The Match Factory | June - Aug, 2008

Ideas for selected
Match Factory dates
over the next three months
by Lucy AitkenRead

J

une to August is full of days to cause us to reflect and act on some significant global issues. Here is a small selection of just a few of the dates taken from the longer list that can be found here.

June 1 | International Children’s Day

Spending time with my one year old nephew gives me huge amounts of joy. Through observing Hudson I have noticed two characteristics that seem to be innate - sharing and dancing! Hudson can’t seem to let a tune go by, be it a sombre brass band piece or a nursery rhyme, without clapping and bouncing. He also struggles to eat even his favourite treats without pushing a little into someone else’s mouth. Sharing and dancing… we have so much to learn from kids!

Unicef’s latest flagship report The State of the World’s Children 2008 is a sad read. Despite the publication’s attempts to celebrate the progress that has been made across the globe for the well being of children, the absolute figures are still quite shocking. It is fairly clear that despite unprecedented economic growth across the nations, millions of children are being completely left behind. Everyday 26,000 children under the age of five die from mostly preventable diseases and up to 50% of the causes of this mortality are related to undernourishment. Put starkly, while many of us revel in the fruits of prosperity, poverty is quietly killing the precious ones that Jesus not only delighted in but pointed to as signs of his kingdom.

So, the challenge for International Children’s Day is: how do we celebrate the laughter and lessons kids bring yet also reflect and act on the dire experience of many of them?

Read it: Unicef State of the World’s Children 2008
Pray it: Have a Stations of the Cross hour, where you invite people to come and interact with seven stands that represent seven lives of children in the world. Try and make them simple and fun so that kids and adults can get involved. For example (you’ll need to source some materials!):

• Stand one: Bisola is nine and lives in England. She has recently been to four cities in the world with her choir and has seen other kids dancing and singing and praising God. Choose a recorded children’s song - preferably on an iPod at the stand. Put on headphones and as you listen, imagine the world’s children celebrating with music. Ask that God might be praised through the children’s music and that they might find God’s joy in it.
• Stand two: David from Tanzania, age six, has lost both his parents to AIDS in the last year. It is estimated that over 15 million children have been orphaned because of AIDS so far. Light a candle and reflect on these orphans. Ask God to not only comfort these children but to inspire ordinary people with solutions.
• Stand three: Mia, from New Zealand, is pretty hungry. At the moment her main meal everyday is the free sandwich she gets at school. There are 2.2 billion children in the world and it is estimated that every second child lives in poverty. That means that even rich countries have their fair share of poor children. Stick a pin anywhere in the world map in front of you and pray for the children in that country.
• Stand four: Mohammad, age two from Botswana, loves to paint. As you paint a small picture or symbol on the cloth in front of you, thank Jesus for the talent and creativity every child is filled with.
• Stand five: Joshua is seven and lives in a village in Sri Lanka. Joshua has seen many of his friends become sick and die over the last few years simply because the water in the village is not safe. In fact, 1 in 5 children across the world lack access to safe water. As you pour yourself a glass of pure, clean water, think about these children and ask God to fill people with the vision and passion to get methods of sanitation to people in villages like Joshua’s.
• Stand six: It is Emily’s fifth birthday and she is having a party with all her friends in Canada. Blow up a balloon and write on it all the things you love about your friends/children you know. Thank God for these blessings.
• Stand seven: Michella from Spain is 11 and has been learning at school about the millions of children around the world who don’t ever go to school. Michella learnt that Europe spends around $11 billion a year on ice cream and that it would only take $6 billion to ensure every child got to go to school. Take some Monopoly money and write on it your prayer. Pray that people and world leaders will have wisdom to use money in a responsible and loving way.

June 5 | World Environment Day

Some might say the environmental cause is a bandwagon we don’t need to jump on, certainly many are experiencing “green fatigue” and still others suggest that God’s call to be stewards of the earth is too loud a mandate to ignore. What is clear is that environmental changes, bought about by whomever or whatever, are having unequal impacts across the globe, thrusting those in poverty in to deeper waters. A report released last April by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed that it is the poorest of the poor who are being, and will continue to be, the most adversely effected by changes to the climate.

