Category: Letter From CEDAR

The Letter from CEDAR | July 2019

Dear Friends of CEDAR, Shalom! In human’s perspective, a subject’s values are often determined by its benefits to people. For example, a down coat is a necessity for people living in cold areas, but often useless for those living in tropical areas. This methodology of defining a subject’s values not only applies to materials, but also to human beings. An old Chinese tale “Wu Yen” is a good illustration. When the country was in crisis, the all-rounded ugly queen, Wu Yen, gained attention from King Xuan of Qi Dynasty. However, when the war was over, the King avoided her the furthest as possible. Nowadays, many social systems value an individual by his/her contributions, which is well exemplified by

The Letter from CEDAR | March 2019

Dear Friends of CEDAR, Few weeks ago, I took a train to Yuen Long for a meeting. Arriving at the train station’s lobby, I heard a loud and angry voice with foul languages from a short distance. A young man was yelling at a Station Assistant because the ticketing machines would not take his HK$100 note and he was in a hurry. The Assistant patiently advised him to purchase a ticket from the ticketing office. At the ticketing office, right after handing in the HK$100 note, he started scolding again for the same issue. The staff then had to respond to his complaint, instead of getting him a ticket. I didn’t stop to see how he finally got

The Letter from CEDAR | December 2018

Dear Supporters of CEDAR, Few weeks ago, I was in Donggala, Indonesia, one of the hardest hit regions by the earthquake and tsunami on 28th September. We visited the victims in 7 of the 11 villages/temporary camps, where CEDAR is offering emergency support via our local partner, PESAT. Please click for details there. Here, I want to share with you my reflection from the trip. Donggala, situated in eastern Indonesia, has a good population of Christians. The earthquake had not only caused the loss of many homes, but also brought severe damages to churches. In one of the villages we visited, the 2-year-old church building had completely gone. Today, most believers have to worship God either outdoor or inside a

The Letter from CEDAR | September 2018

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Hope you had a blessed summer. My wife and I were invited to share on the handling of conflict in parenting at a fellowship group in our church few days ago. We shared about the struggle parents are facing. In Hong Kong, we do all we can to prepare our children for a successful life. This often means completion of higher education, successful career, better living environment, etc. However, less attention is paid to prepare the little ones for transforming the world. In June and July, other than the World Cup, the world’s attention was captured by the Tham Luang cave rescue. We were thankful that all 12 boys and their coach

The Letter from CEDAR | June 2018

Dear Friends of CEDAR, Have you ever experienced any instability in life? From 2004 to 2011, my family somehow lived a life of nomads, as we had to move home for four times within seven years. Such frequent house-moves didn’t render us the luxury of settling down in the new environment. We felt like sojourners. Though this was not a pleasant experience, I saw it as a blessing from God, as it allowed me to get a taste of what the displaced people face. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are over 65.6 million displaced people worldwide today. This number is reaching record high. CEDAR has been helping refugees. In last few years, we have stepped up

The Letter from CEDAR | March 2018

Greetings, Brothers and Sisters in Christ! It was rather cold in Hong Kong in early February. “Severe winter” and “high summer” are used to describe different seasons, and it is likewise applicable in international relief and development work. Governments and Non-government organisations (NGOs) are often key players in disaster relief and development work. To NGOs, the 80s and 90s of last century could be considered as the golden days. At that time, growth in geographic coverage as well as development theories and effectiveness had experienced a period of “high summer”. But, the situation has changed in recent years. Economic progress of some developing countries allow their governments to assume a more active role, and in turn, narrowing down

The Letter from CEDAR | December 2017

Dear friends of CEDAR, May peace be with you! There is a say that Ma On Shan, the place where I live, is a “food desert.” I am not sure how true this claim is, but no doubt, as compared with Jordan where CEDAR’s office is located, Ma On Shan is far behind Jordan in terms of the choices of food. Commuting between the two districts every day, I often find it hard to decide where to go for lunch – there are just too many options. In development work, we often encounter similar situation. The world has over 7 billion population and close to 770 million of them are struggling for survival with less than HK$15 a

The Letter from CEDAR | August 2017

Dear Friends of CEDAR, Recently, I made a family trip to Cambodia. It is not a typical tourist country, where you find lots of amusement parks, resorts, beaches, special landscapes, or big shopping malls. However, it is surely a place where you can do a lot of reflections. The genocide from 1975 to 1979 was one of the most miserable times in recent human history. About 2 million people were killed directly or indirectly, which amounts to one-fourth of the country’s then population. At the genocide museums, I kept asking how people can become so cold-blooded merely for the sake of their own interests or for an ideology, and also why God allowed this to happen. This was

The Letter from CEDAR | June 2017

Dear Supporters of CEDAR, Poverty and injustice often result in “hopelessness”. One common goal of our projects is to restore hope. That is why I often ask our project participants this question – “What is your dream?” For CEDAR and our local church partners, we also need to have dreams, because without dreams ourselves, we wouldn’t be effective in helping our project participants to re-gain hope. Few weeks ago, I was in Yangon, Myanmar, for a workshop with our partners to envision the future of their ministries as well as CEDAR’s. On the second day of the workshop, I led a devotion about “dream”, and I would like to share it with you here. The dream portrayed in

The Letter from CEDAR | April 2017

Dear Friends of CEDAR, I’ve been asked “What does CEDAR do” a lot, to which I have prepared two pitches depending on the time allowed—The short and sweet, yet encompassing “Helping the poor and providing disaster relief,” and the “Reconciliation works” which is the actual personal choice if time permits. We can categorize the 70 something poverty alleviation and disaster relief projects of CEDAR into 9 categories—Humanitarian, Urban Development, Children at Risk, Anti-human Trafficking, Health, Church and Community Mobilization, Income Generation, Creation Care, and Advocacy and Education. We could all describe the specific challenges within each field, but ultimately, they are all the symptoms of our sins that broke us away from the harmony we once had, which