Hi Guys,

Hope all’s well. This month we’re launching our first Video Update from Brazil! Follow the link to check out the latest news and literally see what’s happening!

Hope you enjoy it…

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=629485126838

Click here for their latest update: January%2010

s

s

s

s

Dear Friends,

Happy new year and other such greetings that usually begin newsletters. I apologise for my lack of regular news updates of late although I imagine that this will be a relief to many of you with concentration spans that are similar to mine. I have decided for this newsletter to change my old format (a largely forced change due to my loosing the template along with most of my email addresses), I suppose many of you will be angered by this change, I only hope that this anger does not manifest itself, for example, in some form of domestic violence (as

Anyway, enough of my introductory waffle which is designed to use as much space and make my newsletter seem longer – as ironically (if my understanding of irony is correct) is this sentence.

Since my last newsletter update there has been far too much to report. I always feel really blessed by God (if you pardon the cliché) to be able to work supporting so many projects around Asia in which God is so visibly at work. As always in these newsletters I feel frustrated by the fact that I cannot mention much of the work that I support in Food for the Hungry as we are often working with and in some of the most marginalised groups in the World and much of the work cannot me mentioned – it is for these reasons I prefer to talk to people on a one to one basis and keep these newsletters  minimal other than to let you know I am alive.

The last year has been very very difficult and educational for me due to bad health (as I will report below), but I have still been privileged enough to keep working for much of the year whether it be organising conferences, working on exciting things such as spreadsheets or visiting staff in various countries. Some highlights for me have been a couple of trips to Indonesia, a trip to Cambodia, and Hong Kong. A special time for me was visiting our projects in Sumatra in a town called Meulaboh which was devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami – Before the Tsunami Christian organisations were banned from the area and a civil war was a continual presence – Since that time Food for the Hungry has been able to establish itself as a real force, in my eyes, for good in the area – as it has continually supported the communities in the area in the post-tsunami period. It has been great to see how the projects have been able to shape the perception of Christians in the area as our staff and the Church seek to love those in need. I have some great stories about this (ask me!)

September and October were very hectic times for the Asia Region of Food for the Hungry. In the space of a few weeks Indonesia was hit by an Earthquake, various Pacific Islands were hit by a Tsunami and various South East Asian countries I shoud not mention were hit by Cyclones and Philippines was hit by 4 cyclones. In places such as the Philippines and in South East Asia many communities FH works in were heavily impacted by these events and FH was able to provide support to various communities, while in Indonesia we were able to set up initial feeding centres and develop programmes for recovery in the affected city and surrounding area.

Prayer requests and Health:

Anyway, as I mentioned above, the year has been difficult due to health problems and I would appreciate your prayers for me mainly on this matter: In January 09 I went travelling to Myanmar, Philippines and Laos and spent most of the trip with a swollen neck and a desire to sleep as much as possible. I came back to Bangladesh and was diagnosed with Glandular Fever. Since then I never really picked up health again and am easily exhausted. I visited a doctor in the UK as I was back anyway and he suggested I remain in the UK to recover for 3 months – I decided to ignore him and went back to Asia but have struggled, and so consulted with more ‘medical experts’ who suggested that the I might have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome triggered by the Glandular Fever.. ANYWAY.. I have returned to the UK now (in December) for a few months to rest and recover before returning to Asia. I hope to be able to work from the UK on various aspects of the job, which can be done over the internet, but it is still very frustrating to be at 5% of my normal ability. Even more distressingly – I haven’t kicked a football since December 2008 – I guess my hopes of playing for England are over. To make myself sound like less of a wimp I would like to mention that Mario Ancic was ranked number 3 in the world at Tennis but then in 2007 he got Glandular Fever and has never really been able to make a come back.

Prayer would be appreciated for fast recovery and to regain full usefulness to Food for the Hungry as soon as possible. I am sure that God has a plan for me this year with the health problems even though it is not obvious. I used to be very arrogant about my health and fitness so it has been something of a useful check on this arrogance.

So I am due to return to Bangladesh in March if all is well although this could get put back depending on speed of recovery. My girlfriend lives in London so it has been nice to see her although I will not be able to see that much of her as it is probably cheaper to travel from Bangladesh to London than from York to London. However she was able to visit York for Christmas.

