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Author: UnitingWorld

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Campaigns, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
November 25, 2024

Laboni (pictured above with her mother) grew up in a typical rural village in West Bengal, India, where education is out of reach for many because families are too poor to invest in it.

Stuck in a cycle of poverty like this, going to school never seems as vital as the tasks of daily survival. Children grow up to help in the household or in the fields as soon as they are able; girls are married off young.

“My family was eager to marry me off at an early age,” Laboni now reflects. “It was not just because of my family but also according to our tribal culture; every girl between the ages of 13 and 15 should get married.”

Our church partner, the Church of North India-Diocese of Durgapur, saw the situation and believed that things could, and should, be different.

They supported Laboni’s education, and she became the first in her family to ever finish school. Today she’s pursuing her dreams: working on a university degree and hoping to return to her community as a teacher to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

“The girls of my village [now] see me, and they are encouraged to study. I’ll tell them to go further,” says Laboni.

“I would urge every girl to stand on her own feet. We girls can participate in the development of our family, society and village.”

Thanks to UnitingWorld supporters and our partnership with the Australian Government, our partners also helped transform Laboni’s whole village and beyond, providing hundreds of families with income-generation support, training in agriculture and animal husbandry, and family health interventions.

The Diocese of Durgapur now runs 27 study centres currently supporting 420 children and a community development program working across 25 villages and two urban slum communities. Since they began the project, our partners have helped more than 2,000 children like Laboni with high-quality education support and career skills.

The wider community development work has grown to impact 1,698 households and 7,691 people with income-generation support, training in agriculture and animal husbandry, and family health interventions.

Laboni’s village is now a different place because of the love, hard work and dedication of our partners spanning more than a decade.

That’s why we believe this type of sustainable community development, led by local partners is the most effective weapon we have against poverty and injustice.

It’s an incredible blessing that we can play a part in creating such profound and lasting change. 

You can play a role too. Your support can help expand this live-changing work in India and beyond.

Click here to join our network of faithful monthly givers working together to build a more just and equitable world. Or find out more about this project here.

     

This project is supported by the Australian Government
through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).

by
News
October 15, 2024

Wish your loved ones the hope, peace, joy and love of Christmas.

Sending our Christmas cards to your friends, family and loved ones is a great way to fight poverty, build hope and inspire others about the work of our overseas partners.

$15 for a pack of eight cards, with two of each design, and eight recycled paper envelopes. Each card design reflects a traditional Advent theme.

Order while stocks last!

Click here to order online

or call 1800 998 122 (9am-5pm, Mon-Fri AEST)

✅ Christmas greetings to your loved ones

✅ Send joy to the world

✅ Fight poverty!

Christmas card sales represent a donation to UnitingWorld and are tax deductible in Australia.

New Everything in Common Catalogue 2024

 

Every Christmas, we release a catalogue of gifts that represent many of our projects with overseas partners. It’s called Everything in Common.

In it you can find great poverty-fighting gifts like goats, pigs, clean water, education and livelihood opportunities, as well as gifts that support gender equality and care for creation.

Shop online today!

 

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by
Campaigns, News
October 15, 2024

Everything in Common is our annual gift catalogue, filled with gifts that fight poverty and build hope. Our new catalogue is out now! 

Each gift card supports one of the life-changing projects of our church partners overseas.

We also have a new set of Christmas cards with traditional advent themes..

Click here to browse the full catalogue and shop online

Want to host a gift stall in your church or community? It’s a great way to make a difference, provide an alternative to Christmas consumerism and start important conversations about global poverty and climate change.

Click here to host a stall

 

UnitingWorld is the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia.

 

by
News
August 27, 2024

The Methodist Church in Fiji (MCIF) has adopted policies to ensure church-wide approaches to inclusion of all people with disabilities, and to build the capacity of the church to prepare for and respond to disasters. 

The first of their kind, the MCIF Disaster Risk Management Policy and MCIF Disability Inclusion Policy were adopted at the MCIF Conference in Suva this week.

Disaster Risk Management

The Disaster Risk Management policy will save lives, says MCIF President Rev Dr Semisi Turagavou:

“The adoption of the Disaster Risk Management policy is a critical step-in saving lives, alleviating suffering and minimising losses. Disaster risk management must be embraced at all levels from the families, churches, circuits, divisions and at national levels.”

As the country’s biggest church, MCIF is uniquely placed to complement the work of the Fiji Government and Fiji Red Cross to reach out across the country to help people prepare for disasters, and also provide practical assistance to people living in the most remote areas during and after cyclones and other events like floods and landslides.

