The Rev Ken Todd, former president of the Irish Methodist Church, recently returned from Sierra Leone where he was part of an international training team conducting courses for church leaders, Women's Fellowships and youth organisations. He reports that faith leaders have been pivotal in the promotion of new behaviours to combat the spread of Ebola; and refers to the report Keeping the Faith (by the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development, Christian Aid, Tearfund and Islamic Relief) which shows that Christian and Muslim leaders could deliver health messages in parts of the country that governments and non-governmental organisations could not reach.
According to a senior member of the Ebola Task Force in Kenema District in Sierra Leone, it “would have saved more lives and more money had religious leaders been engaged at an earlier stage of the disease outbreak”. Traditional burials, involving mourners touching or washing the highly infectious body, played a major role in the spread of Ebola. Authorities responded by removing and cremating bodies or burying them in unmarked mass graves. In response though, many burials were undertaken in secret. Latterly there was a concerted effort to involve faith leaders. Imams and clergy identified passages in the Quran and Bible showing that new safer burial practices were acceptable according to their faiths. A UN staff member said: “The participation of faith leaders was a game-changer.”
As a result of this and other experiences, recommendations have been sent to the World Humanitarian Summit meeting in Istanbul on May 23rd-24th, urging the inclusion of faith leaders in planning for recovery and in future health emergencies.
The Methodist Church in Ireland is delighted to report two new mission partners will be serving overseas with the Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland). Mervyn and Raing McCullagh will begin serving in Sri Lanka at the end of May, based in Colombo with the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL). Raing will be involved in programme work including issues of conflict transformation, gender and the environment, while Mervyn will be engaged with the international partnerships and advocacy work of NCCSL; including relations with the World Council and the United Nations.
The company, Ineqe, specialises in safeguarding and child protection, in the real world and in the digital world. Their fourth annual Glimpse conference in Belfast is entitled Examining the Dark Net, Grooming, Radicalisation & Other Threats. It is designed to help social workers, child protection professionals and all those working with young people develop a greater understanding of the factors (such as neglect, abuse and mental health issues) that can affect the susceptibility of young people to online and offline grooming, sexualisation and radicalisation.
Topics discussed will include: 1) How neglect, abusive relationships and mental health impacts with online risks, 2) Susceptibility to grooming; radicalisation; sexualisation and gang affiliation; 3) Offender behaviour; minimising, self-justifying and victim blaming; 4) The dark net; its purpose; use and abuse; and 5) Myths, tactical options and practical responses.
The event takes place on Wednesday, June 8th from 9.30am to 4pm in the Newforge Country Club, 18b Newforge Lane, Belfast. For more information visit ineqe.com/glimpse