Please pray for FH’s projects< I would like to have described these more but would prefer to tell of these in person. If anyone would like to chat or meet up (if I have energy) my UK mobile number is 07956564083 and my home phone is 01904 706789.

Also, finally please pray for my friend Dave Burton who has moved recently to Bangladesh to work for FH Bangladesh as Communications Officer. Pray for him as he settles and gets used to his surroundings. Bangaldesh and Dhaka in particular can be quite a shock – Dhaka being the most densely populated City on the planet and Bangladesh the most densly populated Country. He is also supported by St Michael Le Belfrey Church and has been great company since he arrived in Bangladesh. He regularly blogs and is a great communicator so I would like to recommend his blogspot- http://idiotgrace.blogspot.com/ – in which he discusses life in Bangladesh and from time to time projects of FH Bangladesh (along with other stuff such as his views about music- I think he is quite into his French Techno).

If you have read this far you are probably my mother. If not well done and thank you.. Sorry it is a bit rushed..

Here is the latest news from Andy and Rose.  Download Here

And some extra info here….

If you remember, a few months ago, the local child welfare judge summoned two of our boys to see her. She has the power to take the boys out of the project and to send them home. Brazilian law prohibits orphanages, so if the boy’s life is no longer in danger she has the power to send them back to their families regardless of the family situation… i.e. the boy might have changed but many of the families just dont have the means to look after their children and so if the family hasn’t changed then the boy will slip back into his old way of life and, within a few weeks or months, his life will be in danger once again. 

The newest thought of the judge is that if a boy is able to visit home at the weekend then he is able to go home permanetly (!) … even though, in my opinion, there is a huge difference between a boy visiting home for a day or so to help his re-intergration and the family once again having the responsibility and the means to look after the boy full time. 

Unfortunately, there’s not much that we can do, we can present our case to the judge but she still has the last word and actually sent one of our boys back last year who is now back in the gangs. 

The fault is on both sides, we need to be doing more to work with and help the families but financial reasons have prevented us from organising a good, well trained family team. And the judges tend to have no experience with working with children in these situations and create rules and laws which are, unfortunatley, fatally flawed.  

So, if prayer is your thing then please do pray! Pray for the boys going to see the judge and that this situation can be resolved. Pray also for the project’s family work – that it might be improved dramatically!

Here are some dates for the diary – the boys court dates with the judge – first up is 7 yr old Gabriel!

Interviews with Child Welfare Judge this month

Gabriel 13/04

Rodrigo 20/04

Iveson 20/04

Inaldo 27/04

Thanks guys for all your prayers and support! 
Andy

Joel Blacker News Letter

Some of you may know I’ve been doing a little bit of running recently as part of a fitness and health drive. Whilst I’m still very very much in the beginner category I am starting to see the benefits of the exercise – I even ran in a 10 kilometer race last month!

I’ve found that having a goal to work towards helps with motivation and adds focus to the challenge. So, I’ve decided to sign up for the the York “Brass Monkeys” Half-Marathon in January next year. You can read a little more about it here – http://www.yorkknavesmireharriers.co.uk/brassmonkey.htm.

I thought this might be something others would be interested in. Do you fancy the thought of running 13.1 miles through York countryside in winter weather??? It would be great if a whole crowd of us from G2 did it together … and you can invite friends as well.

My thought is that we could run and collect sponsorship to support two of the people who are part of G2 and involved in very worthy projects abroad: Andy Roberts and Joel Blacker. Our pain will be their gain!

Bookings for the race aren’t open yet – I’ll let you know when you can book (I expect there will be a registration fee of £10-£15). Last year there were 1,200 runners so it will be an exciting and inspiring event.

Have a think and let me know if you want to join me. If I can do it, you can!

For now a few thoughts:

1. When we know the booking date for the event, you’ll need to book on the day it opens to get a place. I’m told it will be sometime in September and we should know soon.
2. If you’ve not done much sport you may want to check with your doctor before starting!
3. If you plan to do much more than running a few miles every now and again you should get fitted for a proper pair of running shoes.

-Christian Selvaratnam

PS latest updates will be posted here selvaratnam.org/brass-monkey/