12,000 Mothers Day health cards delivered to Minister for Foreign Affairs

Micah Challenge recently reported that on 17-18 June 2009 Micah Challenge coalition representatives met with politicians in Canberra to bring them up to date on the health campaign. The meetings were very encouraging and our politicians are aware and supportive of the campaign. Some MPs mentioned that they had received visits from campaign supporters in their electorate offices.

More than twelve thousand Mothers Day health cards were delivered to Bob McMullan, who will pass them on to Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Stephen Smith.

The government is planning to send Micah Challenge an official response to the cards.

Micah Challenge - Offering of Letters 09

Micah Challenge is calling Christians all over Australia to pick up their pens to fight poverty. The ‘Offering of Letters’ campaign asks churches and other Christian groups to prayerfully write a letter to the Prime Minister calling for generosity and justice for 1.2 billion people who live in extreme poverty. The letters will be delivered to Mr. Rudd during the Micah Challenge national gathering, ‘Voices for Justice’, in September.

Last year, more than 5000 letters were delivered to Parliament House, sending our government a clear message that Christians in Australia care about justice. Micah Challenge recently received a response from the office of Mr. Rudd, thanking letter writers for “bringing this matter to the Prime Minister’s attention.”

As our world groans under the weight of a financial crisis, we must remember that it is the poorest of the poor who will be most impacted. The World Bank estimates that more than 300 thousand more children will die each year from poverty related causes, if the global economic crisis continues.

This year, Micah Challenge is again encouraging Christians to write to Mr. Rudd urging him to turn his words of support for the MDGs into tangible action. It will take about 15 minutes to construct a handwritten letter asking our government to remember Australia’s commitment to the global poor.

For more information, including the Offering of Letters kits please visit www.micahchallenge.org.au/offering-of-letters.

Philippines - Women Transformation & Empowerment Project

ORAF is pleased to announce that it has recently agreed to fund this three year project.

The Women's Transformation & Empowerment Program aims to facilitate emotional, mental, social, economic and spiritual transformation of women survivors of prostitution through relevant training and leadership development.

Prostitution in the Philippines is a widespread problem with social, cultural, and economic implications. Estimates twenty years ago put the number of women in the Philippines involved in prostitution at 500,000. That number has certainly multiplied in the past two decades, particularly as the national economy continues to struggle. Many other Filipino women are trafficked outside of the country to other locations in Asia and beyond where they are sexually exploited in the “entertainment industry”, and many Filipino girls and women are being exploited through the internet. Women and girls are deceived, trafficked, and caught in the web of prostitution due to a variety of interrelated “push” and “pull” factors, prominent among them being poverty, poor educational attainment, lack of employment opportunities, and previous experiences of abuse.

This is one of four major complementary programs of Samaritana (ORAF’s local partner) in its mission to build, model, and empower communities that embrace vulnerable women and survivors of prostitution, enabling their transformation.

India - Anugrah Project for Children with Physical and Mental Disabilities – Phase 2

The project is located in Herbertpur in northern India and is a ray of hope in the lives and families of developmentally disadvantaged children. The program includes an intervention centre where children come daily, as well as a community based rehabiltation component where children are visited in their homes.

ORAF has been contributing funds to this project since 2006.

New Director Appointed

The Rev David Mansfield has been appointed as the new director. Starting May 11, David says heading up the Unit takes his passion for evangelism to a new level.

"I have a great love for global mission and a great passion for Africa .... and this was an opportunity to assist in the whole process of shifing first-world resources across to the third world for the sake of the gospel - I saw this as being fairly strategic so I wanted to be involved in it," he says.

"My role is to lift the profile of the Archbishop's Appeals Unit so that the Diocese can see the Archbishop's priorities to stand alongside our brothers and sisters in the developing world and in Sydney as they seek to reach their neighbours and communities for Christ." Mr Mansfield was an itinerant evangelist and director of the diocesan Department of Evangelism for 11 years and then was rector of York Street.

Federal Aid Budget 2009/10

The Federal Government presented its Budget last Tuesday night, 12 May. The Aid Budget for 2009/10, entitled ‘A Good International Citizen’ delivered $3,818.8 million in ODA. This is an increase from the 2008/09 Aid Budget of $3,659.9 million, representing a real increase of 5.6%. Australia’s ODA has increased from 0.33% of GNI last year to 0.34% of GNI this year, progressing incrementally towards the committed 0.5% by 2015/16.

Winners this year are Africa, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Pacific. Expenditure on education, health and infrastructure (including water and sanitation) have also increased significantly. In terms of NGO funding, the Aid Budget allocated a total of $54.4 million for the ANCP (an increase of 25.4% from 2008/09). This includes an increase of $3 million for core ANCP funding, as well as $7 million for ANCP Partnership Agreements and $0.5 million for an ANCP Innovations Fund to highlight innovative NGO approaches.

For ACFID's media release on the budget: http://www.acfid.asn.au/acfid-media-release-aid-budget09/
For Micah Challenge analysis: http://www.micahchallenge.org.au/default.asp?mail=1474
For Australia's International Development Assistance Program Budget 2009-10: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/budget/budget09/default.cfm

DRC: Malaria Awareness and Prevention Project

ORAF is funding a 3 year Malaria Awareness, Prevention and Treatment Programme in the Diocese of Aru, Democratic Republic of Congo.

The program has been running from July 2008 and already has made significant progress towards their objectives of: reducing the morbidity and mortality of children under 5 years old from malaria; increasing the use of mosquito nets in the target population; and reducing the morbidity from malaria amongst pregnant women

In their recent quarterly report they share that:

· Education has been undertaken primary schools as well as at antenatal clinics on malaria prevention, the importance of malaria prophylaxis and the correct use of a bed net;
· Workshop has been held for church leaders concerning malaria prevention. This workshop also included a session on the role of church leaders in providing information, education and communication in their communities;
· 250 impregnated bed nets have all been distributed and 300 more have recently been purchased; and
· Follow up visits to 46 homes have been made to check that the nets have been installed and are being correctly used.

Some of the difficulties encountered include:

· Not enough funds for purchasing the bed nets for the target group of pregnant women and children under 5.

· The government policy on blood transfusions has changed and transfusions are now only allowed in hospitals and reference health clinics HC. This means that blood transfusions cannot be carried out at Ekanga HC as it is not a reference HC. The ban on doing transfusions in the HC is a problem as the nearest medical centre that is allowed to undertake transfusions is about 35km away and parents find it too difficult to take their very anaemic children which result in children not receiving the medical help they need.