Japan additional photos...

Here are some more photos, which I as yet haven't been able to post while I have been in Japan...

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JAPAN Days 21 - 23

Day 21: Visit to see Mission Partner Sheila Norris in Nagasaki on Kyushu Island travelling again by Japan's incredible Shinkansen Bullet train, fast, efficient and reliable. Sheila & her colleague Barbara were waiting to greet me. Straight to Kwassui Gakuin  Women's University together with a Junior & Senior High School on different sites across the city. Hills and steep ones at that are a feature of Nagasaki city and test the endurance of any visitor.  Arrived by taxi and straight into a meeting with Head Chaplain Revd Kiyoyuki Nihei and assistant Chaplain Korean Presbyterian Minister Revd. Byung-il Cho. The chief issue which came out was the possibilities which may be around Peace Study Partnerships. I mentioned connections perhaps Kassui (which means living water) and Corrymeeela Community, Cross of Nails Reconciliation Centre of Coventry Cathedral Sabeel and also St George's College in Jerusalem as well as our newly opened Holy Land Office in Tantaur Bethlehem. A sharing time followed with two graduates. Journey back down the hill to check into my hotel and then out for dinner. 

Day 22: Sight seeing day with Sheila we were on a street car by nine am and first visited the Peace Park where a ceremony for recently died atomic bomb survivors was being held. A short walk to the area which marks the epicentre of the explosion and then into the Atomic museum. As usual many school parties were visiting, hundreds of thousands of handmade origami paper cranes symbolising peace are left in this area each year. After lunch to the site of the execution of Japan's 26 Christian martyrs from the 17th century and the Museum and Roman Catholic shrine next door. A moving and emotional day stressing for me that we must keep strong in the faith and striving for the kingdom via the King of Peace.

Day 23: Traveled back to Okayama for the rest of the weekend and to prepare for Day 27 when I return to the UK, leaving behind my family and also all the new relationships that have been formed by this extended visit.

Alan Ashton -13th November 2012.

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The Zenu people of Colombia

Los Palmitos is a community of indigenous people in North East Colombia. They have been in this part of Colombia since before Christ and were alsmost wiped out by discease during the Spanish conquest of the 15th and 16th Centuries. The ancestors of the people I met had managed the marshy land so that like that of Holland, with canals it was able to be drained and grow crops and sustain them. Exploitation and violence after the Spanish conquest and since continue to deprive them of their land. These days they are exploited by business interests that have dispossed them of their land and fenced it of for cattle rearing. I met with the Zenu on the last day of my recent visit to Colombia. At first they were reticent to say anything, we had so little in common, even that I had come from the land of John and Charles Wesley did not make an impact. The whole dynamic changed when it was mentioned that I had worn a hat made by them at the olympics, this was the trigger for these quiet people to share with me the injustice of their situation. Men and women from the community shared how the The Methodist Church is the only church in their community and the means for them to tell their story to the world. The hats and other products they make are made from the women and dyed leaves of palms. They are paid £0.33 per meter and many meters of the half inch braid are needed to make the hats know throughout the world as a symbol of Colombia. What takes many days for them to produce is sold for many more times what they receive. They feel that once again they have been exploited. First the conquerors, then the settlers and today fellow Colombians and big cattle sindicates are robbing them of their lands. Their church is a traditional palm thatch structure on mud, the pastor's home is a similar two roomed structure with a bamboo screen to provide privacy alo on mud. The family sleep on one room and cook on the floor of the other. This is the same for many people in the community who also have to share their homes with other families. The Methodist Church in Britain through the World Mission Fund has been making a grant to the Methodist Church in Colombia to support the Zenu people in telling their story and claiming justice for the way that their culture is being exploited now as it has been in the past.

Tom Quenet.

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Brizas del Mar "Sea Breezes"

Brizas del Mar is a community of Afro Caribbean settlers on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. They are all Methodists, because the Methodist Church is the only one in the community of about 1600 people. The Methodist Church started its work here because no other church is present in the community, something that Methodist in Colombia look at before establishing a new church. It is over an hour by motorbike from the main road. This was my second visit to this community, the first had been with a friend from the USA whose brother worked for UMCOR. The community was proud to share with me its latest achievement possible through international partnerships. The building of a Clinic named after the Clinton Rabb, one of the people killed at the Hotel Montana, during the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti, and brother of the man that had accompanied me on the first visit. The last time we visited the community we had helped to secure a good water supply for the community. During this visit, I saw the excellent clinic that has been built. Four full time workers (Doctor, Pharmacist, nurse and health promotor) provide free health care in the clinic and the community. Bishop Juan Alberto Cardona, insists that people should not pay a cent for the care they receive. The communy has been displaced by waring partie, they have been pushed of their land by large companies exploiting the land to grow palm oil and have to live in small mud huts with three or four

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Round table

Today we assemble at a round table as international partners of the Amity Foundation. We are looking at the situation for NGOs in China with the help of a university professor - a fascinating insight into the way government is slowly beginning to address social development and not exclusively economic progress, but still prioritising social stability. The GS of Amity (left in photo) will then talk about the programmes and opportunities (everything from village clinics to preachers' bikes) and partners will look at how we can respond. Steve on Friday

Here it is!