As part of the new policy, all new buildings constructed by the MCIF must be engineer-certified to withstand Category 5 cyclones, so they can protect people who seek shelter there. Cyclone resistant crops should be planted to ensure consistent supply of food is available during disasters. Each family will be encouraged to have their own disaster and evacuation plan, so that all members share the same understanding of critical stages of evacuation as well as safe evacuation routes.

The inclusion of persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups such as children, pregnant mothers and the elderly in disaster and evacuation planning must be encouraged, and local wisdom from elders will be sought, particularly on traditional food preservation during power outages.

Disability Inclusion

While reporting on the number of people with disabilities is mandatory for all church and circuit meetings, most churches do not currently have ramps or specific spaces for wheelchair users. After surveying church leaders’ knowledge, attitudes and practices about disability, the results confirmed that there is low consideration of the needs of people with disabilities among MCIF Leaders at Divisional level. Change was needed in the approach of the entire church.

The Disability Inclusion policy will bless the whole church, says Rev Dr Turagavou:

“The church [has] recognised that a person with disability is like all humans… created as an image of God and not a matter of choice, but created by God to show his power and unequivocal love (John 9: 2-4). The Church as the God’s family on earth must therefore embrace ALL persons with disabilities and advocate for their care and equal treatment (Leviticus 19:14).

Persons with disabilities possess valuable gifts and talents which our Lord had blessed them with which can be valuable assets in our quest to save the souls of every Fijians.  In that context we must, embrace and include them in all aspects of our service and program delivery.”

The objectives of the MCIF Disability Inclusion Policy are:

  1. Enable the inclusion of ALL persons with disabilities in all aspects of the Church, institutions, and functions.
  2. Provide accessible church infrastructure that will enable ALL persons with disabilities to attend freely.
  3. Embrace persons with disabilities in facilitation of services to meet their specific needs and demands during normal times and during calamities.

Both policies were developed with input from church members with expertise in each area, as well as government and other civil society representatives.

UnitingWorld has supported this work through the Resilient, Inclusive and Safe Churches and Communities project, which was endorsed by the MCIF 2023 Conference. The project supports the MCIF to develop and roll out policies and practices that support the inclusion of people with disabilities, safety and wellbeing of women and children, and disaster resilience in the face of climate change. The project builds on the theological resources on gender equality, child protection and disaster resilience that UnitingWorld has supported Pasifika theologians to develop over the last decade.

UnitingWorld Program Manager Stephanie Dalton with MCIF church members and civil society representatives who crafted the design of the ‘Resilient, Inclusive and Safe Churches and Communities’ project

 

Pictured in header: Uniting Church in Australia President, Rev Charissa Suli, MCIF President Rev Dr Semisi Turagavou, and UnitingWorld National Director Dr Sureka Goringe at the MCIF Conference in Suva.

This project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP). Thanks to ANCP, we’re making a huge difference together.

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by
News
August 19, 2024

Today on World Humanitarian Day 2024, 60 prominent Australians have signed an open letter from the Safer World for All campaign warning the safeguards designed to protect humanitarian workers are breaking down.

UnitingWorld National Director Dr Sureka Goringe was a signatory, alongside Australian children’s author Mem Fox, former Labor international development minister Melissa Parke, former Labor senator Claire Moore, former United Nations Commissioner for Refugees Erika Feller, former Australian Council of Trade Unions President Sharan Burrow AC, and Assistant National Secretary, Australian Services Union Emeline Gaske.

The statement calls on the federal government to uphold its obligations under the Geneva Conventions and hold countries accountable for breaches of international humanitarian law.

“The global humanitarian system has never faced a greater threat,” reads the statement.

“At the same time as donor resources and commitment are dwindling in the face of unprecedented demand, the rules that underpin our ability to provide assistance are being eroded without serious challenge. Only 18% of the global humanitarian funding needed has been received, whilst 300 million people are expected to require humanitarian assistance this year alone.”

“The rules and norms which keep frontline responders and civilians safe are losing effect. No matter how much humanitarian workers put measures in place to protect themselves and civilians, the structures keeping them safe are breaking down.”

Read the full statement

Join the Safer World for All Campaign

by
News
August 15, 2024

On a crisp May weekend, Mardi Lumsden, UnitingWorld Donor Relations Manager, had the pleasure of venturing to Tasmania to visit UnitingWorld supporters and churches.

In Launceston, Mardi spent time with Presbytery Chairperson Rohan Pryor, hearing about the joys and challenges of the Uniting Church in the region. She also met with the staff of Scotch Oakburn College, a UCA school, as they shared their unique style of teaching and learning at AgFest.

