Category: Letter From CEDAR

THE LETTER FROM CEDAR | OCT 2021

Dear supporters, The ten poorest countries in the world today mainly lie in Africa. They have been suffering from civil wars, political instability, or internecine strife and hatred for many years. All these undermined their capacities to develop societies sustainably. As a result, despite years of international aid, these countries and their economies remain fragile. Some of the CEDAR’s projects are located in conflict regions, such as Afghanistan and Myanmar. CEDAR Fund supports local partners and church organisations to run development projects in these regions, hoping that the residents can acquire essential skills and knowledge to find resources for their basic needs regardless of any circumstances. For example, we have been implementing peace and reconciliation projects in Lebanon,

THE LETTER FROM CEDAR | JUL 2021

Dear supporters, In just a year, I went from being the Acting Chief Executive of CEDAR to officially becoming the Chief Executive. Thanks to the trust of my colleagues and the board members, I have the opportunity to continue to assume the leadership role of the team. I am also grateful for the team’s concerted efforts. Even in the middle of COVID-19, we have been able to continue with our poverty alleviation project supervision and evaluation, as well as local fundraising, education and a series of activities and promotion work for the CEDAR’s 30th anniversary. We have also received the support and dedication we hoped for, so the projects and ministries supported by CEDAR have not been greatly

The Letter from CEDAR | Apr 2021

Dear supporters, In early February this year, a military coup took place in Myanmar, capturing international attention. Even before the coup, CEDAR has been conducting relief work when conflict broke out in the Karen State. The relief activities were carried out in collaboration with the youth who had grown up, supported by CEDAR’s development projects. My heart is broken for those youngsters, imagining they are going through the same tumultuous experience they had in their childhood. When they were small kids, they fled to live in jungles. After years of recovery and growing up in our partner’s children home, they responded to the calling to head back to their home villages to rebuild and serve their communities. Yet

The Letter from CEDAR | Jan 2021

Dear supporters, The new year has started in a blink of an eye. I am still puzzled about what had happened last year like everyone else. It seems that there were only “anti-pandemic”, “restricted gathering” and “number of infected people”. Every day we monitored these indicators like the weather to arrange our lives. People on the other side do not fare any better than us. Instead of being controlled, the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases continued to rise. Needless to say, the pandemic has severely hit the economy. Many of the infected people, especially the poor and the elderly, not only lack care from family, but also do not receive effective medicines. Some of them even died because

The Letter from CEDAR | Oct 2020

Dear supporters, The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging around the world for more than half a year. At first, everyone could not expect that the pandemic is still not under control until this day. It seems we no longer guess when this pandemic will finally disappear. The rising number of confirmed cases and outbreaks are global challenges that everyone in the world has to face. CEDAR has always been concerned about the issue of human trafficking. Since the beginning of the global outbreak of COVID-19, multiple reports and analyses have estimated that the pandemic will increase the risks of women and children being trafficked. Let me take the situation of migrant workers at the grass-roots level as an

The Letter from CEDAR | July 2020

Dear supporters, In mid-May, I was appointed as the Acting Chief Executive to continue the work of Dr. Raymond Kwong Wai Man. Although I was not fully prepared for it, I decided to respond with a humbled heart to continue realising our mission: to live out the integral mission of the Church in partnership with Christians around the world. Indeed, I had some hesitancy in undertaking the new role. However, when I sought God through prayer and meditation, He reminded me of His promise that “I am with you”. Perhaps, that is all I need to know. The future of an organisation does not depend on a single leader, but how well we function as a team. In

The Special Letter from CEDAR | May 2020

Dear friends of CEDAR, This coronavirus pandemic has brought about lots of reflections. Pray that you and your family are well under the pandemic, and God continues to lead each of us to be the salt and light in this time of darkness. Thank you so much for your generosity towards the needy over the years. I am writing to inform you that, after 4 years of service, I will be leaving CEDAR in mid-May. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve the vulnerable around the world alongside you. As my calling is ministering to the impoverished, I believe our paths will cross in the future. From 16th May 2020 onwards, sister Chan Pui Si, our Head

The Letter from CEDAR | April 2020

Banner image: Collection of face masks, photo taken at CEDAR’s office Dear Supporters, Shalom! Not long prior to the crucifixion of Jesus, He taught a parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). It was about staying alert and preparing well for the return of the Lord. Just looking at this parable literally, I wonder why the five foolish virgins did not bring along a little more oil. Certainly, parable is a parable, the key is the main message and not the details. In reality, waiting can be an almost endless thing. Taking the recent global spread of the novel coronavirus as an example, at the time of writing, it is still not clear when it is likely to

The Letter from CEDAR | December 2019

Dear CEDAR Fans, Peace be with you! I would like to share with you a little reflection of mine during this season of Christmas. From birth to death, the life of Jesus was full of times when He had or was being forced to compromise on His dignity. He was laid in a manger after His humble birth, He was ignored and attacked by His people, betrayed by one of His beloved disciples, and died in the most insulting way of His time. Though He didn’t need to, He entered into all these solely because of His love for us. In our world, the poor and marginalised are often the ones who are least respected. Their powerlessness forces

The Letter from CEDAR | October 2019

Banner image: Raymond in Dubai Dear companions of CEDAR Fund, Shalom! I paid my first visit to Dubai lately and wowed by this “artificial” city. Though this ancient Middle East city sits on the coastline of Persian Gulf, it was all the time a small trading port due to its desert terrain (population was below 200,000 in 1970s). Large-scale development begins only in the millennium by heavy government funding. She now owns a few “top of the world”, for example, the tallest building, the largest shopping mall, the largest artificial islands under construction, the biggest indoor theme park, etc. To build a modern city in the desert, numerous extraordinary difficulties need to be solved, like land quality, water