Tsumani forecast

Today, The Straits Times ran an article forecasting a tsunami that could destroy the whole of Sumatra. I was gripped because these 'acts of God' reminded me of King Jehoshaphat confronting an impending battle in 2 Chronicles 20 and having nothing to do but worship, intercede and fast for God to come through and fight this battle on the people's behalf.

Have we cried out to God concerning this impending disaster? Can we do something for the people of Padang by asking God to be their God and that they would have Jesus with them as they confront this?

The Straits Times, Oct 1 2009 - Geologists have long said Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake. Since 2005, it has been hit by more than five major earthquakes measuring 6.5 or higher on the Richter scale.

Geologist Danny Hilman Natawidjaja of the Indonesian Science Institute told The Straits Times that a stronger quake could be devastating for Padang.

“We are very worried...that the accumulated energy in one quake of magnitude 8.9, for example, could see a tsunami reaching 7m high hitting the coast.”

Such a tsunami would affect more than a million people living along the coastline.

He added that the decade-long sequence of quakes meant government officials were making adjustments to infrastructure and educating the people in preparation for the inevitable stronger earthquake and tsunami.

Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency technical chief Suharjono said that up to 6,000 quakes of a magnitude over 4.5 hit Indonesia every year.

However, researchers are unable to pinpoint exactly when the “big one” will occur.

Said senior seismologist D. Srinageswar of India’s National Geophysical Research Institute: “Prediction of a quake in time is not possible. The process will need data going back hundreds or even thousands of years.”

Padang had been hit by tsunamis measuring between 8.5-9M in 1797 and 1833 (see details here).

The Age-Old Scripts of Philippines' Tagbanua People

Vanishing from Use


On a quiet hillside in the village of Makagwaq, on Palawan Island in the western Philippines, 71-year-old Antonita Bibas teaches her grandchildren an ancient script. Known only to few, the isolated mountains and coastlines of Palawan are home to a rich but fragile culture. The script - adopted by indigenous Tagbanua people many hundreds of years ago - tells of the intricate cultures that once thrived on Palawan.

PRAY :
God's glory in the ancient scripts will be preserved to reflect a facet of himself. (Revelation 7:9)
For this tribe to discover their redemptive gifting and worship their Creator for his glory in them.

TEXT Katherine Jack
(Asian Geographic)

Asia's Child Soldiers

There are at least 300,000 children actively involved in wars or uprisings in 41 countries around the world. Tens of thousands of children have been recruited in the past decade – most are teenagers, but many are below the age of 10. There is no discrimination between the sexes.

Advancements in weapon technology allow increasingly younger children to handle AK-47s, M-16s and grenades with ease. Those who do not actually carry arms and go into combat take on roles that are just as, if not more, dangerous.

PRAY :
That our Asian children in strife-stricken nations will be protected, saved and allowed to be children.
For the Father heart of God to minister to those already within this involvement.
For the release of these children.
Against the abusive, destructive spirit set out to ruin these children's lives and hearts.

(Source: Asian Geographic)

East Timor

East Timorese youth growing up in a newly independent country are hungry for a sense of belonging. Some are finding it in the wrong places. Many young men are joining martial arts groups, some of which have an occultic slant. Members of a popular group have to offer animal sacrifices and wear belts dipped in chicken blood. They also claim to have the power to make others sick. Animism and witchcraft are pervasive in this nominally Catholic country.

P R A Y:

For the light of God to dispel the blindness that is in the hearts of many Timorese.

Ask Jesus to manifest Himself to God-fearing men and women who don't yet have a personal relationship with Him.

Intercede for local Protestant churches to be spirit-filled witnesses for the Kingdom.

North Korea

The fairy tale of liberation against the Japanese, the vision of a prosperous socialist land in which industry would boom and people would thrive did not go quite as planned.

In North Korea,the economic reality is such that more than a fifth of its population is malnourished, 80 percent of the country's factories have fallen into disuse, river and fields are exhausted and energy is scarce enough to light buildings.

More than 3.5 million people have died of starvation since 1994.
Complete indoctrination blinds the people to the fact that the country's economy has been stagnant since the 1970s.

PRAY :
For isolation to stop, establishment of peaceful diplomatic relations between the 2 Koreas.
For its people who have not seen much of the world, to be given the best.
For humility and wisdom for its leaders.
For a breakthrough in NK's relationship with the key nations.

(Source: Asian Geographic)

Beijing Punks

The Beijing punks spend their afternoons smoking and drinking in the alley before they get ready to perform at the Scream Bar. In the spring of 1998, a handful of youngsters teamed up to unofficially rebel against conformist Chinese life. They shaved their heads and founded bands with names like ìBrain Failureî and "Anarchy Boys". Although majority of the punks came from wealthy families, they preferred to live in self-imposed poverty. The Scream Bar and its surrounding dusty alleyways became the centre of youthful rebellion until it was finally closed in 2000.