On Sunday, Mardi enjoyed joining Penguin Uniting Church on Tasmania’s north coast to celebrate UnitingWorld Sunday, where everyone was welcomed with a lei*. Mardi presented Penguin Uniting Church with a certificate celebrating the fact that this small regional church raised over $5,500 through their Everything in Common stall last Christmas, the most raised in Australia!

Members of the community didn’t just buy gift cards. They also sold knitting and craft creations and donated the proceeds. The congregation were delighted at their achievement!

“We were most surprised to receive the news about Penguin being the best Everything in Common stall in the country,” said Penguin Uniting Church’s Jeanne Koetsier.

“To us it was a wonderful way to give twice: gift cards to family and friends especially at Christmas, then for the money raised to be given to countries where it will make a difference. In giving to UnitingWorld, we can be assured that we are ‘connecting Australian people to God’s work in the wider world’.”

Locally, the Penguin congregation has also made an intentional connection with seasonal workers in Tasmania. This year, that included around 40 young people, mostly women, from Timor-Leste who joined the church for the special UnitingWorld Sunday service and sang in multiple languages as well as giving a blessing to the congregation.

“UnitingWorld Sunday was joyous,” said Jeanne.

“We were inspired by our global church neighbours as we heard about their work … and were delighted to celebrate our global neighbours together with our friends from Timor-Leste.”

Mardi’s final stop was at Hobart North Uniting Church, where she enjoyed hearing an update on the region from Presbytery Minister, Rev Denise Savage. She also met with a group of wonderful UnitingWorld supporters coordinated by past UnitingWorld Board Chair, Rev Andrew Glenn, to discuss the vision and mission of UnitingWorld and hear of their own connections to this important work.

Find out more about UnitingWorld Sunday.

 

*Traditional Pacific garland worn around the neck.

 

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Community Health & Infant Nutrition (Timor Leste), News
August 14, 2024

UnitingWorld has been supporting our partner in Timor-Leste to help communities prepare for and respond to the impacts of El Niño.

As a small island nation, Timor-Leste relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture and imported food. Since September 2023, the El Niño weather event has led to drought-like conditions, irregular rainfall, and flash floods during the country’s main planting season.

The nation was already grappling with rising food insecurity, with twelve out of fourteen municipalities facing drought and almost a quarter of the population in Timor-Leste currently food insecure.

Our partner FUSONA* has been working alongside other church agencies as part of CAN DO** and local government bodies to roll out new large-scale projects to address climate change and keep people safe during disasters.

FUSONA is now working in three communities identified as most vulnerable because their crops were destroyed in flooding in 2021 and 2022. The project has provided seeds, tools and training in disaster preparedness and is working to improve access and preservation of water supplies.

As part of the project, schools are being engaged in disaster risk reduction training to equip youth to be able to help their communities during emergencies. Youth will also conduct tree planting in their schools and wider community to reforest vulnerable areas and reduce disaster risks.

With improved knowledge of food production, processing and storage and how to mitigate disaster risks, the project will help whole communities be better prepared and resilient to future disasters.

Timor-Leste Community Health Update

Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of malnutrition among children in the world.

Our church partner IPTL and FUSONA have decided to shift the focus of their work from running health clinics to addressing food insecurity among the rural poor in three communities.

The decision was made based on the resources and technical capacity available in FUSONA and the increased capacity of the Timor-Leste government to provide health care services.

The first phase of the redesigned project is already underway, expanding the kitchen garden activities to 100 new families in vulnerable areas, providing seeds, tools and training to help people grow nutritious food on their land.

This was made possible thanks to your support. Thank you!

Header photo: Paulina in Same Timor-Leste was helped to expand her food garden thanks to UnitingWorld supporters and our partner FUSONA.

*FUSONA is the development agency of the Protestant Church in Timor-Leste (IPTL), a partner of UnitingWorld and the Uniting Church in Australia.

** The Church Agencies Network – Disaster Operations (CAN DO) is a consortium of Australian faith-based agencies.  

by
News
August 14, 2024

A few weeks before her induction as the 17th President of the Uniting Church in Australia (UCA), we spoke to Reverend Charissa Suli about UnitingWorld, her journey into leadership and hopes for her time as President.

There was a time when Rev. Charissa Suli didn’t think church leadership could be for people like her. 

“My home congregation was one of the first Tongan or migrant congregations that was established in the Uniting Church in Australia,” she says.

“I grew up in a tradition where it’s predominantly been older Pacific men who are the leaders and the ministers and that was my normal, which was fine, but it meant I didn’t think so much about paths like ordained ministry for myself.”

That was until, as a young adult, Charissa was invited to use her gifts of singing and worship leading to serve at a cross-cultural gathering.

