May news from Crossroads Hong Kong
0 comments | Posted by St Peters on 31 May 2011 in Missionary Support ::
Website: www.crossroads.org.hk
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION
What is this? We are donated goods of superb quality by business and private donors in Hong Kong. We distribute these to people in need, locally in our community, and around the world.
What are we working on in June? A container for a halfway home for orphans in Romania who, at 18, are turned out on to the streets at great risk. Help for children who are HIV+ in Tanzania. A shipment to support new and struggling immigrants in Israel.
GLOBAL HAND
What is this? Global Hand is a match-making service that links for profit and non profit organisations that want to help with global challenges.
We welcomed back GH Vice President, Matt, this month, after a sojourn in Sri Lanka where Microsoft had invited him to present at a conference on using technology to help people in poverty.
GLOBAL X-PERIENCE
What is this? In Global X-perience, participants don’t just hear about global problems. They actually ‘step into the shoes’ of people who face them. So, for a few hours, they ‘become’ refugees, slum dwellers, disaster victims, blind people, HIV-vulnerable and so on.
With World Refugee Day on June 20th, we are partnering with the United Nations’ refugee agency, the UNHCR, by giving people a ‘taste’ of refugee life in the centre of the city. We’ll also host a special day of Refugee Runs here on site. To date, over 60,000 people have taken part in ‘x-periences’ of others’ needs since we started Global X-perience.
GLOBAL HANDICRAFTS
What is this? As well as giving aid to people, we also love to generate income for them so they can have ongoing solutions to poverty. Aid helps them today. An income helps them tomorrow. So our Global Handicraft Marketplace sells goods from people all over the world on a Fair Trade basis.
In June, our Marketplace will also have a special focus on refugees by selling fair trade goods made by refugees in different places.
CHILD BOMBERS
Why do we do the work we do? What motivates our team to pour out our lives in this way? In a nutshell, we are motivated by the suffering of those we serve. Read the following story, for example!
Akhtar, 14 years old, was walking home from school in South Asia when he was grabbed and thrown into a vehicle by six men. Confused and scared, Akhtar was given his mission by the terrorists. He was to be sent to a warring nation, taught how to properly operate a vest full of bombs, and then told to carry out a suicide attack.
9-year-old Ghulam can tell a similar, chilling tale. He and three other children were taken, schooled in ways to use a suicide vest, and given their assignment to kill. In the case of Akhtar and Ghulam, the missions were aborted when officials intercepted them at the border, and took them to a refuge, where they told their story to reporters. “I miss my family,” said Ghulam, his childish words in stark contrast with the man’s job he had been sent to do. “I want to go home.”
Where these two boys escaped, other children and adolescents have fulfilled their tragic assignments as pawns in a horrific and unjust war. In the past two months, there were two new cases of child suicide bombers executing deadly attacks in this part of the world. The double tragedy is the lie on which they based their actions: they were taught that, in their suicide attack, the enemy would die but they would not.
The lives of Akhtar and Ghulam inspired our resident singer/songwriter Helen Mottee to pen these simple, but poignant, words.
_I’m just a little boy
9 years old
Got to do as I’m told._
_I’m just a little boy
And I’m afraid
But they’ve told me I must be brave
So it must be ok._
_I guess I’d rather be at school
But they’re telling me
This is way more cool
I think that I would rather play
Not sure if I want to die today._
Helen Mottee 2011 ©
Those of you who know Helen’s songs have no doubt about their power. As one listener said, ‘She sings the silent scream’. Others wrote: ‘Her lyrics ask the questions we don’t want to face. Music like this can change the world.’
‘The messages keep coming back long after the music player is turned off.’ ‘Helen sings with a passion that provokes her listeners.’ Her website, www.helenmottee.com, brings many such comments.
Helen’s words remind us of the singer/songwriter Keith Green as they leave no room for any of us to hide. You can’t easily be the same person after listening to her poignant, powerful lyrics.
This year has been particularly fruitful for Helen as the MD seems to have inspired her to write many new and powerful songs. Her recent recruitment trip to New Zealand saw her impact schools, clubs and colleges, using music to be a voice for the voiceless. More trips are in discussion. Do let us know if you would like her to visit you.
We are grateful to the MD for the way he is using Helen’s music. Helen is working on a new album which we can uphold. Search by her name on the Internet radio site, www.jango.com where you can hear some of her better known song, including ‘Don’t tell me’, ‘Do you’ (her refugee song) and the award winning ‘They tell me this is Africa.’ She is gaining scores of new fans, through this site, every week, and that has to mean lives deeply touched.
COMPASSION ON THE CATWALK
We marvel at how the MD uses one part of the work to make something incredible happen in another – often in ways we couldn’t possibly predict! Last year, one of Hong Kong’s top fashion designers took part in our ‘Global Survivor’ experience and was not the same man afterwards. (This is a 24 hour ‘x-perience’ in which participants meet, first hand, the horror of refugee life, the struggle to build, and sleep in, a slum home, the battle to survive poverty and more.) Afterwards, he said, “Without a doubt, it was the hardest 24 hours I have ever endured in my life. I was thrown into a scene of uncertainty, homelessness, and financial and emotional hardship that resembles the conditions in which millions currently live around the world. The experience humbled and triggered me to take action into my own hands.”
He walked the talk. For the next 18 months, he worked tirelessly towards mounting a huge charity banquet. He gathered models, singers, famous Hong Kong stars and well known families to produce a glittering evening throughout which he sought to convey the message of a broken world. He raised a staggering (our accountants are still staggering!) amount of money.
This wonderful cash injection comes at a time when we greatly need financial support, so we are thankful beyond words. We are also very grateful for hearts that were softened, even through haute couture, to serve and to give!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP…
We recently sent an urgent request for a teacher to join our staff. Amazingly, more than 20 people responded with offers of help, several of them offering to come and fill this desperate void. Nobody has come as yet, but we have been given great confidence that a teacher will be confirmed soon. Thank you for helping us and please continue to uphold this role which is greatly needed for our children. We will most certainly keep you posted.
Meanwhile, we still need someone immediately, even as we process applications from interested teachers for a longer term role. If someone could come from now till August, and run a holiday program for the children, please do get in touch.
RECRUITMENT EVENT IN AUSTRALIA
Do you live in Sydney, Australia? If so, there’s an event for which we’d love your help!
On 29th June, our tireless team of Aussie helpers is hosting a recruitment and information night at Thornleigh Community Baptist, where there will be a DVD presentation explaining the need for more full time volunteers to boost our ranks in Hong Kong, and some words from current and past team members.
We would love to see as many people as possible invited to this event! If you know anyone in the Sydney area who you think may be interested in hearing more about the work, and considering coming to volunteer themselves, please invite them, or ask them to email jwarm1@bigpond.com for more information.
If you’re not in Sydney, we still need your help! We ask you to uphold this event, asking the MD to bring people who are ready and willing to hear the message, and then to come!
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