in the project.

“We have really realised the great effects of the game since starting this project,” says William. “Playing football raises the children’s spirits. It gives them a sense of achievement.”

Robert Okumu, the 31-year-old coach of Cornerstone team, says, “These children are most traumatised. This playing helps them find themselves.

“Some of these children were abducted, and they are starting to forget what happened to them.”

The captain of his team is Thomas Omony, aged 13.

“I am a Senior One student. My ambition is to play professionally — my favourite player is Roberto Carlos of Brazil.

“I was on a village team of young ones before this league. This league is better because there are many people here.

“All the boys in my team sleep away from home — I sleep at the primary school. This is because the situation is bad — the rebels always come around the village where I live.

“I live with my mother. My father was killed by rebels when I was little. I am supported by my grandfather who sometimes buys me footballs and a jersey. I play with bare feet — we all do because we can’t afford shoes.”

For background on the conflict in northern Uganda, select here. For more stories from northern Uganda, select here. back   
United Kingdom

‘Because there isn’t any other black family on our street, we stand out. People wonder why we would come all the way from Kenya and choose to live in an estate they consider “bad”.’

Cyprian and Jayne Yobera, with their children Christina and Jesse, moved to Manchester as CMS mission partners in 2002. They had more than 25 years of youth-work experience between them. They are part of the Message Trust’s Eden team in Harpurhey, an area where drug-related crime, truancy, family neglect and violence are common.

‘It has been amazing to see changes in the community: young people becoming Christians, families changing, people being healed, young people who were violent towards the team and community getting actively involved in groups.”

“We know this is just the beginning but we’re not going anywhere!”
  back   
Sudan

YEARS OF WAR. EVERYTHING DESTROYED.
WHO WILL HELP US REBUILD?

The people of southern Sudan are getting ready to rebuild schools, churches and communities when peace finally comes after 21 years of war. CMS is enabling people to see they don't have to depend on outside donors - because everyone has gifts to give.

The destruction resulting from Sudan's civil war means that the few schools that do exist meet under trees. No wonder that the southern Sudanese people want to replace the trees with proper school buildings. Churches, hospitals and roads have all been destroyed too.

With so much to do it is all too easy to be overwhelmed and rely on outside aid for the rebuilding process. That is why CMS instigated a series of workshops for church leaders of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) - our main partner and the second-largest Church in the Anglican Communion.

The workshops offer people a chance to learn the skills that are needed to provide meaningful leadership in peace time. But they are also about more than practical skills. CMS regional manager Pauline Walker, who shares the Kampala office of the ECS, recalls a mood change in a workshop in 2002.

The discussion leader asked, "Who are the donors?" At first the usual answers came: "Christian Aid… TearFund…"

But who is a donor? Simply, someone who has something to give. If your child is hungry, you give them food - if you have any. That makes you a donor. Pauline describes how the mood lifted as people realised that they were not totally dependent on outside help.

"The biggest thing I have learned is that we are all donors," said Bishop Levi Hassan of Ibba Diocese. "We have all got something to give. If we have got mud to make bricks for a building, that is our donation."

Now Bishop Levi is back in his diocese where people are doing just that - making bricks for new schools. Perhaps CMS mission partner and construction engineer Garry Ion will be able to help them…

On the road to reconstruction

Construction engineer Garry has spent most of the last six months bumping around the appalling roads of southern Sudan, making contact with church leaders in remote areas. Together they have been assessing needs, surveying and planning, and Garry has come up with a standard school design that can be built two classrooms at a time and grow with the school. He is also producing drawings for churches, colleges, office blocks and houses.

"In the unexceptional diocese of Ezo," Garry reports, "which covers 1,500 square miles and has a population of approximately 300,000, half of the population are of school age. At present there are no secondary schools. The few primary schools in existence operate under trees." The diocese has a total of 25 teachers who have had any kind of training. That's one partially trained teacher for every 6,000 children.

"As well as having few schools, there is no clean water source or functioning health facilities," Garry continues. "Any assistance I can offer is a drop in the ocean. I realise my visits have brought some hope.

" 'Go and tell people about our situation' is repeated in each community I visit."

  back   
Tanzania

DEAF. MUTE. ‘A BURDEN ON MY FAMILY.’
WHERE’S MY FUTURE?

In Tanzania people with disabilities are at the bottom of the pile. CMS partners are giving them the opportunity to earn their own living and challenge the attitudes of their society.

“Just a few months ago, 19-year-old David Sanga sat dejectedly at home in semi-rural Tanzania with no job or further education prospects and no hope for the future,” writes CMS mission partner Susie Hart.

“Being profoundly deaf and mute, he was considered by all to be a burden to his already economically impoverished family.

“David had finished his primary education the previous year but, despite being bright, had failed to get a place at secondary school. Moreover, thanks to some local bias against deafness, he stood little chance of getting a job in an already overcrowded labour market.

“Other friends from his school year who’d gained places at secondary school were unable to go because their families just didn't think it worth investing money in educating a deaf child.

“The future looked bleak.”

Craft workshops Then CMS sent mission partner and textile designer Susie Hart to the area where they live, Iringa, in central Tanzania.

Susie has worked with the local diocese to set up income-generating craft workshops, such as on hand-made papermaking, and to offer training and genuine employment opportunities to these bright but otherwise abandoned young people.

They also make many other paper-based items and are so overwhelmed with orders that they have a two-month waiting list for their products.

David and his deaf colleagues are feeling very different now. They have learnt new skills, are earning good wages, are living independently for the first time and learning what the Bible has to say to guide them in their new lives. They even help to support the families who had considered them burdensome. Prejudices within their communities are being challenged.

Their new shop space will also sell products from two other projects that Susie has set up with the diocese since she, her vet husband and their young daughter arrived in 2002.

One is a beaded-jewellery project for young physically disabled people and the other is a quilt project for the local Mothers’ Union.

Susie says of her work with CMS: “It's about restoring hope and dignity to people who have been written off by their society and left at the bottom of the pile ... restoring the image of God in those who had been considered less than human and undeserving of compassion and basic human care."
back   

© CMS 2004