Stolen childhoodGrowing up in the shadow of conflict

Assad’s exodusSyrians in exile

Far from homeThe human cost of

displacement

Ireland

Summer 2013

tear

Be part of a miracle www.tearfund.ie

2 summer 2013 teartimes summer 2013 teartimes 3

Welcome

There are some days and some situations that make me wish Jesus would come back right now. As you look through the pages of this issue of Tear Times, you may find yourself feeling the same…

But you don’t have to look far to see that God is at work and he is bringing restoration and hope through the local church. This is the heart of our mission. We can’t thank you enough for being part of this worldwide network of local churches which are bringing hope and love into the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people on this planet.

We cover some tough issues in this edition. On pages 3–4, you’ll meet the women and children growing up in the shadow of conflict in West Africa. And you’ll see how Tearfund’s church partner in Ivory Coast is helping to rebuild their future.

From there, we’ll journey to the Middle East to meet just some of the 1 million Syrians who have now fled their homeland. Our partners in Lebanon and Syria itself have been working tirelessly through local churches to meet the many and complex needs of refugees who have nothing.

And we find that, because displacement is a global issue, it’s on our doorstep too. On page 11, we take a long hard look at how we in Ireland treat our asylum-seekers and find ourselves lacking.

It’s humbling to recognise our dependence on God – and our dependence on faithful supporters like you. It’s cause for celebration too... because God is so good, all the time, and you are so tireless in your campaigning, giving and prayers. We never cease to be amazed at your creativity and generosity. Whether you’ve been flipping pancakes or running a marathon to raise funds for Tearfund (pages 12–13), thank you for the vital part you play in restoring hope and building God’s kingdom.

Sharan KellyChief Executive

TearfundWe are bringing hope and demonstrating love to the most vulnerable and marginalised people – through the local church.

© Tearfund Ireland 2013. All rights reserved. Permission is granted for the reproduction of text from this publication for Tearfund Ireland promotional use only. For all other uses, please contact us.

Cover photo: A billion children are affected by conflict and natural disaster. manxman/iStockphoto.com

GET IN TOUCH WITH US!Tearfund Ireland 2nd Floor, Ulysses House22–24 Foley St, Dublin 1enquiries@tearfund.ieTel: 01 878 3200www.facebook.com/tearfundireland

Sharan Kelly, Chief Executive

Tearfund Ireland. Registered Charity No. CHY 8600

The hidden casualties of war are often the children – and the depth of their suffering often goes unnoticed, writes Niamh Daly.

GROWING UP IN THE SHADOW OF CONFLICT

Stolen childhood

Stolen childhood

Growing up in the

shadow of conflict

Assad’s exodus

Syrians in exile

Far from home

The human cost of

displacement

Ireland

Summer 2013

tear

Be part of a miracle

www.tearfund.ie

Nina has suffered more trauma than most of us could ever imagine. And yet she’s just 18 months old. She has

lost her mother. She has been forced to flee her home, narrowly escaping with her life. Her daddy was badly hurt in a car crash and is too sick to look after her.

She has never known peace and stability. Nina and her five siblings now live with their granny, Kali, whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack.

4 summer 2013 teartimes

Call 01 878 3200 today or go online at www.tearfund.ie/donate

summer 2013 teartimes

Kali’s* wages as a housemaid are not enough to feed her six children – and her grandchildren – so Nina’s brothers and sisters scavenge what food they can from the rubbish bins at the local market.

Too much uncertainty and hunger for a little life.

Hidden hurtsNina is just one of more than 1 billion children

worldwide who are affected by conflict or natural disaster, according to Unicef’s Machel study.

The issues faced by children like Nina, growing up in the shadow of conflict, are not always obvious.

In West Africa, for example, children risk being recruited into the ranks of the world’s estimated 250,000 child soldiers; child trafficking is a real threat too. Then there’s the constant threat of sexual violence, HIV, flooding, poor sanitation and environmental degradation.

Sometimes their biggest needs go unnoticed. Many children need ongoing trauma counselling to help them move forward, away from the past and its pain.