“The gathering was filled with so many culturally diverse people, younger and older generations, and I saw Pasifika women, Korean women, Armenian ministers, it really surprised me.”

“For the very first time, I saw a Pasifika woman (Rev Dr Seforosa Carroll) leading a Bible study… and I said to myself: ‘I can do that.’”

Rev. Suli preaching at Bankstown Uniting Church as part of the Pacific-Australia Emerging Leaders Summit in 2023.

Encouraging others

Looking back today, Charissa acknowledges many mentors and vital opportunities that enabled her to step up into ordained ministry and church leadership.

“There’s faithfully leaning into the gifts God has given me, but it has also been about people giving opportunities, people seeing me for who I am, passing me the microphone and saying, hey, it’s your turn to speak.”

Her journey has made her a passionate advocate for helping provide opportunities and platforms for others to take up leadership, particularly women.

“Because I always believe that there’s enough room for all of us at the Lord’s Table, and if we run out of the chairs, then get the fala (mat) out, get the camp chair out. Because when I think about God’s inclusive and agape love, it’s so wide and so deep and it’s not going to run out. I truly believe that God will utilise each of us, in ways that we will never understand.”

Seeing the work of UnitingWorld come to life

“I’ve loved the opportunities I’ve had to see the work of UnitingWorld come to life,” says Charissa.

“The most recent experience I’ve had connecting with our overseas partners was being at a Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga (FWCT) conference last year, after the tsunami.”

“I was sitting at the front table, during one of the lunch times, and the FWCT President quietly says to me, “we’re just about to do a presentation of thanks to UnitingWorld… the National Director’s not here, but you’re here… I need you to represent the Uniting Church and present to the conference.”

Charissa knew churches in Australia had given generously to support Tonga after the crisis but didn’t know what exactly that translated into.

“So I get up and I’m rushing to the microphone, trying to think of what we gave, what it meant for people and the rebuilding effort,” she recalls.

“Then before my eyes, this truck is driven into the middle of the square pulling an enormous boat that was donated through UnitingWorld, and with it was life jackets, shovels, gardening and kitchen equipment… anything you can think of that’s going to help a community grow and rebuild again.”

It was just a glimpse of a huge range of equipment that was acquired to help resource and reconnect outer islands to sources of livelihoods that had been wiped out.

“I stood there with tears in my eyes because I got to see in real time the incredible work that happens behind the scenes,” said Charissa.

“And it wasn’t just me, I could see the leaders who were from the smaller islands who had really been doing it tough and they had tears coming down off their cheeks as they saw this equipment and knowing how much it’s needed and will be put to good use.”

“That was really beautiful and profound moment,” she says.

“It was really special to see the fruits of all the fundraising done by local Uniting Churches and how it comes to life when our partners can get what they need to support communities around them.”

“I felt so proud of the work that the Uniting Church and UnitingWorld does alongside the global church.

Hopes for the future

Charissa says she hopes to share and champion the story of UnitingWorld and UCA partners in her time as President, and particularly to lean into our mission of ‘connecting communities for life’:

“…when we have strong relationships, we can incorporate other voices, other generations, from people all over to be part of the talanoa (dialogue) that complements the work that’s already been done in terms of our international aid.”

“It’s looking at who is the next generation in our partner churches, where we can begin to introduce the younger generations who are here in the diaspora so that they continue the important work – because they’ll be standing on the shoulders of these amazing leaders who are here now in leadership, but who are we passing the baton to? I think that’s so important as we look to the future of our church.”

Despite being the first Tongan President of the UCA, Charissa is quick to point out that it wasn’t a factor in her discernment or thoughts about what she hopes to achieve in the role. “If God is calling me here, it’s a new opportunity to channel God’s love,” she says.

“If there’s something I think the President should do, it’s to remind the church who we’re called to be, to inspire the church to lean into their spirituality, to lean into their community and think about what are some of the ways we can strengthen our relationships with God and with each other.”

“And we need to remember the good news that we have to tell our world. We shouldn’t be silent. We have such good news to tell!”

Amen.

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News, Social Empowerment for Excluded Castes (India)
July 15, 2024

In the final months of the financial year, we told the story of Laboni, who grew up in a tribal village in remote West Bengal, India.

It’s a place where education is out of reach for many because families are too poor to invest in it. Children grow up to help in the household or in the fields as soon as they are able; girls are married off young.

Our church partner, the Church of North India – Diocese of Durgapur, supported Laboni’s education, and she became the first in her family to ever finish school. Today she’s pursuing her dreams: working on a university degree and hoping to return to her community as a teacher to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.

