Global village
Dignity for Roma women
Groups of women in the minority Roma communities of Western Ukraine are beginning to realize their own value for the first time as missionaries Kirsi Hekkala and her husband organize support groups there.
Hekkala sees many who are “uneducated, illiterate and in many ways unprepared to raise a family. Mothers can be as young as 14 and are often abused by men, who often have a second family on the side,” she writes.
She and her husband are now starting a group in their third village in three years. The groups encourage women and teach reading and crafts that can earn a bit of income.
“We talk about families, women and God,“Hekkala reports. Church attendance often follows.
In the mountain village of Pasika, crocheting caught on among the women, especially after one woman worked at home to make a “beautiful bag with many colours.” Even some husbands began to practise crochet at home behind closed doors.
Women are the keys to family wellbeing but are often forgotten in Roma culture, writes Hekkala. “The challenges are huge, but we are sure God is working” in the lives of these families. WWW. EUROPEANEA.ORG
Child marriages in Zimbabwe condemned
The death of a 15-year-old girl while giving birth at an Apostolic Church shrine in July has increased an outcry over child marriage in Zimbabwe.
Anna Machaya was married to a 26-year-old, Hatirarami Momberume, who has now been arrested and charged with rape, according to CNN. Zimbabwe’s laws don’t specify a minimum age, although a bill proposes to ban marriage below 18. The group Girls Not Brides in Zimbabwe claims more than a third of girls are married before 18.
Churches and other groups are also highlighting the problem. “Child marriage is rampant in Zimbabwe,” says Human Rights Watch, “especially among Indigenous apostolic churches, an evangelical group that mixes
Christian beliefs with traditional cultures and has millions of followers.” Poverty is also often cited as a reason parents accept early marriage.
The All Africa Conference of Churches and the World Council of Churches condemned the girl’s death and called for laws protecting girls to be upheld across Africa. “Every child has a right to life in fullness,” stated Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC deputy general secretary. WWW. OIKOUMENE.ORG
Churches to address trafficking
A new global network to fight human trafficking has been set up with support from the World Evangelical Alliance. Called the World Freedom Network, it will focus on equipping churches to get involved and address the issue in their locations.
Leanne Rhodes, an Australian living in Portugal, is global director. Previously she led the European Freedom Network, a non profit incorporated in 2017 after five years of support by the European Evangelical Alliance. It has successfully used a video campaign (www. DontShutYourEyes.org) to get more European churches and agencies involved.
The new global network aims to develop regional networks – focused in some areas on trafficking for labour while in others on sexual exploitation – across the constituency of the World Evangelical Alliance, which reaches 143 countries. WWW. WORLDEA.ORG
“Our hearts ache for the many Afghans who are longing for freedom but once again have to live in fear within their own nation.” —Thomas Schirrmacher, World Evangelical Alliance
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