Staying powerNina’s home is Ivory Coast, a nation dogged by

recurrent conflict since 1999.Nina and her family live with relentless

difficulty. They fled home in February 2011 when the military began shooting at houses in their area. They travelled 180 miles north to Kali’s hometown – only to return to find they had no income. ‘Our business closed because no one had any money,’ says Kali.

Things looked hopeless. But then, one day, Tearfund’s partner, L’Association des Femmes pour le Développement Integral en Côte d’Ivoire (AFDI), came knocking, bringing rice and offering prayer to those suffering trauma.

AFDI was founded by a group of women who came together to pray after being displaced during the civil conflict in 2002. As well as

providing emergency supplies, they are helping women rebuild their futures, by providing sewing and hair salon training as well as business grants. They’ve been able to help Kali with the paperwork to process her husband’s pension payments.

AFDI staff too have come under attack but they are determined to stand by women like Kali.

‘This organisation has become a family to me,’ says Kali. ‘They have been father and mother to me. AFDI have given us the strength to stay and fend for ourselves.’

New familyAnother person whom AFDI has helped is

18-year-old Celine. She vividly recalls the day that rebel soldiers

began banging on doors in her shanty town in Abidjan – and the tense wait as she and her parents huddled in fear. All afternoon they listened to gunfire. Then, at night, the door burst open and Celine’s parents were dragged out. Celine, 17 at the time, ran for her life.

As Celine began to search for information about her parents, she heard about AFDI. They found a foster family for her – and were able to provide food, clothing and bedding too.

Celine still does not know if her parents are alive or dead. But here at least she is safe and she can start to face the future, even dream of becoming a seamstress.

‘It’s extremely hard to talk about what’s happened,’ Celine says. ‘I miss my parents, despite the fact this family have welcomed me as their own child. I had no connection with AFDI before the war, but they have opened up their arms to welcome and take care of me.’

Celine and Nina have a long way to go. But, thanks to Tearfund’s partners, the shadow that conflict casts across their lives has grown a little shorter.

OPEN A NEW CHAPTER FOR NINA

Stolen childhood

*Names have been changed.

Nina is 18 months old. All she has ever known is conflict and uncertainty.

Nina is one in a billion – a billion children who are affected by conflict and natural disaster.

They desperately need help to leave the pain of the past behind. Will you help us build a more secure future for children like Nina around the world?

€6 a month over a year can pay for weekly home visits by a field worker, restoring a family’s hope through prayer, support and counselling

€12 a month over a year can fund income-generating activities for conflict survivors, from sewing lessons to small business grants.

Please set up your monthly gift today and help us be there for children like Nina long term.

5Richard Hanson/Tearfund.

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Syrians in exile

The number of people who have fled Syria has now topped the 1 million mark – and thousands more flood across the borders every day, desperate to escape the violence.

For Ali, his wife Manal* and their five children, home is a shed.

For the last few months, since they fled Syria and came to Lebanon, they have been living in a concrete shell, with only one room, an outside tap and no electricity.

Their shed in the Bekaa valley offers little protection from the winter cold – but at least here they feel safer.

They fled Syria in December, as the civil war gathered pace. By March, the UNHCR says, the escalating violence had forced 1 million Syrians to leave their homeland and displaced millions more inside the country.

The conflict began on 15 March 2011 with nationwide demonstrations as part of the wider protest that became known as the ‘Arab Spring’. Since then, about 70,000 people have been killed, half of them civilians.

The conflict has no clear fronts and there has been fighting in many towns and cities.

The Syrian government calls the insurgency an uprising of ‘armed terrorist groups and foreign mercenaries’; opponents of President Bashar al-Assad call him a ruthless dictator.

Church lifelineSoon after they arrived in Lebanon, Ali and Manal

found work packing grapes at a nearby vineyard, earning US$11 a day each. But when the season ended, they were left without work or an income. To complicate matters, Ali has a medical condition which he has been unable to treat recently because he cannot afford the medication.

