Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ethiopia. Show all posts

Saturday 2 January 2016

How importance on religion is placed

In the past India has always been a special place concerning the spiritual. Today still close to 80 per cent Indians think religion is an important part of their lives, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, where they ask if the American public is becoming less religious.

The most populous landlocked country in the world, as well as the second-most populous nation on the African continent after Nigeria, Ethiopia, which has a close historical ties with all three of the world's major Abrahamic religions, tops the chart with 98 per cent nationals saying that faith plays a crucial role in their lives.

In the November survey of more than 35,000 U.S. adults it was found that the percentages who say they believe in God, pray daily and regularly go to church or other religious services all have declined modestly in recent years, from 56 per cent in 2007 to 53 per cent in 2015.

The share of U.S. adults who say they believe in God, while still remarkably high by comparison with other advanced industrial countries, has declined modestly, from approximately 92% to 89%, since Pew Research Center conducted its first Landscape Study in 2007.
The share of Americans who say they are “absolutely certain” God exists has dropped more sharply, from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014. And the percentages who say they pray every day, attend religious services regularly and consider religion to be very important in their lives also have ticked down by small but statistically significant margins.
The figures suggest Americans place less importance on religion than those from African and Asian countries.
U.S. is in the middle of pack when it comes to importance of religion in people's lives
Pakistan with 93 per cent and Indonesia with 95 per cent, come ahead of India in believing that religion is very important in their lives. On the other hand, France (14 per cent), Japan (11 per cent) and China (three per cent) rank the the lowest.
Generally, poorer nations tend to be religious; wealthy less so, except for U.S.

Wednesday 5 August 2015

Ethiopia jails 18 Muslims for plotting to create an Islamic state in the country

Ethiopian-Muslim-Protest-Dimtsachin-YisemaEthiopia (AP)A court in Ethiopia has handed jail terms ranging from seven to 22 years against 18 Muslims who were convicted on terror charges, including allegedly attempting to establish a religious government.

Dimtsachin Yisema, a group lobbying for the release of Muslim detainees, said the sentences were “unjust” and called the Federal High Court a “kangaroo court,” railroading them for decrying its interference in religious matters. In other words, they are claiming victim status. 


According to some:
The verdict passed on muslim leaders & journalist by woyane is politically motivated and it is historical crime  on all Ethiopian Muslims. It is the sign of the regime's deep hate and hostility to the Muslims. Their hostility is expected as the regim's composition is more than 90 percent  non Muslim in the country of 50 percent  muslim community. Until  the form of the of the government  change, we Ethiopian muslims never expect justice.  This can be achieved through struggle by whatever means necessary.  That is all!

> “Ethiopia jails 18 Muslims over alleged terror,” Associated Press, August 3, 2015:
Ethiopian Kangaroo court sentences 18 Ethiopian Muslim Leaders, Preachers and Journalists 7-22 years in prison

Wednesday 3 September 2014

The world Having to face a collective failure

These last few days we not only have seen how ISIS or the fighters for IS destroyed the treasures of culture and unashamed pitiless killed thousands of innocent people and animals. In many countries at the south half of this world several tribes bring suffering to each other and make it that millions of peopel have to flee for the violence.

The West can only look how she is not able to bring a solution in those war-countries. It only can note a collective failure. It also does not manage to get a good working international refugee regime.


English: Logo of the UN World Food Programme i...
Without addressing these inadequacies and putting other policies and strategies in place, the World Food Programme and UNHCR also faces a crisis with a $186 million funding gap.

The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday warned that funding difficulties, compounded by security and logistical problems, have forced cuts in food rations for nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa, threatening to worsen unacceptable levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia, particularly in children.


English: Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, the Unite...
Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, the United States Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, addresses volunteers at the Earth Day Tri-Mission Community Project in Rome, Italy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, at a meeting with government representatives in Geneva, made an urgent joint plea for US$186 million to allow WFP to restore full rations and prevent further cuts elsewhere through December 2014. For its part, UNHCR needs US$39 million for nutrition support it provides to malnourished and vulnerable refugees in Africa.
"Many refugees in Africa depend on WFP food to stay alive and are now suffering because of a shortage of funding," Cousin said. "So we are appealing to donor governments to help all refugees half of whom are children have enough food to be healthy and to build their own futures."
Across Africa, 2.4 million refugees in some 200 sites in 22 countries depend on regular food aid from the World Food Programme. Currently, a third of those refugees have seen reductions in their rations, with refugees in Chad facing cuts as high as 60 per cent.

Supplies have been cut by at least 50 per cent for nearly 450,000 refugees in remote camps and other sites in the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan. Another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda have seen their rations reduced by between five and 43 per cent.

In addition, a series of unexpected, temporary ration reductions has affected camps in several countries since early 2013 and into 2014, including in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. Some cuts were also due to insecurity that affected deliveries.
"The number of crises around the world is far outpacing the level of funding for humanitarian operations, and vulnerable refugees in critical operations are falling through the cracks,"
said Guterres.
 "It is unacceptable in today's world of plenty for refugees to face chronic hunger or that their children drop out of school to help families survive,"
he said, calling for a rethink on funding for displacement situations worldwide.