The in 2007 the IPCC estimated that, if nothing changed, 2008 was on course to see:

• Sea levels rising by 50 cm exposing double the amount of people to flooding
• Over three billion people in the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent potentially facing acute shortages of water
• Frequency and intensity of extreme-weather events increasing – leading to loss of life, injury, mass population dislocations and economic devastation of poor countries
• Severe disruption in seasonal rainfall patterns leading to relatively small changes in rainfall which, cumulatively, could dramatically decrease global crop yields; areas such as sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and tropical areas of Latin America could face major food shortages

Poverty renders people unable to adapt to changes and much more vulnerable to resulting disasters. World Environment Day is a chance to stand with those in poverty against threatening environmental changes, reflect on our own actions and gather those around us to change our ways for good!

Study it: This site has a free downloadable Bible study that explores God’s word and ecology.  It also links to further Biblical resources.
Host it: How about throwing a community guerrilla gardening session? Tell people to bring seeds and bulbs and visit the wastelands in your area planting flowers and herbs. As you plant take the opportunity to discuss ways to further impact the environment for good.
Change it: Go on a green campaign through your church building -  change all the light bulbs to energy saving ones, put stickers on all the computer monitors: “Please turn me off at night!” and replace all the bins with recycling boxes. Check out your local authority to make sure recycling facilities are available and if not mount a community campaign to secure that necessary infrastructure.
Measure it: How do you measure up as an eco-congregation? Find out, and improve things, here.
Read it: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Report: Impacts, Adaption and Vulnerability

June 20 | World Refugee Day

The United Nation’s 1951 definition of a refugee is a person who “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” According to the UN’s Refugee Council there are 9.9 million refugees around the world and a further 13 million Internally Displaced People, two figures that have grown significantly over the last four years.

In reading the gospel of Matthew, chapter 2, we can observe that Jesus had his own experience as a refugee. Alongside his experience of homelessness and as a political prisoner, it seems clear that identifying with society’s vulnerable is high on God’s list of priorities! World Refugee Day serves as a reminder of the pain, vulnerability, fear and confusion that surrounds the international refugee experience. Consider these findings from the 2006 UNHCR yearbook:

• There are 32.9 million refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, stateless people and others in similar situations across the globe.
• This figure is growing and grew by 56% in 2006 alone.
• In Africa, over 50% of this overall figure are children.

Do it: Many countries take a quota of refugees every year and most countries have some form of resettlement system that train volunteers to help a refugee family settle through activities such as negotiating local transport, resourcing goods for the home and introducing them to local groups. Invite families or home groups from your church to get involved with such a scheme. See a UK scheme for example.
Show it: There is a powerful collection of photos here.  How about selecting some around a theme and having a slide show in your meeting or enlarging them and printing some out for a photo exhibition in your foyer?
Change it: Find out about your own country’s way of dealing with refugees and reflect on how that sits with Jesus’ response to the vulnerable. If you feel there are some ways in which this could improve, form a group of people who want to begin lobbying your government about it. There will possibly be local charities who can support you in this.
Write it: Refugees and asylum seekers can get some bad press. Keep your eyes peeled for ways to interact with some of this. A response in the Letters to the Editor section of your local newspaper that celebrates the input of refugees can make a huge impact in combating negative opinion. There are a few online tips for doing this well but here are some good ones.

July 7-9 | G8 Summit, Japan

The G8 Summit, that exclusive meeting of the world’s economic leaders, is undoubtedly a powerful place where great change could occur, but all too often seems to create little more than a blip on the radar of global injustice.These meetings have enormous potential, as long as the leaders know the global community is watching in expectation. This year, the two primary issues on the table will be climate change and Africa. The implications of decisions made during these days could well be momentous.

Pray it: Take the chance to pray by name for the permanent members who will be there: Canada’s Stephen Harper, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Japan’s Yasuo Fukuda, Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev, the UK’s Gordon Brown, France’s Nicolas Sarkozy and the US’s George Bush.
Click it: Send a “wish” to the G8 with an online interactive petition.
Host it: Invite someone from a local development agency to speak to your congregation or youth group about some of the issues that will be talked about at the G8.