Like many of those who are pouring across the border, the family are now facing ‘extremely difficult conditions’, according to Tearfund’s partner, the Lebanese Society for Educational and Social Development (LSESD).

Most refugees arriving in Lebanon are women and children. They arrive with virtually nothing and often get little help because agencies such as the UN are over-stretched and under-funded.

Ali and Manal were blessed to have come to the attention of Pastor Musa who leads a Baptist church in the Bekaa valley, a local partner of LSESD that supports more than 500 families.

The couple were visited by a church elder and then given a large box of food and some hygiene products. They are now one of 100 Syrian refugee families in the Bekaa valley who currently receive this type of help monthly through the church.

Facing the futureLike so many of the families whom LSESD is

supporting, Ali and Manal do not know what the future holds. They plan to return to Syria when it is safe to do so, but have no idea when this will be.

In the meantime, they are just trying to get by and continue to look for work. They recently started bringing their children to the church to attend Sunday School.

The church, they say, has been a lifeline to them in their troubles, and they are very grateful.

A place to call home

PRAYER FOR SYRIAJesus wept.Precious God, what makes you weep?What are the things in this world that break your heart? (silence)

Glorious God, we pray for the nation of Syria.We ask for your mercy.We pray for children who have lost parents and parents, children.The voiceless, who sleep to the rhythm of their tears.For all those who are chained by fear, O God, please bring peace.Lord, we pray that you may raise up peacemakers and those with generous loving hearts.We ask that you may give discernment and wisdom to leaders and others with influence, that a road of peace may be found.May justice flow and bring healing to this land.For the honour of your name,Amen.

Prayer by Dr Fred Drummond (National Director of the Evangelical Alliance in Scotland, and UK Director of Prayer)

Most Syrian refugees in Lebanon are women and children. Photos: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund.

* Names have been changed to protect identities

INSIDE SYRIA As the Syrian crisis deepens, Tearfund is establishing new partnerships with local churches within Syria – to provide urgent food aid to those who remain. Please consider giving today, to support Syrians who face tremendous difficulties and dangers.

www.tearfund.ie/donate

Elea

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Praise the Lord, my soul;

all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

and forget not all his benefits –

who forgives all your sins

and heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit

and crowns you with love and compassion.

Psalm 103:1– 4

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The human cost of displacement Love your neighbour

The sight of families desperately loading their worldly goods into cars or cases is depressingly familiar. The plight of millions of people worldwide who are displaced is close to God’s heart, writes Niamh Daly.

Today’s fluid borders mean that displaced people are no longer just pictures on the TV. They are in our community, perhaps in our street. They are among the poorest and most vulnerable members of our society, the very people Jesus called us to reach out to. Too often, their suffering is far from over when they reach our shores.

Areport issued by the Irish Refugee Council in September 2012* concluded that many child asylum-seekers are

living in extreme poverty, in overcrowded accommodation and with inadequate food. Children account for a third of all asylum-seekers in Ireland.

Currently, there are 6,740 asylum-seekers living in 43 ‘direct-provision’ hostels in Ireland. One such centre is Mosney, which is (incongruously) a former Butlin’s holiday camp 48km outside Dublin.

Asylum-seekers are barred from employment and education and often have to wait years for a decision on their application. Almost half of asylum-seekers living in such centres have been there for more than three years; some have waited more than five. The UN itself has expressed concern about these delays and the negative impacts of living in such housing.

In February, the Irish state apologised to thousands of vulnerable women and girls treated as virtual salves in the workhouses known as Magdalene laundries. Irish Times journalist Ann Marie Hourihane has implied a similar apology is due for ‘the way we treat asylum-seekers’ – but she is not optimistic.

On February 25, she wrote: ‘It looks like we’re going to have to wait until the Irish children of asylum seekers are old enough to write novels and films and television documentaries about their blighted childhoods before we, the public,

begin to look at how these families are living in our country at the moment.’

The Irish Refugee Council reports that, in 2010, just 135 people were accepted into Ireland as refugees, which equates to less than half the EU average acceptance rate. Their needs are huge – and require a much more generous response.

