About the Christmas Appeal

The first Christmas Appeal was launched by the then National Council of Churches in 1945.  Together we have helped millions of people survive disasters, build new livelihoods and uphold their human rights. We work with experienced local partners who achieve real gains in their communities often in very difficult situations. They are helping refugees and displaced people, families struggling to deal with the changing climate and loss of livelihood, and communities trying to overcome violence and injustice. By giving to the Christmas Appeal, you are supporting all of our partners in their work to take action against poverty.

CWS is accountable to the Methodist Church. General Secretary Rev Tara Tautari represents the church on the CWS Board and Methodist layperson Edmond Fehoko has recently accepted a skills-based position on it. We are grateful to President Andrew Doubleday for endorsing this appeal and for the many ways the Methodist Church supports our work. 

Give Joy and Justice this Christmas

Murray Overton, CWS National Director

“Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:17

The look on Shanti’s* face says it all - the burden of caring for her children, the poor wages for daily labour when she get it, and the treatment she faces as a Dalit woman living in South India. She knows the rules – how she should behave, where she can walk, what she can touch. Her life is defined by her caste and her gender, but it does not need to stay that way.

The Women Development Resource Centre is making change happen through its training programmes. Dalit women are learning their legal rights and supporting each other to register for government entitlements like food rations during Covid and their own home. For a women like Muneeswari the results have been life changing. She has her own home, a threefold pay increase and new confidence as a member of the local sangam or association.

With a membership of over 27,000, WDRC has built a strong network of people able to multiply change. The village sangam have successfully campaigned for street lighting, drinking water and bus shelters. The members are confronting injustice and bringing great joy to people who have oppressed and ignored.

In this year’s Christmas Appeal, Christian World Service is asking you to pray and support people who are crying out for justice. We think of our Pacific neighbours fighting for their lives and climate justice, Dalits and Tribal peoples who are denied human rights, the poorest people everywhere who cannot protect themselves against Covid or feed their families, and places of conflict like the Holy Land where violence and hardship prevail.

Like John the Baptist, we need to prepare the way for something new. The Christmas story happened at a time like this. Hunger was common and life hard. Christ comes when we rediscover God’s promise of love and peace in each other.

I am grateful for your faithful support to people who need food, water and justice. In my first months in the job, I have been impressed by your amazing generosity and the equally inspiring work our partners do in our world that God loves. Through your giving and their skilful work, people get the help they need today and the skills they need for the days ahead.

Please give generously to the Christmas Appeal. Give joy and justice.

Happy Christmas, Hari Kirihimete

Act for Afghanistan

Christian World Service is grateful for donations to the Afghanistan Appeal. The Appeal is helping displaced mothers and children in need of urgent help.

Afghanistan is suffering a harsh winter. By the end of winter, an estimated 55 percent of the population will be close to famine without urgent assistance.

Mothers like Fatima are worried for their very survival. Her husband and 15 year-old daughter were killed in crossfire and her home badly damaged earlier this year. Left with three children, she travelled with relatives to Kabul seeking safety.

For 15 days they slept in a shelter in a park, but then the fighting got worse. Fatima rents a room with relatives and works as a house cleaner but she often does not have enough money to buy food. As a displaced mother, she was grateful for a cash transfer of NZ$153 last month from CWS partner Community World Service Asia.

Last month National Director Murray Overton met with MP Gerry Brownlee, National’s spokesperson on foreign affairs. As part of the Act for Afghanistan campaign supported by more than 60 groups, CWS asked him to push for more aid. So far, the New Zealand Government has given NZ$6 million to United Nations agencies and the Red Cross. By contrast the New Zealand government spent hundreds of millions on the failed military campaign. Gerry Brownlee agreed to discuss this at the next Select Committee meeting.

By mid-November, 577 citizens, permanent residents and visa holders had arrived in New Zealand. A further 1,000 people may require assistance to get to New Zealand – a costly process made possible with help from Qatar. Act for Afghanistan is asking the Government to open pathways for relocation and resettlement, and to establish formal relationships with the Afghan community in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CWS encourages people to pray for the Afghan people and to contact their local MP in support of the campaign.

The Cry for Climate Justice

The Pacific Conference of Churches has been relentless in voicing the cry of their people for climate justice. Like a canary in a mine, they have warned all people of the dangerous level of global warming in an effort to protect our common home for the unborn and future generations.

General Secretary Rev James Bhagwan spoke to many groups and addressed High Level negotiators at COP26, last month’s climate conference. In Fiji, PCC is developing a farm to teach traditional farming skills and self-reliance, expanding the Food Bank concept and as a model to members. 

The Cry for Rights Justice

Muneeswari knows what it is like to be abused and keep silent. As a child like other Dalits (formerly called Untouchables), she lived apart, not allowed to wear shoes or cross the path of people from a different caste. As a mother and agricultural labourer, she has learned about her rights to fair treatment and the necessities for life, guaranteed in India’s constitution from the Women’s Development Resource Centre. She is now a proud member of her local sangam or association, helping other women like her. Her pay has tripled and her family has their own home.

The Cry for Covid Justice

In Uganda Covid-19 has caused great harm. The official Covid death toll would be much higher if more people had been tested. Medical centres are unprepared and the promise of the People’s Vaccine far distant. Schools have been closed for the last 18 months and incomes have fallen.

But there has been joy in the southwest where the Centre for Community Solidarity has organised rainwater tanks, distributed facemasks made by young women and taught the HIV and AIDS caregivers how to protect themselves and their communities. Grandmother Sikora says her tank was a blessing from God.  

The Cry for Economic Justice

Maura stands in her flourishing garden, surrounded by her family. She has always worked hard but the new skills she is learning from CEPAD are lowering her costs and increasing production. But it is the tomatoes, peppers and papayas she grows that make her proud.

Her family is eating a more nutritious diet, even when there is drought. With her own garden and good skills, she is more confident at a time of so much uncertainty. Having enough good food is the first step towards a fair economy.

The Cry for Peace with Justice

We look to the Holy Land and pray for its people longing for an end to poverty, violence and dislocation. Jesus was born in Palestine under occupation. The people were taxed and denied justice. With his disciples, he wandered its roads, speaking truth to the people.

Living in the same land, the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches keeps alive his message of love and always the hope of change. For than 70 years, they have been a voice for refugees and their deep desire for a just peace for their neighbours and community.

Talk Justice

· 720 - 811 million were hungry last year.

· 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed water.

· 255 million people lost their jobs during the pandemic.

· Only 5.55% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

· 200 million people of India’s 1.3 billion population are Dalit.