(Text & photo: Asian Geographic)

P R A Y:
For the youth of today to hear the call of God on their lives and surrender to an all-knowing Lord and King.
For redeemed passions to transform this world for their King.
For truth to take seed in their hearts and transform their worldviews.
Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

The Global Food Crisis

The Global Food Crisis Is The Result of Many Factors -
With No Easy Solution In Sight
TEXT Valerie Gee

On a sun-baked street in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, men and women jostle in separate queues leading to a sheet-metal shed, awaiting their turn to buy rice at the subsidised price of 25 taka (US 36cents) a kilogram.

It has come with little warning, but its effects have been overwhelming. Since January 2008, the price of the worldís basic foodstuffs - rice, wheat and corn, among others - have increased sharply on the international commodity market. Figures from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) show that for 2007/2008, world cereal stocks will have fallen to a 25-year low of 405 million tonnes, even as global food stockpiles are at historically low levels, with reserves having dropped by half since 2000.

PRAY :
A supernatural solution to a natural problem.
"My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory." - Philippians 4:19

South Asian Cinema

For almost two decades, new Asian cinema has been making headlines.

It is in these films that cultural content, attitudes and values are passed on.

Take Singapore, for example. Local filmmakers broach subjects like teenage gangsterism, economics and family relationships telling of our history and responses.

Will films be used to integrate kingdom values or spiral local viewers into a fascination with horror, darkness and entrapment in their past strife? Let us pray for each nation:


THAI CINEMA
A taste for horror exists in the films.
PRAY : PEACE

VIETNAM CINEMA
The Travelling Circus (Ganh xiec rong, 1988), directed by Viet Linh, was a tale about a small troupe of itinerant players who convince naive, starving villagers that they can conjure rice out of nothing.
In 2003, Le Hoang's Bar Girls (Gai nhay, 2003), with its realistic portrait of the sleazy nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City smashed all box-office records.
PRAY : TRUTH

INDONESIAN CINEMA
Folklore tales are common, like one about a creature endowed with magical powers, The Monkey Kasaroeng (Loetoeng kasaroeng), made by two Dutch directors, G. Kruger and L. Heuveldorp, in 1926.
PRAY : REDEMPTION

Photo credits: Asian Geographic. Text adapted from here

More Than Mission Trips

Volunteer trips are just a start; think long term to effect real change
By Cassandra Chew in The Straits Times, 20th April 2009

Overseas service learning projects, or 'voluntourism', have become increasingly popular among secondary school and junior college students. School groups generally visit sites in nearby countries to build homes, dig wells, paint murals and interact with the people - activities that make for the 'real' way to see a country, as some put it.

... no doubt the work these volunteers do in the few days does make a difference to lives of the people there. But I am also aware poverty is a result of systemic problems in a country, like corruption and weak governance; something a happy mural will not change.

... we should think of these 'sampler' trips as launch pads for thought and action in the long term about what we can do to effect positive change.

One model I have come across is a small Singaporean-owned social enterprise called Changiville, a guesthouse in Phnom Penh where girls from Riverkids learn hospitality through a vocational skills programme. This enables them to find steady jobs that pay at least US$65 (S$98) a month after they graduate.

Having job skills means they do not need to turn to prostitution for a living.

... While Changiville's programmes do not sound as glamorous as roughing it out in slums and brothels for months, they address the gaps that desperately need to be filled. In some ways, Changiville's strategic use of resources and understanding of the community's needs can bring about change more effectively than any short trip to an orphanage would.

The difference is in their end goal: to make the community self-sufficient.

All I ask is that on your next voluntourist trip, consider your volunteer site's long-term goals and find out how you can be an effective part of them.

Stuffed toys and tubs of Play-Doh are fun for a while, but when the dust settles, would you have left behind a legacy?

PRAY :
For yourself, your church, your organisations - to take transformation of society a step further than annual mission trips.

Advocate a cause. Bring lifestyle change. Educate through training. Equip with skills.

Ask God to help you start something concrete and viable in a country.

Singapore's Migrant Workers

We are to be a CITY OF REFUGE to the foreigners, blessing them instead of alienating. I was talking to a friend's dad about the plight of migrant workers in Singapore yesterday, how we can be so blind to their cross-cultural struggles, personal troubles and plights, and make shallow judgements on them.

But we are called to be a blessing.... not to cheat, underpay, mistreat, frown on, withhold hospitality. TODAY, this article appeared in The Straits Times.


COOKING UP A STORM: It's all hands to the pump to get meals ready for the Bangladeshi and Indian residents. Four men, with blue plastic bags tied round their feet, chop meat into small pieces on the floor of the open area behind the canteen, as blood trickles into the drain. Breakfast and lunch are prepared throughout the night and delivered to bedsides before 5am. Dinner is ready by the time the men return from work. Residents pay about $130 a month for the service. Breakfast is usually a few pieces of chapatti and curry; the other meals are rice with curry, meat and vegetables. Workers complain about the quality and quantity of meat but many continue to patronize the caterers because cooking is not allowed on hostel premises and paying less than $2 for a full name is too good a deal to turn down. Bangladeshi factory worker Sohel, 28, who has been in the hostel for four years, recalls seeing newly arrived workers cry when they open their food packets. 'The first meal they will eat halfway and stop,' he said. However, they have no choice but to adapt, he said, because food elsewhere is too expensive.