Jesus calls us to ‘love our neighbour’. We can pray for restoration for those millions displaced worldwide – and we can give too, through channels such as our Syria Crisis appeal (see back page). For ‘neighbours’ closer to home, such as asylum-seekers, we can challenge discrimination and pray for justice too – and we know that our God, who ‘defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among [us]’ (Deuteronomy 10:18), will answer.

*www.irishrefugeecouncil.ie

Far from home Love your neighbour

For millions of people worldwide, home is a distant memory. The statistics for ‘displaced persons’ spiral upwards, the numbers saying

nothing of the human tragedies being played out. Mali, Sudan, Myanmar... so many nations where conflict, drought and crushing poverty uproot lives and force people to flee.

The thousands spilling out across the border from Syria are just the latest casualties to join the estimated 42 million forcibly displaced worldwide, according to estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The UNHCR was set up in 1951 to help return home the estimated 1 million people still uprooted after the second world war. Since then, it has helped tens of millions.

God’s heart is always for the lost and his promise is always for restoration. As he says in Zephaniah 3: 19–20, ‘I will gather the exiles. I will give them praise and honour in every land where they have suffered shame... I will bring you home.’ As the number of asylum-seekers in our

own country increases, could it be that he invites us to the same ministry?

Displaced peopleVITAL STATISTICS:

46 per cent of refugees and 34 per cent of asylum-seekers are children under 18.

Developing countries host four-fifths of the world’s refugees.

There are currently 42.5 million displaced people worldwide: 15.2 million are refugees, 895,000 are asylum-seekers and 26.4 million are internally displaced.

KEY ISSUES: Poor health or nutrition Trauma: family members may have been

separated or killed Vulnerability to abuse and exploitation Lack of assets, including land Lack of identity papers and travel

documents Little access to services eg healthcare,

education, markets, jobs Hostility: locals in their ‘host community’

may resent them, particular where resources such as water are scarce, or see them as a threat to social stability.

Source: UNHCR (2011) Global overview

Photo: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund

summer 2013 teartimes 13

Fundraising

Connected Church update

Resources for harvest

Your campaigning works! Living faith

The Carrigrohane Union of Parishes in Cork recently became a Connected Church, linking itself with Tearfund’s work through the local church in north-west Cambodia. The Union will be partnering across the miles with Tearfund partner Cambodia Hope Organisation which is working with poor communities particularly vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking.

Meanwhile, Holy Trinity Church Rathmines, in association with the Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal, raised more than €20k for its Connected Church programme in Malawi. Congratulations to Emma Harper and her team at HTC!

This harvest, we are producing a church pack that is brimming with resources to use during your harvest celebration. Your church will be able to meet Sina, a young mother in Cambodia who was powerless to choose a good future for herself and her family – before the church became part of her story. We have Tearfund speakers available who would love to join you at your event. For more information, contact Emma Lynch on 01 878 3200.

A big ‘thank you’ to everyone who sent emails to Ministers Eamon Gilmore TD and Joe Costello TD, asking them to champion ‘innovative thinking’ to solve the problems of hunger and climate change at the Hunger Summit in April 2013. We were encouraged in February when Eamon Gilmore and others issued a press release which said the government and the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice would be hosting the international conference ‘to stimulate debate on these linked challenges (hunger and climate change) and to inspire innovative thinking and solutions’.

Thanks to all our volunteers in Dublin and Cork who helped make the ‘Living faith’ conference such a success this year. The theme was living a resurrection life in the midst of pain and suffering. The aim of the annual conference is to inspire and equip Irish Christians for mission.

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International news

Farewell, ChristineChristine Mulligan,

who has been

managing the

Tearfund office for

four years and has

been a significant

figure in day-to-day operations, is setting out

on the next part of her career journey. We are

really going to miss her and the ‘magic glue’

she brought to all that we do.

Every rich blessing on your future, Christine!

