Displaying items by tag: crisis

The crisis has prompted rural communities to link up as never before via social media and offers of help to those in self-isolation. Christians are reaching out to and praying for their neighbours. Pray that, despite our inability to meet, rural Christians will continue to be able to love their neighbours in practical ways, to shine as lights in the darkness, and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Pray especially for the rural elderly and that these and other developments will inaugurate a new coming together of rural and urban people, a new mutual understanding, and a new recognition of the importance of farming and the land. 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 sets out how God's ancient people are to respond to adversities, including pestilence (verse 13). Pray that His people today will respond with prayer and humbling ourselves, seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways.

The Queen said ‘We salute you’, after 405,000 individuals stepped up to support the NHS just two hours after the government made an appeal for helpers to deliver medicines to the vulnerable and do shopping. Boris Johnson said the number of volunteers was equivalent to the population of Coventry. Meanwhile people are finding new ways of being together while apart. Isolated elderly are becoming adept at meeting friends, neighbours, and prayer groups by Skype, Zoom and Messenger. There are wonderful examples of acts of kindness, generosity, and compassion that demonstrate the underlying unity that humans feel for each other. We can pray according to Psalm 5:11 that God’s protection will spread over all who are currently volunteering and showing unity and kindness.

Hospitals in London are facing a ‘tsunami’ of coronavirus cases and are beginning to run out of intensive care beds. Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, said that while critical care capacity had been expanded, hospitals in the capital had seen an ‘explosion’ in demand. A third of the UK cases have been diagnosed in the city. Staff absence rates due to infection are at 30% to 50%, as hospitals desperately struggle with wave after wave of seriously ill patients. Mr Hopson said an extra 4,000 beds soon to be available at London’s ExCel centre will be used up very quickly in the peak, which is two or three weeks away. From April all routine operations will be cancelled for three months, and as many patients as possible will be discharged from hospital. These two measures could free up 30,000 of the 100,000 hospital beds in England alone.

Violent extremists have spread across Burkina Faso. Traditional hunters and crime-fighting vigilantes have filled a governance vacuum and add a complexity to the crisis. A new group provides locals with weapons and two weeks’ training to combat jihadists. Many worry it will make matters worse. National troops are implicated in countless rights abuses, while French counter-terrorism forces have little impact. A jihadist attack on a church recently left 24+ people dead in a crisis that has displaced over 750,000 people since the beginning of last year. This insecurity has left displaced people in rural areas outside the reach of aid groups - and a lack of clear information on which militants are operating where - has made it difficult for humanitarians to negotiate access to affected people. Most attacks are attributed to groups linked to al-Qaeda and IS, with a patchwork of self-defence gangs and poorly equipped soldiers also being responsible for abuses.

‘The moment of crisis has come in efforts to tackle climate change.’ ‘We have been putting things off for year after year.’ ‘Southeast Australia is on fire because the temperatures of the Earth are increasing,’ warned Sir David Attenborough. The crisis has come because, although scientists are urging rapid responses. international decisions made on key issues at climate conferences are put off and several countries are trying to dodge their commitments. Sir David said, ‘This is not just having a nice little debate and then coming away with a compromise. This is an urgent problem that has to be solved and we know how to do it - that is the paradoxical thing. We are refusing to take steps that we know must be taken. The release of greenhouse gases is increasing, not falling. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now higher than anything experienced in history.’

On 19 September 30+ civilians were killed and 40+ injured in an air attack that accidentally targeted farmers, and 20+ people were killed in a suicide car bomb that hit a hospital. 74 Afghans were killed every day during August. Unrelenting violence affects almost the entire country. The US/Taliban peace talks have failed, attacks are killing dozens in Kabul, militant sieges trap residents in Kunduz and Pul-e-Khumri, airstrikes by security forces kill innocent civilians, and the Taliban have executed a rights commission’s provincial director. Conflict has displaced 237,000+ people this year, and recent floods following extreme drought have uprooted comparable numbers. Hundreds of thousands of refugees are being forced home, increasing the burden on a fragile state with lowering income, high unemployment, and rising debt. Three million people are experiencing food insecurity; one in six need humanitarian assistance. But in the midst of crises, many displaced Afghans are becoming Christians. See the following article, on suffering but growing church.

Far from seeing reform after Robert Mugabe was toppled, the country has fallen into deeper crisis as millions are ‘reduced to paupers’. Power cuts from dawn to long after dusk are causing families to cook on firewood in almost total darkness. Monthly earnings barely cover two weeks’ living expenses. With Mnangagwa things have gone from bad to worse with outlandish austerity measures causing 175% inflation. Multiple currencies replaced by another new Zimbabwe dollar, fuel subsidies cut, poor harvests, a cyclone and drought have compounded problems. The Zimbabwe Church is calling for the international community and the government to hear the cries of Zimbabwean families surviving on two meals a day and lacking life-saving medicine. UK aid agency CAFOD is asking for national dialogue, for all in authority to come together and address the current crisis as they do what they can to assist with food, clean water supplies, and seeds (70% of the population grow their own food).

Libya has been beset by chaos since Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011. During the uprising, anyone with a gun commanded respect. An estimated 1,700 armed groups emerged. Only these armed militias really wield power: it is felt that they often hold to ransom the politicians they supposedly back. Also, many are concerned that IS now has a presence there. On 4 April warlord Khalifa Haftar began an attack on Tripoli to wrest it from the UN-backed prime minister. So far at least 56 people have been killed and 266 wounded, according to the WHO. It said it had sent emergency teams to assist frontline hospitals; thousands of people had fled their homes. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has called for a ceasefire to avoid what he described as a dramatic, bloody battle. Europe is split over how to respond: see

A quarter of people interviewed in eastern DR Congo believe Ebola is not real, underscoring the enormous challenges that healthcare workers are facing as the epidemic exceeds 1,000 cases. Public mistrust is not helping; people refuse vaccines, resist treatment and conceal symptoms. Even though health workers are better prepared than ever, with new technologies, trial treatments, and futuristic mobile treatment units, they are not curbing the spread of the virus. Five Ebola centres have been attacked since last month, sometimes by armed assailants. The violence led French medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to suspend activities at the epicentre of the outbreak. Now Bunia city, with 1 million people, has confirmed a case. Pray for the health ministry and partners as they listen to the affected communities, address their concerns, and quell misinformation and mistrust; and for the military to strengthen defences against attacks on health centres. See https://qz.com/africa/1582080/ebola-in-dr-congo-tops-1000-cases-struggles-to-contain-spread/

The UN estimates that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people were affected by Cyclone Idai; the world does not yet realise the enormity of the situation. Six days after its 106 mph winds and rain hit southern Africa, thousands are still cut off. Beira, where the storms first made landfall, was not reached for three days. Every building in the city (population 500,000) was damaged. The whole region is without power. Food, clothes and medicine are needed immediately, but flooded, damaged roads need repairing before assistance can reach them. Save the Children warned on 18 March that 100,000’s of children are at risk as rivers burst their banks. Malawi was flooded by torrential rainfall before Idai made landfall in Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Whole villages were swept away in the three countries. Pray for the military and humanitarian agencies trying to gain access to thousands of stranded people. Pray for abundant donations of food, drinking water, medicine and clothing to reach victims quickly, after what is believed to be the worst ever natural disaster in the southern hemisphere.