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What and when?  I will be taking part in the Revolution sponsored cycle ride from 9-22 May.  This is a 650 mile ride over some 13 days of cycling (we have one rest day!) so we'll be doing up to 75 miles per day (averaging about 50 miles a day), starting in Hull and riding via York Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, etc, ....... and ending up in Oxford by a devious route!  The full itinerary is at www.cms-uk.org/Default.aspx?TabId=522&language=en-GB .  This rather more than the average commute to work I was used to.  What you say, has the man finally taken leave of his senses; two dodgy knees and a creaking back.......... and at his age?

Why? Well the aim of our team is to raise money for the new charity, the Church Mission Society (CMS).  Hang on, you say, CMS has been around for years, how can it be new?  Well on 1 February this year South American Mission Society (SAMS) merged with the former Church Mission Society to form the new society, Church Mission Society.  Our ride is part of the Celebration of this merger, culminating in a special service in Oxford on Pentecost weekend.  Each place we visit will be hosting a celebration service too.  The new organisation now has a truly global mission outreach with mission partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe too.

Who are CMS?  You can find details of CMS' work at their website (www.cms-uk.org/Home/tabid/53/language/en-GB/Default.aspx).  However, if you have time, let me tell you a little more of why this work is so close to my own heart.

Peru. Firstly let's go to Peru (our adopted country?), because this is where son Paul and his wife Sarah work in the capital Lima as mission partners with CMS.  Peru is a land of contrasts, one of the most diverse countries in the world: staggering beauty and immense natural resources set against the fact that one third of the population lives in poverty.  In some parts of Lima you could be in the posh areas of Madrid or Rome, yet millions live in the "young towns", shanty towns that cluster all types of dwellings in the dusty valleys and over the surrounding hills.  Peru has rightly been called "a beggar sitting on a bench of gold".  Life can be hard as parents struggle and work all hours to bring in enough (around 40% of Peruvians work in the "informal sector", that is in no fixed, registered and steady job).  While state education is available, it is restricted by lack of resources including teachers.  It has to concentrate on the basics, and is unable to encourage creativity, freedom of expression or to deal with those with difficulties.  In this environment, Sarah runs "The Ark" which is best described in her words:

"The Ark gives some of Lima’s poorest children a space where they can relax and just enjoy being children.  Through its different zones (Art, Reading, Roleplay, Miniature World, Board Games and Jigsaws) every child has the opportunity to play in a way best suited to their abilities, interests and creativity.    

“Mira, mira!” (Look, look!) shouts Miguel excitedly to his sister as he looks at a  photograph of a crocodile opening it’s enormous jaw.  Through books and photographs the children’s eyes are opened to God’s awesome creation.  The Ark also provides a very natural opportunity to share our Creator God’s Story with the children and parents.  When the children have tidied the activities away, a bible story, prayer and energetic worship rounds off the session.   

The project is currently running in one of the Diocesan schools, Santísima Trinidad and at missions, San Patricio and San Pablo.  Our hope is that over the coming months The Ark will set sail to many more of the Church’s missions and that more children will come to realise that God delights in their play and loves them each as His unique children."  (See photo 2)

Meanwhile Paul is working to extend the Youth Ministry in the Diocese of Lima, to bring the good news of the Gospel to the young who need to hear it.  Approximately a quarter of Peru's population is between the ages of 12 and 25, but Youth Ministry is an area too long neglected.  Starting almost from scratch, with few resources, a youth ministry co-ordinator has been employed, a youth ministry resource point established, a programme of youth leader training started and a sponsorship programme is under way.  This just a start! (See photo 3) (Link to Diocese website http://peru.anglican.org/page11a.html)

 

Your donation will help CMS to do this in Peru and many other sorts of work in the developing world........!