A signature that brings transformationThanks to those of you who have completed and returned your CHY2 for 2012. It is amazing that tax paid in Ireland has transformed the lives of the most vulnerable women and children in Zimbabwe, Cambodia, India and, more recently, Syria. If you have not already done so, please sign and return your CHY2 as soon as possible.

Direct any questions about reclaiming tax on your donations to the office on 01 878 3200.

Flipping marvellousThanks to the many supporters who hosted pancake parties in support of the Stop Hunger Now campaign. Homes, churches, even Footprints Bookshop on Talbot Street in Dublin (pictured) hosted a poverty-busting party. All fundraising proceeds will go to support our work in rolling out the church-based Umoja programme, which equips communities to work their own way out of poverty.

Louise Halpin from IBI decided to sample the pancakes on offer at Footprints Bookshop in Dublin.

Marathon leads to the altarWhen Marie Fallon from

Open Arms Church in Newbridge decided to sign up to run the Dublin City Marathon for

Tearfund last year, she had no idea her decision would be quite so

dramatically life-changing. Not only did she

raise funds to help transform lives in some

of the poorest countries on earth, she also

met and fell in love with Jason, one of her

fellow runners from the same church. We’re

thrilled to hear they recently got engaged.

Congratulations!

Coming up…

Cork Mini-Marathon: 25 September, 2013

Dublin City Marathon: 28 October, 2013

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New life in LimerickOur grateful thanks to the Walsh family in

Limerick who donated to our Syria Crisis appeal – as a thanksgiving offering for the safe

delivery of their calves.

God is all about restoration and ‘redeeming our lives from the pit’ (Psalm 103:4). Over the next few months, we are praying for communities that face tough challenges, whether that’s conflict, relentless poverty or the aftermath of disaster. And we praise our faithful God that he brings hope: ‘But you are a shield around me, O Lord; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head’ (Psalm 3:3).

JUNERestoring HaitiThree-and-a-half years ago, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, killing more than 300,000 people and leaving 1 million homeless. The recovery continues.

SUNDAY 2NDThank God for Open Arms Community Church Newbridge who have raised nearly €10,000 to send 180 Restavick child labourers to school in Haiti, through the Connected Church programme.

SUNDAY 9THNew homes, schools, livelihoods, decent sanitation... just some of the signs of progress in Haiti, where Tearfund’s been working closely with local churches to transform lives. Pray for Tearfund’s Jean-Claude Cerin and his team as they continue to make Jesus’ love visible to Haitians in need.

SUNDAY 16THMum-of-three Rosite has rebuilt her home with money she’s earned from selling mangoes. Tearfund has provided Rosite with two goats from which she’ll be able to breed and sell the offspring, to help pay for things like school fees. ‘My situation will change now,’ says Rosite. Pray God’s rich blessing on those such as Rosite striving to rebuild their lives.

SUNDAY 23RDSome 8,000 people have died of cholera in Haiti since 2010. Tearfund health and hygiene awareness training has benefited 96,000 people, including pupils at Les Ephirs School who now know to wash their hands before eating.

SUNDAY 30THWhen tropical storm Isaac struck Haiti last year, communities where Tearfund’s been working were better prepared to protect themselves. One

schoolteacher said, ‘When there’s a storm warning, I know what to do and tell my students.’ Thank God that, through our work preparing people for disasters, lives are being saved.

JULYShoots of hopeThis week, let’s pray together for communities and Tearfund partners across the vast area of South-East Asia and the Mekong Sub-Region. Because of the sensitivities of working in this region, we can only share limited details.

SUNDAY 7THIn Cambodia, the government has started to close orphanages that do not meet a minimum standard. Tearfund partner M’Lup Russey is reintegrating children and young adults into their own families or with foster carers. Pray that the transition goes well.

SUNDAY 14THJust four per cent of Cambodia’s population are Christians. The church is small and has depended on outside assistance. Tearfund’s partner, International Cooperation Cambodia (ICC), is mobilising churches to help themselves and their neighbours using their own resources. Pray for a shift in the mindset of Christian leaders through this process.