August 9 | International Day for the World’s Indigenous People

Some beautiful words penned by New Zealand poet, J.K Baxter, describe a “Maori Jesus” with blue dungarees, breath that smells of mussels and a smile like the dawn. Imagining Jesus as one of New Zealand’s indigenous people could well have been offensive to some, both Maori and non-Maori alike. Historically, across the globe, the relationship between the church and indigenous people has been shaky at best, aggressively oppressive and exploitative at worst. Today, be it residue of colonialism or other reasons, indigenous populations in developed and developing countries fare far worse than the rest of the population in indicators such as infant mortality rates. Consider these facts taken from a site of the International Fund for Agricultural Development:

• Indigenous peoples constitute about 5% of the world’s population yet account for about 15% of the world’s poor
• Indigenous peoples suffer higher rates of poverty, landlessness, malnutrition and internal displacement than other members of society, and they have lower levels of literacy and less access to health services
• Two centuries ago indigenous people lived over most of the earth. Today they have the legal right to use only about 6% of the planet’s land and in many cases their rights are partial or qualified.

Fortunately today there are some exciting expressions of the church working to celebrate and preserve indigenous knowledge, language and traditions. The church can only be enriched by working with indigenous people and ethnic minorities.

Share it: If you are in one of the many countries that has an indigenous population, why not get in touch with some of the local leaders of the community and begin a dialogue about ways of working together?
Research it: Take some time to Google your way through some information about your country’s indigenous population. The information could quite possibly shock and also inspire you.

August 23 | International Day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition

The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade serves as a key reference point for those of us who seek change. It is easy to feel disheartened in the face of human rights violations and global injustice but just to dwell on those years surrounding the abolitionist movement can buoy your feelings fairly instantly - and also remind you that all real change needs in order to occur is a lot of ordinary people with courage, creativity and stamina! However, remembering the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade requires that you not only smile at the past but to frown at the present. Millions of people around the world are in forced labour, many of them children and women and many of them trafficked between countries. The Stop the Traffick coalition brings together some of the facts:

• At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking.
• 600,000-800,000 men, women and children trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.
• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year.
• The majority of trafficked victims arguably come from the poorest countries and poorest strata of the national population.
• Trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are caught in the trap of slavery.
• Human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking.
• It is the fastest growing form of international crime, already generating $7 billion per year in criminal proceeds. There are even reports that some trafficking groups are switching their cargo from drugs to human beings, in a search of higher profits at lower risk.

Screen it: Last year a film about abolitionist William Wilberforce was released, Amazing Grace. Make a night of it by either hiring a local cinema to show it or put it on the big screen at church. Collect donations in exchange for tickets, get some tubs of ice cream in and send the profits to The Salvation Army’s anti-trafficking programme.
Feature it: Take seven minutes in your church service/ youth group night, share some of the facts above and this five minute video from Stop the Traffick.
Change it: If you decide your church should get further involved have a look at The Salvation Army USA Western territory’s web page or for an example of a more local expression of action look at the Croydon Community Against Trafficking website.

Please add your own ideas, plans and resources to this short list of thoughts. Contact theRubicon via a comment below or through our contact form.

What’s the Match Factory?

Writer:  Lucy AitkenRead lives in London, England where she is studying and working on the activist team of a development agency. Lucy enjoys ranting and raving and marching about various global issues. Lucy monitors, expands and writes the quarterly Match Factory listing on theRubicon. Visit her blog which she updates periodically.

1 Comment to The Match Factory | June - Aug, 2008

1. Lucy,

   Thanks for the amazing resources you’ve compiled - it’s a great reference tool. And if anyone’s interested, click here to download a group study on the environment, one of a series that The Salvation Army Ethics Centre has developed to augment the Canada & Bermuda Territory’s Position Statements. You can link to any of the others we’ve developed through our website.

   Sharon
Sharon on May 29th, 2008

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