Category: CEDAR Blog

2018 CEDAR’s Exposure Trip Sharing: All Things Bright and Beautiful

Written by: Janice Cheng (Participant of CEDAR’s 2018 Exposure Trip to Thai-Burmese border and northern Thailand, church pastor) All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. These are lyrics from a classic children hymn called All things bright and beautiful. I looked it up on the internet, you will discover the songwriter’s intention was to explain the first sentence of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.” Participants of this trip to Thai-Myanmar border came from all walks of life, including rookies in the workplace, retired people, pastors, Christian organisation’s staff, and seminary teacher. This combination enriched our

Cyclone Idai: Two Meals a Day, One Meal a Day, then…

In mid-March, CEDAR shared on Facebook (Chinese only) about a trip in Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Zimbabwe was continuously hot and dry, and Zimbabweans discovered that a particular fruit was growing which indicated forthcoming drought. When villagers were still waiting for rains and hoping for harvests in April and May, the sudden attack of intense tropical cyclone Idai shattered not only their homes, but also their hearts. Expected drought became unexpected windstorm and floods. http://www.CEDARfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/20190327-video.mp4 (Video in Chinese only) Pui Shan, CEDAR’s staff, shares about situation in Buhera after Cyclone Idai Cyclone Idai first destroyed a port city on the east of Mozambique with a wind speed of 170km/h. Then it moved inland to Zimbabwe and Malawi. As of 27

Climate Injustice: a Christian Perspective

Written by: Edward Lai Ka-chun (Senior Communications Officer) On 15 March, thousands of students from New Zealand, Australia, India, Thailand, and Hong Kong skipped school and took to the streets to protest against the collective inaction of governments and other world leaders on alleviating global warming. The wave of ongoing protests against climate change has spread across the globe since last Autumn. In an interview with foreign media in February, a French student who boycotted school said, “Why study for a future, which may not be there?” This is somewhat true. In recent years, the United Nations has issued multiple warnings on the imminent threat of climate change: If the countries do not collaborate and adopt comprehensive policies to stop temperature rises, based

Ethiopian Child Sponsorship Programme – Graduates Passing on the Love

Every year in Ethiopia, there are a few beneficiaries “graduating” from the Child Sponsorship Programme* supported by CEDAR. Generally, beneficiaries are no longer supported by the programme once they reached 18 years old, however, we believe that the criterion to “graduate” from the programme shall not be limited to their age. We, instead, take the holistic development of the beneficiaries into account. For this reason, even as they turn 18 years old, we continue to subsidise them in occupational training for 1 to 3 years in hope of a higher chance for them to be employed with a certain qualification. For those that were admitted to university, our subsidy will apply until the completion of their degrees. From

What is Creation Care?

God and his creations “Since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” – Romans 1:19-20 When Apostle Paul explain the gospel to the church in Rome, he pointed out that the created world manifest God’s eternal power and divine nature, and no one can hold excuses against it. In the Old Testament, the writers wrote numerous times about the world’s creations to praise God, for example, in Psalm 8:3-4: “When I consider your heavens, the work

How do Churches Instill Hopes to People in the Midst of Disaster?

Banner image: Herda, elder of Boladangko Church (Right) and Cynthia, who lost her father Written by: Jady Sit (Communications Officer) In early November 2018, a few CEDAR’s staffs visited Sulawesi of Indonesia to learn about the local conditions from partner PESAT and visit families devastated by the earthquake. The article below is our staff’s sharing after her visit. If you would like to understand more about CEDAR’s relief work there, please visit the page “Indonesian Earthquake and Tsunami Relief”. “During the earthquake, the door was locked, and thus Cynthia’s father was trapped inside the house. When it collapsed, he died,” Herda, an elder at the Boladangko Church, said emotionally with her arm surrounding Cynthia. Sulawesi was struck by an

Indonesia Earthquake & Tsunami Relief Enters New Stage CEDAR Continues to Help the Affected on Recovery

Banner image: CEDAR’s Indonesia’s partner, PESAT, meets with representatives of an affected community and talk about their livelihood needs CEDAR and its local partner completed the first phase of relief work (until November 2018) in central Sulawesi, Indonesia, where earthquake and tsunami hit last September. CEDAR allocated a fund of 20,000 US Dollars (around HK$150,000) to support its partner, PESAT, in the first phase to distribute emergency food, cooking kits, hygiene kits and medication to 1,347 affected families. Last November, chief executive of CEDAR Fund, Dr. Raymond Kwong and two staff visited Sulawesi, and learned about partner’s post-disaster work, visited the affected people, and explored further response work through our partner. After a few days of visitation, observation,

CEDAR Calls for Emergency Assistance for Chin People Living in Conflicts in Myanmar

Since December 2018, the conflict between the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) and the Arakan Army (AA, Rakhine rebels) in southern Chin State and northern Rakhine State had escalated, which had caused 6,000 people homeless till the mid of February. In the first week of February, there were over 180 villagers from Paletwa in Chin State fled to Bangladesh. CEDAR’s partner in Myanmar stated that there were at least 20 temporary campsites built along the border. The diaspora sojourning in the campsites urgently needs humanitarian aids now. CEDAR funded our partner* USD 18,000 (approximately HKD 141,300) this February to provide 6 days of food and blankets to 218 families from Paletwa in the temporary campsites. Temperature difference at the campsite

“Care for the Poor in Tandem with Evangelism.” – Sharing from an Overseas Chinese Supporter

Banner image: Karen Mak, a CEDAR’s Supporter Karen, who resides in Australia, always pays a visit to CEDAR’s office whenever she returns to Hong Kong, even for a short stay. Last year, Karen came to the office again with two huge bags of Australian snacks. She chatted with us like chatting with old friends. We jumped at the opportunity and invited her to share with us her reasons of persistent support to CEDAR over the years. “People in developing countries have very different conditions than those in developed countries. We cannot use methods adopted in developed countries to help those in developing countries,” said Karen. Although Karen lives in Australia, her heart has always been with ministries of

Engage Students in Issue of Global Poverty – a Primary School Teacher’s Vision

Banner image: Ms. Jade Lee, CEDAR’s working partner of education ministry in HK ‘How many human traffickers are there in the world at present?’ ‘Apart from Hong Kong, will CEDAR Fund be raising funds for poor children in other places?’ In January this year, CEDAR went to a school under the Direct Subsidy Scheme in Shek Kip Mei to give a talk, which so interested the Primary 5 students in the audience that they raised their hands and asked many questions afterwards. The topic of the talk was ‘Anti-human trafficking’. Our staff explained the definition of human trafficking, talked about how some children in Asia and Africa have been trafficked in the past and described how we can