SUNDAY 21STRev Mai Ki* is passionate about helping people in her native Myanmar. Rev Mai empowers people who are often overlooked, including women and people living with disabilities. Please pray for her.

SUNDAY 28TH‘Lord, we praise you for the way you have been transforming and encouraging the minority church in this region. We pray that these shoots of hope and new life will continue to grow and flourish.’ Tearfund’s Markus Köker.

AUGUSTChurch bringing changeTearfund’s long-standing partner in Ethiopia, Kale Heywet Church (KHC), is a dynamic organisation reaching out to help people overcome poverty in a huge variety of ways. From water and sanitation projects to self-help savings groups, its projects are strong proof that the local church transforms lives.

SUNDAY 4THEx-soldier and father-of-six Abebe was unable to support his family before KHC started working with his village. Now, he says, his future is bright. ‘We used to depend on other hands to feed us. We have been taught about the meaning of saving, entrepreneurship, business skills…’ Praise God and pray for organisations such as KHC, equipping people to work their own way out of poverty.

SUNDAY 11TH‘Toilets help make our surroundings clean and decent, giving privacy, dignity, convenience and safety,’ says KHC’s Addise Amado. ‘They can reduce death of children from diarrhoea, and empower communities to advance.’ Pray for projects such as KHC’s bringing sanitation to some of the 2.5 billion people worldwide who do not have access to a clean, safe toilet.

SUNDAY 18THFather-of-eight Wondimu built a safe, hygienic toilet for his family with the help of KHC. ‘You can lock it,’ he says proudly, ‘and it has a gate and a roof.’ Give thanks that every day more Ethiopians like Wondimu are being empowered in this way.

SUNDAY 25THBirtukan used to beg on the streets so she could feed her children, before she joined a KHC self-help group. Things have changed dramatically for her: she now runs a successful market stall. ‘People respect me, like a proper person,’ she says. Thank God that, through his church, lives can be renewed.

SEPTEMBERUnity and freedomMalawi is one of the world’s poorest countries but its current economic situation is particularly unstable. Failed harvests in the south last year led to widespread hunger. Our partners and other aid agencies there face tough challenges.

SUNDAY 1STAt the end of last year, Malawi faced serious economic challenges due to the 50 per cent devaluation of the national currency, the Malawi Kwacha. Pray that God will guide the political leadership of Malawi.

SUNDAY 8TH Much of Malawi’s population is suffering, not just poor people. The current economic instability means that young people fortunate enough to have completed secondary education cannot progress further; university admissions fell from 2,000 to 950 last year. Lift up in prayer Malawi’s future teachers and doctors, that they will advance their training.

SUNDAY 15THCorruption in Malawi is on the increase. The Auditor General’s office has been concealing its findings over poor financial management issues in government departments. Pray that honesty, accountability, transparency and integrity prevail.

SUNDAY 22NDIncreasing poverty and unemployment have also prompted an escalation in crime. ‘I have noticed more armed robberies, burglaries and car jacks, and last year 22 lives were lost between April and August, which is unheard of,’ says Tearfund’s Vincent Moyo. Pray that the police will rise to the challenge, arrest the perpetrators and protect innocent citizens.

SUNDAY 29THMalawi’s national motto is ‘unity and freedom’. Some 75 per cent of the population are Christian and the church plays a major role in society. Pray that its leadership will commit to upholding this motto, especially on behalf of the poorest communities.

LET US PRAY

*Name changed to protect identity.

Bushra’s family fled Syria in the middle of the night.

They have no income, no healthcare, no idea what lies ahead.

They are not alone: 1 million other Syrians have fled their homeland.

Tearfund partners in the region are working hard to help families. They are providing basics like blankets, medicines and kitchen tools. They are offering psychological help too.

€21 will provide food for a family for a week.

€65 will provide bedding and towels for two families.

€140 will provide kitchen kits for three families.

Please give to our Syria appeal now – in a crisis like this, every cent counts.

SHOW BUSHRA SHE IS NOT ALONE

Call 01 878 3200 today or go online at www.tearfund.ie/donate

Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund.