Below are 3 stories of hope from around the world.
As a drop in the ocean with its ripple outwards can affect the entire ocean, so can we with our service — supporting each other as the world transitions to Divine Right Alignment, understanding the 100th Monkey Effect — being kindness, forgiveness, compassion wherever we are.
Dutch Church Holds 800-hour Service
to Save Family from Deportation
httpss://www.cnn.com/2018/11/29/europe/netherlands-church-service-deportation-intl
By Simon Cullen, CNN, November 29, 2018
A church in the Netherlands is holding an around-the-clock service that has lasted more than 800 hours, to shield a family from deportation.
Under Dutch law, police officers are not permitted to enter a church while a religious service is taking place. So, for more than a month, hundreds of pastors and volunteers from across the country have been meeting to maintain the 24/7 service in support of an Armenian family whose asylum claim has been rejected.
Theo Hettema, chairman of the General Council of Protestant Ministers in the Netherlands, told CNN the service will continue “as long as it’s necessary.”
“We want to love God and our neighbor. And we thought that this was a clear opportunity to put the love for our neighbor into reality,” he said.
The Tamrazyan family, including three children Hayarpi, Warduhi and Seyran, fled Armenia and have been living in the Netherlands since April 2010 while their claim for political asylum was being decided. But their case was rejected, and they’ve now been told to leave the country.
Hayarpi Tamrazyan, now aged 21, says she is “incredibly happy and grateful to all volunteers.”
Since the service started, Hayarpi has been posting regular updates on Twitter, thanking people for taking part in the service.
The initial plan to thwart the deportation order was hatched in secret. Axel Wicke from the Bethal church and community center in The Hague, where the service is taking place, says only a handful of people knew about the idea beforehand so that the family — who are staying in church accommodation — wasn’t put in danger.
Stuck in Airport for 7 Months,
Refugee is Finally Given a Home
Half a World Away
Thanks to Canadian Stranger
httpss://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/after-living-in-airport-for-7-months-refugee-lands-in-canada
By McKinley Corbley, GNN, November 29, 2018
A Syrian refugee who spent seven months living in an airport has finally found a home half a world away thanks to a Canadian woman who helped to sponsor his stay.
37-year-old Hassan Al Kontar is one of many Syrians who fled the country as a means of escaping the war in 2011. He had originally been working as an insurance manager in the United Arab Emirates until they declined to renew his visa. He then tried to stay in Malaysia, but according to the CBC, an unexpected flight cancellation caused his 3-month work permit to expire.
He even made it to Cambodia in a bid to avoid deportation back to Syria, but he arrived at the country only to be sent back to the Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Since leaving the airport would result in his deportation, he had no choice but to live in the “Arrivals” section until he found a country that would accept him.
Canadian Government Gives World’s Poor
Millions in Cash to Fight Extreme Poverty
httpss://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/canada-direct-cash-transfer
By Jackie Marchildon, Global Citizen, November 21, 2018
Officials confirmed the country has been providing cash directly to people in over 35 countries.
Canada is trying out a new approach to delivering foreign aid — by providing cash to people most in need in developing countries, according to information obtained by CBC.
CBC spoke with two anonymous senior officials with Global Affairs Canada who confirmed the government has been providing cash directly to people in over 35 countries.
“Direct cash transfers have become a key element of humanitarian response and development in the last two to three years,” one senior aid official told CBC. “It is much more efficient to deliver assistance this way. There is no middleman to decide what the needs are. In humanitarian projects, it is being considered the default approach now.”
Why Global Citizens Should Care
Right now, more than 1 billion people
live in extreme poverty around the world.
Foreign aid from countries works to lift them out of poverty
through education, health services, and more.
We can take action right now.
A thought: Imagine if we, each, in developed nations sent money monthly — $25 — to a family in need, how fast we could lift the world up with a little hope. In Nigeria for example the average wage for a family of 4 is less than $300US a year — $25 a month.
How to find a family? I’ve been communicating on FaceBook with a friend in Nigeria who often says he hasn’t eaten.
Sending LOVE is one way to affect change, but to physically do something, to send small amounts of money. . . a drop in the ocean affects the entire ocean.