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TOO COLD/WET/WINDY FOR YOU?
Every month it gets harder to find
something new to say to keep us alert
to the needs of the millions worldwide
who are the innocent victims of climate
change, famine and poverty. We have a
responsibility to keep our brothers and
sisters in our sights. As we complain
about the weather (too hot/cold/windy/
wet etc), they are suffering as a result of
desertification/ flooding/famine.
Some headlines:
Tonga – 84% of the population affected
by ashfall and infrastructure destruction
following the January tsunami
Madagascar – thousands living off
locusts and wild leaves, as crops fail or
are destroyed by sandstorms; (UN
World Food Programme – ‘an invisible
crisis’, ‘an area of the world that has
contributed nothing to climate change,
but they are the ones paying the price’).
Yemen - 21 million people, 11 million
of them children, in need of assistance;
nearly 2.3 million under-fives suffering
from acute malnutrition, due to conflict
and economic decline exacerbated by
Covid 19 (UNICEF report);
People with disabilities - among the
most vulnerable yet often excluded,
unintentionally, from a humanitarian
response because they are unable to
access food points and are most likely
to be left behind when people migrate.
The pandemic has triggered a
worldwide hunger crisis yet, horrifyingly,
the crisis is not about a lack of food. The
world produces more than enough to
feed us all but poverty and inequality
are locking out the most marginalised
among us (VSO’s house magazine KIN).
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But we mustn't be left feeling
despondent, or asking ourselves, ‘What
can I do to make a difference? A coffee
morning hardly cuts it’. As the latest
Christian Aid magazine puts it, ‘The last
few years have been tough. But through
it all people like you have continued to
think of others. It is this love you share,
even with strangers, that keeps hope
alive’.
In some villages in northwest South
Sudan, for example, where the only
available water for mothers to give their
children is dirty and unreliable river
water, Christian Aid has provided bore
holes, giving access to fresh water.
Other challenges wait to be tackled to
give these families hope, through the
love we share with them
With this in mind, we are going ahead
with a soup, bread and cheese Lent
lunch on 18 March – in St Laurence's as
the Garden Room at the Methodist
Church is too small for social distancing.
Friday 18 March: please make a note
of the date and come to support us. We
are hoping that the Methodist Church
will arrange a lunch on another Friday.
But this will be
only two
Fridays rather
than the usual
six. Please do
all you can to
continue your
support for
the poor and
marginalised of
the world.
Claire