11-17 May
Here you will find some examples of what Christian Aid does with the money you give.
Time for action on climate change:
Decades of development are at risk because of the damage to the climate and whilst money can help people in the countries hardest hit it isn’t going to be enough unless people learn to use the world’s resources carefully. Live simply that others may simply live’ – a campaign slogan from many years ago is as urgent today as it was then. We must change.
Prayers and reflections for Christian Aid Week:
Do look at this selection and add them to your prayers during the week.
Ten things to know about Christian Aid:
This section may be useful because now you’re hooked I’m going to ask for your help. On Saturday 17th we aim to get as many people as possible on the streets of Hampstead with collecting tins. There’s no doubt that the more tins people see the more likely they are eventually to put something in. I’ll put up a list, marking the day into 1 hour slots – please sign for whatever time you can give. And I’ll be in the church during the day to hand out and collect in the tins. Judy East
Time for action on climate change
As sea levels rise in coastal Bangladesh, saltwater is contaminating the water supply of riverbank and coastal communities. These communities also face losing homes to rapidly increasing river erosion
Your donations this Christian Aid Week will help communities in the developing world to cope with the effects of climate change. But money in itself is not enough. We also need to act. We can all use our influence on politicians and business leaders in the rich world who are the ones making many of the key decisions affecting poor countries. Global warming is not just a distant forecast. It’s already happening now, and poor people are the ones who are being hit the hardest.
Climate change increases the unpredictability and severity of extreme weather patterns. During the past 35 years, hurricane-force storms have almost doubled. Eleven million people are threatened by hunger because of years of unprecedented drought in east Africa. Ninety per cent of the victims of weather-related natural disasters during the 1990s were from poor countries. And an estimated 150,000 people are dying annually from diseases exacerbated by the changing climate. For example, scientists predict that malaria-carrying mosquitoes, which cannot survive at low temperatures, are now spreading the disease further as regions warm up, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk.
And the outlook is bleak. Even if we are able to stabilise CO2 emissions, global average temperatures are still likely to rise by at least 2°C by 2050. If this is the case, 1-3 billion people will face acute water shortages. Thirty million more people will go hungry as crops fail across the globe. Melting ice caps, combined with the thermal expansion of the oceans, means that sea levels are set to rise dramatically. A rise of one metre would displace ten million people in Vietnam and 8-10 million in Egypt, as well as potentially submerging around 16 per cent of Bangladesh.
Climate change is an issue of injustice. The world’s poorest people have done the least to contribute to the problem, and yet they are suffering the worst effects. Carbon has fuelled the rich world’s wealth and development. But the devastating impact of our CO2 emissions on our climate means that poor countries cannot now develop in the same way.
Christian Aid is pressing for an international agreement to ensure that rich countries dramatically cut their CO2 emissions so that poor countries can develop in a way that won’t further increase climate change and condemn them to perpetual poverty. This agreement will call for rich countries to cut their own CO2 emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050; compensate poor countries for the damage already caused by climate change so they have the resources to adapt; and assist poor countries to develop in ways that will limit CO2 emissions.
Eighty per cent by 2050 means cuts of five per cent every year. This is the absolute minimum action required if global warming is to be kept below the tipping point of 2°C. Five per cent every year is a big challenge. But it’s one that we must meet. Millions of lives depend on it.
As citizens of a rich country, we are all in a powerful position to make a difference. And this is where we need your help. Please sign the prayer and action card this Christian Aid Week, and send a message to the government that urgent action is needed on climate change now.
Campaigning works. Previous campaigns have delivered real change on issues such as debt and fair trade. We need to take action on climate change now, before it is too late.
Find out more about Christian Aid’s Climate Changed campaign, and sign up to take further action, by visiting www.christianaid.org.uk/climate or www.christianaid.ie/climate
Prayers and reflections for Christian Aid Week
Ever-present God,
Fill me with your Spirit,
And send me out to make a difference
To the voiceless; the powerless and the poor.
Help me to know that I stand with all who seek justice
And I go with the strength of your Spirit.
Take my prayers, my time and my envelopes.
Use them with others’ to achieve amazing things.
For the sake of your people,
And to the glory of your name. Amen.
At the heart of the Christian gospel is an identification with all living beings, and a demonstration of a different way of transcending limits, not by rolling over them, but by embracing and transforming them. Jesus did not voluntarily seek out suffering and did not glorify it, but he chose to bear it rather than inflict it on others. The sign of the bread and the wine on the communion table are a reminder to us, a bit like the rainbow is for God, that apart from all living beings we have no life, that we are creature not creator, and that what is given, and given up in love, is never lost or wasted.’
From Sharing the Blessing, Kathy Galloway, SPCK/Christian Aid £8.99 Call 08700 787 788 to order a copy of this new Christian Aid publication.
As a woman, I now feel very good. I have learned to talk. I am confident. In my heart, I have weight. We used to gather water before in big pots, but I never used to put a net over them. We used to go to the toilet without wearing sandals. Now we wear them and we wash our hands with soap. Everyone in the family is happy because now we have good safe water for many months of the year.’ Minu Basar from Bangladesh who had to cross a wide and sometimes dangerous river and travel up to 10km to buy drinking water for her family. Since joining the village pani parishad (water council), she has learned how to safely gather and store rainwater. The pani parishads are supported by Christian Aid partner, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies.
Ten things to know about Christian Aid
1 We believe in life before death we are passionate about rooting out poverty. 2 We fund long-term development work, respond to emergencies, and challenge the unjust systems that make and keep people poor.
3 We are the official development agency of 41 church denominations in the UK and Ireland.
4 We help people of all faiths and none.
5 We believe in helping people to find their own lasting solutions to poverty. 6 We work through more than 600 partners local organisations in nearly 50 countries.
7 We challenge those with power to change things that have an adverse effect on poor communities, such as international trade rules and climate change. 8 We don’t give money to governments we work directly with local organisations on the ground.
9 We spend money where it’s needed most. For each £1/ 1.43 given in 2006/7, 83p/ 1.19 was used for direct charitable expenditure. The remaining 17p/ 0.24 was used to raise the next £1/ 1.43.
10 You can find out more at www.caweek.org or www.christianaid.ie or by calling 0845 7000 300.
How your money helps transform poor communities
Emergencies 30% Long-term development 40%
Campaigning, advocacy and education 13% Fundraising 16% Governance 1%
© Christian Aid December 2007
UK registered charity number 1105851
Company number 5171525
Republic of Ireland charity number CHY6998
Christain Aid Week
Judy East