Blog Archives
bringing them home: saying sorry to the aboriginal people
Today (May 26th) is National Sorry Day, and it will be followed by National Reconciliation Week from May 27-June 3.
National Sorry Day was first observed in 1998, one year after a report was tabled concerning the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. The report, entitled as Bringing Them Home, acknowledged that these children were forcibly removed from their families and communities beginning in the early days of British occupation of the land, and that the government and missionaries were most directly responsible.
Reconciliation Week begins on May 27 with the anniversary of a Referendum in 1967 which removed clauses from the Australian Constitution that were discriminatory to Aboriginal Australians.
The week ends on June 3, the anniversary of the infamous Mabo case of 1992 in which the High Court of Australia recognised Native Title rights and overturned ‘terra nullius’ (the myth that prior to European settlement the land was empty of people and was unowned.)
Clearly this is a significant time for the Aboriginal people and for all Australians. Read the rest of this entry
the tyranny of normality
Every quarter TEAR Australia puts out a magazine called Target which focuses on news and issues in aid and development. I was privileged to be able to write a short Bible study for the latest edition.
This quarter’s theme is (dis)Ability, and as you might guess it addresses disability and the creation of an inclusive world.
My study is called ‘The Tyranny of Normality‘. Feel free to give it a read, along with the rest of the latest Target.
MCA
matt’s useful gift shop
I’ve gone and set up a shop over at Usefulgifts.org. You can visit it here.
Every Useful Gift in TEAR’s Gift Catalogue is part of a long-term program designed to give communities the resources they need to address their problems in appropriate, sustainable ways.
As Christmas approaches the temptation is for us to be sucked in by the consumerism of it all. But Christmas celebrates Jesus coming into the world to bring salvation…
… so why not bring salvation in the life of a poor community this year?
$5 is not even enough to buy a Big Mac meal, but it could pay for training in fish farming for a community, or buy school supplies for a student
$20 is not even enough to buy a new DVD, but it could buy safe water for a household
$45 is not even enough pay most people’s monthly phone bill, but it could pay one child’s primary school fees
$70 is not even enough to buy a toilet seat , but it can buy a whole toilet for a community
$100 can’t pay for your work laptop, but it’s enough to act as loan to help a poor family start a business which will lift them out of poverty
The bonus of your generosity through TEAR is that you know the money is going to the people who need it because TEAR gives all money donated through the Useful Gifts program straight to their partner projects who work on the ground.
So please be generous this Christmas, and give to people who won’t refund your gifts or throw them out. It would be great to raise $5000 by Christmas time, so please consider a gift to an unmet neighbour.
MCA