“The girls of my village [now] see me, and they and they are encouraged to study. I’ll tell them to go further!”  says Laboni.

“I would urge every girl to stand on her own feet.  We girls can participate in the development of our family, society and village.”

The impacts of our partner’s education support won’t stay with Laboni and her peers but will be felt for generations to come…

THANK YOU to everyone who donated to our End of Financial Year Appeal to enable our partners to give opportunities for people to live whole and hopeful lives, as God intended.

Together we raised $496,000, an incredible result! It will be combined with funding we can access from the Australian Government, which will help us make an even bigger impact on poverty and injustice in our world.

Here’s some more of the change you’ve helped create!

Just 20 years old, Simran is a tailor earning an income of around AUD$91 a month. The job represents a huge change for her whole family – and not just materially. Simran’s three elder sisters are all married, and Simran says her parents had been preoccupied with seeing her wed.

Simran met a Community Facilitator from the Diocese of Durgapur, who encouraged her to undertake training at their Stitching and Tailoring Centre. Her training allowed her to secure her first job as a tailor.

“Initially, my father discouraged me from taking up the tailoring job thinking that it might not look good for our family,” Simran says. “But he has since changed his perspective.”
Now, as a working woman, Simran is independent, contributes to the household income, and is eager to encourage other young women to consider a career before marriage.

Back in 2013, Sahadi’s family lived off what they could grow on a small patch of land – paddy, mustard and vegetables. Then Sahadi joined a Self-Help Group established by UnitingWorld’s partner in Durgapur. Within a year, she had received, as an investment from the group, a single goat and livestock breeding training – a huge opportunity she was eager to make the most of!

When food and water are scarce, it’s no small task to keep a goat alive and successfully breed it. But Sahadi was incredibly determined and over the past ten years she has increased her goat flock to 15! Already this year, she has sold seven goats and added an extra AUD$551 to the family income. Her entrepreneurial spirit on fire, Sahadi also invested in three cows – one for domestic use, the others for sale at market bringing in an additional AUD$147.

When a submersible water pump arrived in his village, courtesy of UnitingWorld partners in Durgapur, Dinanath Mahar was delighted. He’d watched his parents struggle as the land was so difficult to farm without irrigation.

And now – WATER! Dinanath underwent training with the Community Development Program and began cultivating crops, including sesame, mustard, paddy, and potatoes. The outcome? An additional AUD$991 per year. The family invested the money back into their farm, buying a second-hand power tiller and a motorcycle to move around the property.

For the first time, they could afford better health care and education. Dinanath’s granddaughter was born in a private health care facility, the first in her family with this start in life. Dinanath’s daughter-in-law, observing how effective the program was, joined also and is now breeding goats, bringing yet more income.

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Disaster Preparation and Climate Change (Pacific Region), News
July 10, 2024

20 years ago in March 2004, church leaders from across the Pacific gathered in Tarawa, Kiribati, to lead a vital consultation on climate change. Out of the consultation, they released the powerful Otin Taai* Declaration, committing their churches to urgent action and calling on Christians throughout the world to act in solidarity.  

To mark 20 years since the consultation, the Pacific Conference of Churches hosted the Otin Taai +20 Conference, a gathering of members and partners to take stock of the impacts of climate change, the lack of an appropriate collective global response to the climate emergency, and to discern how best to work together on the issue into the future.  

UnitingWorld Head of Programs Peter Keegan attended the event on behalf of the Uniting Church in Australia along with Rev. Alimoni Taumoepeau from the Synod of the Uniting Church in NSW and ACT. Peter shared, ”

“As we knelt to pray on muddy sands beside seawaters that just a generation ago had been fertile and productive land, the reality was starkly evident before us. What was a prophetic warning in the Otin Taai Declaration twenty years ago is today a reality. And it is a reality that is impacting all of the peoples and creatures of the earth.” 

Otin Taai +20 was another powerful time of sharing about the impacts of climate change on people, communities and biodiversity across the region.  From the 2024 gathering, PCC members and partners released the Tuākoi ‘lei** Declaration. 

“God has called creation out of the chaos of ocean covered earth, yet the actions of fossil fueled greed, selfishness and apathy, manifested as extractive industries and economic globalization are driving us back to chaos as we experience the ocean rising to reclaim the earth, our common home. 

We call the world to embody neighbourly love, compassion and hope, which are needed more than ever to turn the tide for climate and ecological justice.” 

Read the 2004 Otin Taai Declaration here.

Read the 2024 Tuākoi ‘lei Declaration here.

*Otin Taai is the iKiribati phrase for “sunrise”.  
**Translated from the Tuvaluan phrase for “good neighbour” or “loving neighbour”.