365 ways to change the world

I bought the book over New Year in Honiton. And I use it reasonably frequently to inspire me. (not quite daily) Every now and again, I post a link on Twitter.

I like the idea of reading it alongside my devotional material as a sort of practical prayer resource. Faith needs to work itself out in action.

It is certainly worth bookmarking the website 365act '365 ways to change the world'

It inspired me to get back blogging after a nearly 2 month break! (too much travelling)

I was also inspired by the FreeHugs campaign started by Juan Mann watch the video and read the story

Finally (for now) another website we are what we do expounds a simple equation

Turning Point - Kenya

Jon and Jo are from our church,  Christchurch Woking  (CCW).  They are also linked to CMS through the Salt Programme.   They are with us this weekend reporting on their work in Kibera with Turning Point Trust. 

TPT works in Kibera, the biggest slum in Kenya, 'home' for more than a million people tightly packed in 3 square kilometres. They run 2 centres in Masumau and Kianda, helping to improve the quality of life for families there. It is child-focused community development.  As well as 2 centres in Kibera itself, there are Micro-Finance projects to help families start up small buinesses and a 30 acre Farm Project in Kinangop, 120km northwest of Kibera, to rehabilitatea dozen  single mamas and their many children and to help them with a new life out of the slum.  As Jon said  'It is easy getting them out of Kibera, but it's hard getting Kibera out of them'.

Graceworks is sending a team to work there again this summer running the summer camp for 121 chldren in a boarding school for 2 weeks.  It is being hosted by 'Em', also from CCW who is a volunteer working for TPT. And my son Andy is part of the team.

Have a look at the video materials on the Turning Point website on Kibera,  Camps  and Farm 

and also a video my son Jonny made of one of an earlier camp Project Kenya 2007

I have visited the project a couple of times and met up again earlier this year in Nairobi. It's a great project and Jon&Jo are doing a  fantastic job. 

Santuary - a garden of reguge - Birmingham

Ruth Geldhill's article in the Times Online 'No bed of roses for asylum seekers'   draws attention to  a new garden at the at the BBC Gardener's World Live at the NEC in Birmingham this week. previous CMS Chair of Trustees,  Rt Rev David Urquart, the Bishop of Birmingham,  is pictured here praying in the garden, which has been created by Whitchurch, Rhiwbina and Birchgrove Churches Together. 

Bishop David has written an article about Sanctuary which Ruth Gledhill includes in her Blog 

On first impressions Sanctuary Garden is a simple design, with a calming pool and beautiful planting. But this garden has hidden layers and attempts to both convey a message and challenge popular misconceptions. It encourages visitors to reflect on how asylum seekers are treated in the UK.

Scratch the surface and the real story unfolds. At its heart, a tree, stripped of its bark and painted white represents the thousands of ‘Living Ghosts’: people now living in the UK without any support from the state, unable to work, homeless and destitute. Many consider starving and sleeping on the streets to be preferable to returning to the dangers from which they have fled.

Meanwhile in the public mind asylum seekers have become synonymous with benefit cheats, scroungers and parasites.

I believe a garden is a fitting symbol with which to win hearts and minds. Since I was a small child a garden has been for me a place of wellbeing and peace. I enjoy the mixture of recreation and creativity that it offers me and when I can find a spare hour I often choose to spend it in the garden, pruning, sowing, weeding or planting.

The Sanctuary garden is well designed with features that reflect some of the struggles faced by asylum seekers as well as aspirations to live a productive and fulfulled life in security. Gardens are a recurring motif in the Bible as places of flourishing and harmony, representing a balance between rest and relaxation with work and productivity

In a climate of misconception and prejudice can we dare to dream of offering a garden sanctuary to people who have reached these shores and asked for refuge? Can we begin to offer a welcome and hospitality that is generous and not grudging, magnanimous rather than meagre. Are we prepared to offer meaningful employment to those with skills, homes, shelter and food to those with no access to benefits or healing, therapy and comfort to those traumatised by violence?

It is equally fitting that this garden is being displayed days before the launch of Refugee Week. This year the overall aim of Refugee Week is to create a better understanding between communities by promoting positive representations of refugees.A new campaign, Simple Acts, has been launched which is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to change perceptions of refugees. These acts include reading an article about exile, watching a film about refugees, praying for an asylum seeker, or cooking a dish from another country.

    

                                                                               

What simple act of kindness can we do this week?    I fancy a curry and a rewatch of the 'Kite Runner'  - And I'll inlcude something in the prayers and sermon on Sunday. 'Bishyar zyad Tashakur'  'Bamane Khuda'. 

Conflict Transformation in Nepal

I received an update  from Stephen from India, doing reconcilliation work in remote parts of Nepal.  There is a fuller article on his work on the CMS website 

Over the past months we have been working with our selected partner – Rural
Community Development Centre ( RCDC) , a small NGO which is based in a remote part of the district in far west Nepal where I work , which has been greatly affected by the decade long armed conflict between Army and Maoist insurgents . We are now done with organisation assessment and are moving on to capacity building in community peace building and trauma counselling to address the urgent needs in the area. This is going to require frequent visits over the next few months to the villages which are their work area and which lie two days walk away from the nearest vehicle accessible road. In late May , of everything goes as planned , we hope to develop a three year program concentrating on Conflict Transformation capacity building and income generating projects for people affected by conflict . Do continue to pray for strength and wisdom for this.

Pray also for the developing situation in Nepal. Though post civil war there has been uneasy peace in the country, things are changing now. Ethnic tensions are rising and there are increasing cases of related violence, demonstrations and blockade of roads. The communist lead coalition government seems unable to control the situation and there are now rival fractions within the Maoist party. Both the Nepal army and the Maoist people's army have started recruitment again. The country also faces an acute shortage of electricity and essential commodities which is raising animosity among the people.

 

I thank the Lord for all this blessings. It would have been difficult to pull through the past year without the support and fellowship of the UMN team here. Their friendship, care and concern made adjusting up here a lot easier. The people in the community have been equally great. Their initial curiosity has died down; I no longer get startled by faces peering in through the only window into my room. Now, they barge in without knocking or notice to chat or just to say hello. Privacy is just a memory. There are times when it all gets a bit irritating but then there are times, like recently when I had a bad case of food poisoning when I am humbled and moved by their genuine love and concern. I think a sense of humour; flexibility; lack of preconceived notions ;and the openness to go with the flow make all the difference in adjusting and eventually serving effectively or being miserable, giving up and going home – thoughts I admit I harboured during my first two months here.

I really liked his description of rural life - 'faces peering in windows'. 'Privacy is a memory' To fit in another culture means bridges need to be crossed. and some can feel quite precarious.