The 100,000,000th Bible!

Here it is!

The 100,000,000th Bible!

Bible

Congratulations are being given now by government and communist party officials, embassies, Bible societies and churches. There is good Methodist representation - the Methodist President, Rev Yuen, is representing the Hong Kong churches, Christine Elliott is representing Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Rebecca Assedillo my UMC colleague read the lesson. Steve

Bible

Congratulations are being given now by government and communist party officials, embassies, Bible societies and churches. There is good Methodist representation - the Methodist President, Rev Yuen, is representing the Hong Kong churches, Christine Elliott is representing Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and Rebecca Assedillo my UMC colleague read the lesson. Steve

100,000,000

Nanjing is today hosting celebrations for the one hundred millionth Bible produced here by the Amity printing press. We are having thanksgiving worship now at the printing works, having been greeted at the entrance by workers and management. A banquet with official government representatives will follow. Steve 8.11.12

100,000,000

Nanjing is today hosting celebrations for the one hundred millionth Bible produced here by the Amity printing press. We are having thanksgiving worship now at the printing works, having been greeted at the entrance by workers and management. A banquet with official government representatives will follow. Steve 8.11.12

Hurricane Sandy Cuba Update

Thomas Quenet has given us an update another update on Cuba:

“I also spoke last night to the Cuban Bishop, Bishop Ricardo Pereira. He confirmed that the devastation in the Santiago Province has been significant. The church has been distributing food, clothes and sacos (tarpaulins, but literally translated as ‘sacks’) to as many people as possible. The Church appreciates the response of the Methodist Church in Britain and the phone call. He said that on Sunday, at the centenary of his church, they had raised 3,000 Cuban convertible pesos (Cuban currency pegged to the US dollar) and the service had been attended by thousands, with the police peacefully managing to control the crowd”.

Untitled

Marcella is the Methodist Church in Colombia's Secretary of finance. She always does much more than than her job. A few days ago at the meeting of the Church with its international partners in a "Round Table" she spoke courageously about the needs of the Church here in Colombia and how e should all respond. Marcella is not a preacher but she spoke God's word to us all and reminded us about the priorties of the Methodist Church in Colombia with passion, grace and dignity. An example to all the combined wisdom gathered round the table. Liliana is next to me in turquoise  in the first image, then ne[[posterous-content:pid___0]]

JAPAN Days 14 - 16

Days 14-16: spent in Niigata in the North West by the Sea of Japan. The visit has been in stark contrast to the post from Steve today on Babies in Bangladesh. Niigata is world known today as the centre of the Koi breeding industry where fish are bought for large sums of money. Dealers come at this time of the year from around the world. Some of the breeders at their farms are known around the world for a particular speciality. My youngest son works in this industry and I was pleased to visit and be introduced to many of the people in this amazing industry. Good for a father to hear how much one of their children is appreciated by so many people. Whole of the area is covered in hills, many of which are moving into their glorious autumn colours, and mountains are already experiencing some early snow falls. During a typical winter up to 2-3 metres of snow can fall in the region. Extra ordinary efforts are made by local people using government equipment to keep access open. They survive by pulling together in the tough weather conditions which are extreme to say the least.  Now I am back in the south in Okayama preparing for my visit later this week to Nagasaki to see out Mission Partner Sheila Norris.

Alan Ashton - 5th November 2012.

Babies in Bangladesh

Visits to some of the satellite clinics today.. Most births here take place at home of course, but this is one of four newborn babies at this clinic. All so basic and a place where small interventions are a huge contribution to health. Another humbling day. Steve

Bangladesh

After two days of partners meetings I have travelled seven hours north of Dhaka to Bollophur and am now in sight of the Indian border. This town is one of the centres of Christianity in the country and the hospital where I am staying is an historic mission centre. Among other things my meetings in Dhaka examined the future for church medical work; here I have just been with the young woman who has had a premature baby and is watching him in an incubator, along the corridor from a room of 13 elderly people who have no one to care for them. We need both good policy and fundraising and also good work and dedication on the ground. Steve, Saturday.

Hurricane Sandy's effects on Cuba.

As we meet with the Methodist Church in Colombia, news and some images are being received of the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the lives of the Methodist Churches and its neighbours especially in the regions and Holguin, Santiago de Cuba and others. The library of images here is courtesy of Bishop Ricardo Pereira. 

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