A joint UNHCR-WFP report issued in conjunction with today's Geneva meeting says that refugees are among the world's most vulnerable people and warns that reductions in their minimum rations can have a devastating impact on already weakened populations.

Many refugees arrive in countries of exile already in urgent need of emergency nutritional care. Lacking any means to support themselves in many host countries, they remain totally dependent on international assistance sometimes for years until they can return home or find other solutions. Generally, WFP tries to provide 2,100 kilocalories per refugee per day.

Guterres warned that while a sustained 60 per cent reduction in rations would be catastrophic for refugees, even small cuts can spell disaster for undernourished people. The impact, especially on children, can be immediate and often irreversible. Undernutrition during a child's first 1,000 days from conception can have lifelong consequences, compromising both physical growth and mental development. Numerous studies have shown that this "stunting" leaves affected children at a severe social and economic disadvantage for the rest of their lives.

Even before the most recent ration cuts, refugees in many of the camps surveyed were already experiencing unacceptable levels of malnutrition, despite some progress over the past five years in improving nutrition standards. For example, a programme to prevent and treat micro-nutrient deficiencies has helped to slow or even reverse rising malnutrition rates and associated problems in some areas. But the current shortfall now threatens to negate even those hard-won gains.

Nutritional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2013 showed that stunting and anaemia among children was already at critical levels in the majority of the refugee sites. Only one of 92 surveyed camps, for example, met the agencies' goal of fewer than 20 per cent of refugee children suffering from anaemia. And fewer than 15 per cent of camps surveyed met the target of less than 20 per cent stunting among children. The surveys also showed that acute malnutrition levels among children under five years of age remain unacceptably high in more than 60 per cent of the sites.
Refugees hit by the food shortages are struggling to cope, posing a host of additional problems as they resort to what the report calls "negative coping strategies." These include an increase in school dropouts as refugee children seek work to help provide food for their families; exploitation and abuse of women refugees who venture out of camps in search of work; "survival sex" by women and girls trying to raise money to buy food; early marriage of young girls; increased stress and domestic violence within families; and increasing theft.

The end result, the report says, is a
"vicious cycle of poverty, food insecurity, deterioration of nutritional status, increased risk of disease, and risky coping strategies. Therefore, improving livelihood opportunities and food security is paramount to break this vicious cycle, and ensuring that previous investments and advances in nutrition and food security are preserved."
In addition to urging donor governments to fully fund the refugee food pipeline, WFP and UNHCR are also encouraging African governments to provide refugees with agricultural plots, grazing land, working rights and access to local markets to promote self-sufficiency among refugees. Given the unpredictability of funding, the agencies are also refining their methods of prioritizing those affected by possible cuts to ensure that the most vulnerable are identified and receive the help they need.

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Please do find:
850 Calorie Challenge

850 calories is just not nearly enough…for lunch!
Speak Out for Refugees in Africa

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Thursday 30 January 2014

Escaped the fighting in South Sudan

Sue Mathias is presently in Uganda and has seen 2 of the brothers who escaped the fighting in South Sudan. They are both well. She also confirms that our sister Purity has now reached her home in Kenya after Sue and John Mathias were able to get funds to her to travel through Ethiopia, the same applies to our brother Martyn who has also now reached Kenya.
English: Uganda (orthographic projection) Port...
 Uganda (orthographic projection)(proyección ortográfica) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
 A student who was also caught up in the fighting is safely in Northern Uganda. Sue and John have lost contact with a number of brothers and sisters and students and your prayers are still urgently required. The temptation to travel back to Uganda for economic reasons is high and Sue has tried to counsel the brothers not to travel there as some Ugandans have already done. The Ugandan military are involved and there is now concern that Ugandans will be targeted as a result of this.
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Saturday 25 May 2013

Helping against or causing more homophobia

Everywhere in the world we see that there is a growing trend of verbal/physical abuse and life threatening violence by friends, family members, teachers, mobs and in worst case by the law enforcement officers from time to time to people who do not fall into the mainstream or to those who are considered 'queer'.

Can you believe in the fact that organisations could make a difference? Is it possible that the physical, spiritual, social and economic well-being of communities can be greatly influenced to the good by effectively mobilizing religious societies to collaborate for change?

The Interfaith Consortium in partnership with United for Life Ethiopia, the local Pro-life, western Conservative Evangelicals ally organized two national anti-homosexuality conferences and pass a joint statement to plea the government to further restrict the practice of homosexuality in December, 2008 at UN Convention Center and June, 2012 at the newly built African Union headquarter in Addis Ababa.

According to the corrupted and politicized Interfaith Consortium is unfortunately, doing nothing and remains silent in several pressing issues of the country; when the government was repeatedly and openly criticized by international human rights and press organizations as well as by some government officials from the European Community and United States for its abuse of freedom of the press and civic association and human rights since the introduction of  the restrictive charities and societies, press and anti-terrorism laws.

Read more about it: Is the Ethiopian Interfaith Forum for Development or for Homophobia??? and the Support from The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/Emergency Plan) ???


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