Today, climate change is no longer just a textbook term. Recent studies have shown that global warming directly impacts grain production, with developing countries being hit the hardest.
This issue of SHARE introduces Zimbabwe’s farmers’ new initiative to earn a living – the ‘agricultural revolution’. In addition, we will enter the mountains in northern Thailand and learn how local villagers deal with frequent natural disasters. Through Chief Executive Dr Chan Pui Si’s experience in poverty alleviation and verses from the Bible, we hope to encourage everyone to stand up for the poor, for who the climate crisis has severely struck.
ARTICLES OF THIS ISSUE
Written by Lai Ka Chun (Senior Programme Officer) ‘Around three years ago, my fields looked just like this,’ said James Shawa, a farmer from Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, pointing to a neighbouring cornfield with withered, yellow leaves. For days, he worried that he would not have a good harvest. However, when he adopted a new farming method, his corn grew after hard work and dedication. The crop James had wished for finally arrived. ‘We use the resources that the Lord has given us, and we receive His blessings,’ James said while putting freshly picked corn onto the firewood. Through the smoke, James and his children smiled. Nearly 70% of the African population rely on farming for a living. A…
Written by Ness Ma (Communications Officer) Caring for the created world is a significant and complex issue. We may have lost hope and motivation because of living in the Apocalypse. Nonetheless, our Chief Executive, Dr. Chan Pui Si, shared the encouragement and acknowledgement of her poverty alleviation and environmental protection work in an online talk, ‘Caring for the Created World in the Apocalypse Regardless of Success or Failure’, on 6 January evening. Pui Si noted that disasters happen every day and around us, and the difference is whether they are in front of us, in the news report, or not even reported. She exemplified the floods and droughts in India last year that anthropogenic climate change certainly plays…
Written by Ness Ma (Communications Officer) Many tribes live at the country’s border in Northern Thailand, mostly farmers. Because of poverty, many of them have never received a good education or learned any effective farming method. They live in mountain basins and receive no services or support from the government. In addition to the worsening extreme weather events because of climate change, river floods in rainy seasons cause soil erosion, and droughts lead to a lack of water sources. Both circumstances affect the harvest. To continue farming, farmers have to purchase more chemical fertilisers, increasing their financial burden and damaging the lands. CEDAR Fund has been supporting Upland Holistic Development Foundation (previously Upland Holistic Development Project) since 2013…
Written by Wendy Fung (Church pastor) 5Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:5, 14-17…