Video – Asian Rural Institute: Ecumenism meets sustainable farming; Gaza hospital continues to serve the poor despite financial difficulties; Zimbabwean human rights activist detained ahead of elections; WCC remembers South Korean peace activist Oh Jae Shik; Church building destroyed in Egypt
Video – Asian Rural Institute: Ecumenism meets sustainable farming
ENS The Asian Rural Institute in Japan is an ecumenical training center for rural leaders. Founded in 1973, the aim of the program is to invite and train grassroots leaders to serve more effectively in their communities as they work for the poor, the hungry, and the marginalized. Episcopal Relief & Development and the United Thank Offering have provided ongoing support to the institution and several Episcopal Church missionaries and Young Adult Service Corps have served there in recent years.
Gaza hospital continues to serve the poor despite financial difficulties
ENS – On a recent sunny day in Gaza, mothers and their children waited on benches on the manicured campus outside of Al Ahli Arab Hospital to receive care from a hospital-run program that offers three-months of services to 750 children aged 0 to 5.
The nourishment program is just one of the many outpatient services the non-profit, public hospital operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem has continued as it transitions into a specialty hospital and weathers financial difficulties exacerbated by a recent loss of funding.
“It is our witness as Christians to serve the poor,” said Suhaila Tarazi, the hospital’s director. “With all that is going on in Egypt [political turmoil] and Syria [civil war], to keep a place like this one, a Christian place like this one, it’s important.”
More at:
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2013/01/09/gaza-hospital-continues-to-serve-the-poor-despite-financial-difficulties/
Zimbabwean human rights activist detained ahead of elections
A leading human rights activist in Zimbabwe, Okay Machisa, was arrested and denied bail earlier this week as part of what Amnesty International says is an ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in the country ahead of this year’s presidential, parliamentary and local government elections.
Machisa, who is the director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights), was arrested on 13 January in Harare and charged with publishing falsehoods, fraud and forgery after allegedly conducting illegal voter registration. He is remanded in custody until 30 January.
Another ZimRights official, Leo Chamahwinya, was arrested on 13 December 2012, and remains in detention. He faces the same charges.
Amnesty International’s southern Africa Director Noel Kututwa said: “This case has the hallmarks of politically motivated prosecutions calculated to instil fear among human rights defenders as the country prepares for elections sometime in the year.
“Many other human rights workers and NGO staff have been harassed, intimidated and arbitrarily detained by police as part of the ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in the country ahead of the elections.
“The authorities must act to halt such rights abuses and release all those detained as part of this crackdown. These cases cast doubt on whether the country is ready to hold a violence free election.”
WCC remembers South Korean peace activist Oh Jae Shik
Dr Oh Jae Shik, an ecumenical peace activist from South Korea was remembered by the World Council of Churches (WCC) General Secretary as “friend of the weak and marginalised”.
Oh died on 3 January in South Korea, at the age of 80. A former WCC staff member, he worked as director of the Commission of the Churches’ Participation in Development from 1988 to 1993.
Dr Oh was a member of several peace and justice movements in Asia, and was known as a human rights activist committed to inter-Korean reconciliation and humanitarian aid.
In his condolence message, the WCC General Secretary, the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, acknowledged Dr Oh’s work for justice in countries faced with challenges of poverty.
“His commitment and love for the people he served during his years at the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), the WCC and the numerous organisations he sponsored in Korea are a source of inspiration for those who seek to carry on the work of loving one’s neighbour with tenderness and walking humbly with the Lord,” said Dr Tveit.
Dr Oh served at the Social Education Institute of the Korea Christian Academy in Seoul, World Vision, Korea Student Christian Federation and Urban Rural Mission programme of the CCA. He also worked with the Young Men’s Christian Association and the National Council of Churches in Korea.
The World Council of Churches is an ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948. Today it brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church.
Church building destroyed in Egypt
A building owned by the Coptic Church has been destroyed by Islamist extremists in Egypt.
According to a report by Watani Newspaper, the structure was razed to the ground by a 5,000-strong mob.
The building, in the village of Fanous Village, Tamia District, was owned by a Coptic society affiliated to Mar-Girgis (St George’s) Church.
Construction began two months ago with official permission but it was not yet completed at the time of the attack.
The building was being erected on land donated by a Coptic villager and featured a reception hall and nursery.
The mob reportedly destroyed the building in response to a rumour circulating that it was a church. According to Coptic villagers, the violence was preceded by calls from local mosques to defend Muslims against Christians who were building a church.
At a meeting prior to the attack, Muslim and Christian elders had reportedly agreed that only the second floor of the building would be demolished.
A report has been filed with the police but so far no one has been arrested.
The demolition has spread fear of further attacks among Coptic residents.