Workers listen to a fuzzy broadcast about the Bangladesh elections last December. Mr Akter Hossain, 35, tunes in to BBC Bangladesh, which can be received only on the third-storey ledge of Kaki Bukit Hospital. -- ST PHOTOS: SAMUEL HE

This photojournalist spent a month staying with the migrant workers in their hostel, experiencing the dirt, cramped quarters, yet gleaning insight into their personal lives and stories.

"It would give foreign workers here an identity and allow people to see that they are no different than us".

"I surprised myself that I could spend so many nights sleeping in such conditions and my temporary stay in their world taught me that we could really be friends.

I hope that Singaporean readers who hold negative views of migrant workers will reconsider them after seeing these images."
(Read more here.)

PRAY :
- For a change of attitude in Singaporeans towards foreigners working in our land. For us to see them as equals, albeit a different expression, but with human needs, emotions and struggles too.

- For protection over those who have been cheated of wages, encountering problems with employers/fellow colleagues, homesickness and family issues, health issues, difficulty adapting to our culture, racial discrimination and loneliness. Pray for them to find God's grace in their lives.

- That many will hear God and turn to Him. He will be their Helper, Friend and Advocate. Coming to Singapore upps the probability of them hearing the gospel. God led them here for a reason.

The Lun Bawang of Ba'Kelalan

Nestled in in an idyllic valley in the Kelabit Highlands, Ba'Kelalan is the spiritual home to the Lun Bawang, a Dayak tribe once believed to be the most ferocious headhunters in Sarawak. "Lun Bawang" means "People of the Place" in the tribe's native language, a dialect that is part of the Lundayeh language group. The Lun Bawang have abandoned old superstitions and animistic practices, but they continue to maintain their strong community ties and fierce independence. Touted as the most authentic tribal experience in the state, the Lun Bawang of Ba'Kelalan are well-known for their generous hospitality and a culture of giving and sharing. A returning visitor is often remembered by name and a single traveller is never lonely.

PRAY : The Holy Spirit to continue his redemption in the Lun Bawang. The kingdom values they already hold to reap fruit as more Truth is revealed to them. That they will hear God calling them by name.

TEXT Serina Rahman
PHOTOS Andy Paul
(Asian Geographic)

Asia's largest red light district

In the alleys of Sonagachi, Asia's largest red light district featured in the documentary ‘Born into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids’, a putrid cocktail of alcohol, drugs, and vomit hung in the air. Dirty sheets put out by hundreds of makeshift brothels in the area, in the darkness of the dimly lit district, reigned. Long lines of young girls stood in a single file in the back alleys, some not looking a day over 15. A few tugged at my sleeves. Men – pimps, and customers, you had no way of knowing – hobbled about, many partially or severely intoxicated, and openly picked their wares.

Adapted from Asian Geographic.

PRAY :
That the Saviour will come to restore his princesses, give them a new life and a new message.
For the volunteers reaching out to these girls - to be blessed to heal, protect and love.
For a future for these girls, educational opportunities, restoration of their homes and families, protection of their self-worth, emotional healing.

Suicides on the Japan Rail

Tokyo’s Shinjuku train station is the world’s busiest, with approximately 3.3 million people passing through the station everyday; during rush hour, Shinjuku is the ultimate overwhelming experience.
(text & photo: Asian Geographic)
Shinjuku Station is well connected – it’s on the JR Yamanote Line, the JR Chuo Line, the JR Chuo-Sobu Line, the JR Saikyo Line, the JR Shonan-Shinjuku Line, Odakyu Electric Railway’s Odawara Line, Keio Corporation’s Keio Line, and Keio New Line. Tokyo Metro’s Marunouchi Line and Toei Subway’s Toei Shinjuku Line and Toei Oedo Line all serve Shinjuku too. Throw into the mix a major bus terminal and another train line that opened in the summer of 2008, and you have the mayhem that is Shinjuku: 38 tracks servicing the station, some of which are five levels below the ground.

Over the last 10 years, over 1,200 people have committed suicide on Japan's railway lines (the Chuo Line between Tokyo and Shinjuku being the most popular). Due to the alarming number of suicides, train companies now run advertisements within the trains that promote the beauty and joy of life. To deter other contemplating suicide on the tracks, train companies have even made huge compensation claims against the next-of-kin for the disruption of the rail network.

PRAY:
- For God to make a connection with those Japanese in despair, depression and crisis.
- For the Holy Spirit to show up on the tracks, knock at their hearts, turn their hopelessness into hope, change their minds, tell them their value.
- For God to stop them divinely and meet them in their lowest moments.