The death of Cuban president Fidel Castro has had repercussions around the world, most poignantly in Cuba and Miami. The man himself divides opinions and polarizes feelings.
Reconciliation is the active process of healing broken relationships. Many believe coming together for healing is one of the greatest challenges facing our country today. Some believe it can never happen, but after 37 years as a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-worker in Northern Ireland, Doug Baker knows the power of acceptance, forgiveness and relationship building.
The second Sunday of Advent is Presbyterian AIDS Awareness Sunday and PC(USA) mission co-worker the Rev. Janet Guyer believes, as many others do, we are at a crossroads.
In a besieged corner of Aleppo, Shahe, a victim of sudden blindness lost his only source of income as a dental technician. He and his wife, Talin, struggled to stay in their home when the monthly payments became impossible. While their oldest son was excelling in school, the younger boy’s autism required special care, and the wonderful Armenian institution on which they had relied closed, another casualty of war.
When a mobile medical clinic arrived in the tiny village, offering free health screenings to women, they found Karine Petrosyan. Day and night, pain gripped her abdomen. Massive fibroids were silently consuming her uterus. Karine needed emergency surgery. In this remote corner of Armenia, there was little to no access to basic health care until Jinishian began the reproductive health program in 2016. Without early screenings, breast cancer is deadly, making mortality in Armenia is among the highest in the world—a devastating toll that Jinishian is determined to reverse one village at a time.
In Lebanon these days, there is one Syrian for every four citizens, which doesn’t help the delicate economic and sectarian balance of the small country. Unless that one Syrian is Mardig, a young man quietly putting diapers on the elderly or nursing them after surgery. When Mardig first walked into the Jinishian office, he did not look the part. He was covered in tattoos and had no possessions at all, no home and nothing to eat.
In late June, mere days after winning Pero’s presidential election by a thin margin, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski turned his eyes on the troubled community of La Oroya, where for more than 15 years Presbyterian World Mission and the Presbyterian Hunger Program have joined with partners Joining Hands Peru (Red Uniendo Manos Peru) in seeking justice for city’s residents.
Sometimes the simplest questions give rise to the most interesting conversations. That is what I discovered one morning at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia.
In South Sudan there is a fragile peace and a surprising veneer of normalcy, but just below the surface lurks layers of ethnic violence, severe food shortages and exponentially growing inflation. Still, the Rev. Debbie Braaksma returned to the U.S. last week with a sense of hope that minor miracles are happening daily that may lead to a more lasting peace.
