Refugee and Migrant Sunday – 31 August 2008
The focus of this year’s commemoration will be the refugees from Iraq.
Resources will be available at the National Council of Churches website after 8 August. This will include prayers for Iraq, information about the situation for people both inside and outside Iraq, the Christian Church in Iraq, and the need for resettlement for refugees.
The Council of Churches of WA will be making up a hard copy of some resources for churches and schools which need information about Refugee and Migrant Sunday, prior to 8 August. To order a copy: email please to Eira
CHRISTMAS BOWL CONCERT
WHEN: Sunday, 31 August
WHERE: St Thomas’s Catholic Church, 2 College Rd Claremont
TIME: 2.30pm
This concert will be an opportunity to promote the ongoing crisis in Sudan and to have an opportunity to share some stories of the hardships suffered by our own local Sudanese refugees. The Council of Churches supports five aid programs within the Darfur region.
Four million people in the Darfur region or two-thirds of the population are now totally dependent on international relief aid, and over 1 million are now beyond the reach of aid agencies as attacks on aid workers and their convoys accelerate. In North Darfur alone, 355,000 people were stranded without food aid for three consecutive months late last year.
In January this year, 14 Sudan-based UN agencies issued a joint statement warning that attacks were crippling the relief effort, putting hundreds of thousands of people at risk of starvation and disease.
In the past six months, some 250,000 people had been forced to flee violence, many for the second or third time.
The Darfur humanitarian operation is the largest in the world, employing over 14,000 aid workers at a cost of A$1.2 billion, but has saved hundreds of thousands of lives since the conflict began in mid-2004.
Australia has around 8,000 Sudanese refugees.
Featuring at this year’s concert: Eneksis Vocal Ensemble (WAAPA), The Cottage Children’s Choir both directed by Micheál McCarthy and a St Hilda’s Choir.
Music at St Thomas’s has commissioned local talent Laurissa Wylie to write a composition on peace for the concert.
All tickets will be pre-sold and are now on sale. Adults $10 and children $5. For these tickets please contact the office at Council of Churches of WA on 9274 3888 or email: the Council.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I’ll be there
August 13th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Have you bought your tickets yet? Buy them now before they sell out!