Uganda.  Such as if, secondly, I take you to another continent, Africa, and to a beautiful corner of a beautiful country, Uganda.  This is where Jenny Green works as a mission partner with CMS.  Jenny is supported by my church, St Andrew's in High Wycombe.  In a short extract from a recent article of hers, "Beauty and the Beast", you will hear of her work in "The Potters Village":

"Beauty.  Kisoro is one of the most beautiful parts of the world; the mountainous landscape formed by volcanic action, is stunning and unique and people spend a small fortune to get here, climb the mountains and visit our rare silverback mountain gorillas.  The soil is fertile, producing some of the tastiest potatoes you could ever wish to enjoy.  Kisoro is poor but there is ample evidence of development and that will continue now that our once horrendous road is undergoing major improvement.  The people are also beautiful, fine boned and with amazing complexions; almost every girl could win Miss World hands down, most of the men are athletic and handsome!  One finds oneself surround by gorgeous looking children, so loveable and winsome. 

So how is it that a terrible beast prowls on the streets and in the villages of this amazing place?  This beast is hard to identify, catch  and eradicate.  It camouflages itself so that it can hide under many disguises.  And it creeps up and maims or kills children!  The name of the beast is variably poverty, neglect, ignorance and callousness.  The generic term for it is child vulnerability and the symptoms of its presence in a child’s life are catastrophic.  According to statistics 25% of all children in Kisoro District are affected by this terrible Beast and some (or many) of those will die before they reach the age of five years.  (Jenny then describes some of the victims, just two of them I have selected for you)

The Beast -Victim B. His mum went into labour and was taken to hospital where she delivered a baby boy.  She died as soon as he was born, somebody knows why, but it is not recorded.  In the view of his family he is responsible for the death of his mum, and since they are very poor they felt they could not afford to keep him alive, so the family met together and agreed to ignore him and let him die.  Effectively he was sentenced to death too, it was an easy decision justified by the poverty of the family and he had no voice to defend himself.  Fortunately a compassionate neighbour knew about the Potter’s Village and came to ask us to intervene.  Victim B is now a big bouncy boy, full of smiles and promise.

The Beast - Victim C. Her mum is not really mentally ill (or mad as they are described here), but she is not stable and she has not had any advantages in life.  They were rejected by their wider family and survived in a borrowed shack and mum managed to work from time to time as a casual cultivation worker in the fields of neighbours and sometimes as a prostitute.  So this little girl will never know which of the men her dad was.  She was two years old when she fell in the fire and in her panic failed to get herself out quickly.  Her mum was in the fields and there was nobody else at home to offer first aid, and when her mum eventually returned and got her to hospital she had no priority because her mum is a ‘nobody’ too.  So her burnt right hand and arm contracted seriously and she faced an early death due to her obvious incapacity to work and live independently.  Someone told her mum about Potter’s Village and they arrived one early morning shocking us all with the horrific story of suffering and the resulting deformity of the still open wounds of this poor child.  Today she is running around and using her now straight but still scarred arm.  Thanks to plastic surgeon Andrew Hodges and his team, and housing, funding and support provided by the Potter’s Village, she and her mum now have a more hopeful future.  She still requires more surgery but she now has a more functional hand and arm, her mum still needs help to discover a better way of life, but they are both on the right road.

The Potter's Village.  The Potter’s Village (see photos 4 and 5) is providing a refuge for some children to escape the ravages of THE BEAST that prowls in SW Uganda, Rwanda and Congo!  There are so many such children, victims of poverty, neglect, ignorance and war.  Unable to help themselves they face an uncertain future.  Even if they survive, what future can they build for themselves without parental guidance and love?  The Love of God made known through His people is the only effective rescue package for the children who reside in the midst of great BEAUTY but who are enslaved by the BEAST of child vulnerability! " (For more information see http://pottersvillage.org.uk/) 

Your part?  Your donation will help CMS' work, like this in Peru and in Uganda, to continue.  Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now, and make our efforts really worthwhile.  Just click on the "Donate now" button.  Thank you so much!

David