Tag: Peace

The image above is of a cross built recently built on Memory Mountain in the heart of Australia. It will be lit on Good Friday in a special celebration marked by the local Aboriginal community who had the vision for it and Ken Duncan who made it possible. People from around Australia will join them. This image is from Walk a While Facebook page and you can find out more there.

Prayer Points for Alice Springs and All Communities Affected by Similar Issues 2.2.23
By Pastors Norman and Barbara Miller

As we have been requested by a number of people to develop prayer points for the crisis in Alice Springs which is also being experienced in northern Queensland and the north of Western Australia as well as other parts of the Northern Territory, we have provided the following. We have developed these prayer points in our own prayer time and also after many phone conversations with Indigenous and other Christian leaders who live in or have worked in Alice Springs. This list may seem too much but just pick out one or two as the Lord leads you or just pray as led by the Lord. 

Prayer for Practical Issues

1. Healing for Indigenous and non-indigenous people traumatised by physical violence, break-ins to homes, businesses, and cars.
2. For improvement in the town camps – that there would be nurturing responsible relationships instead of dysfunctional families, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, alcohol abuse, violence, and crime. Pray in the opposite and positive.
3. That children and youth will have food to eat and sleep regular hours in safe homes with parents who know and care where they are.
4. For the cycle of intergenerational poverty to be broken, that families can find meaningful ways to spend their time either with paid or unpaid work and/or recreational pursuits. For employment opportunities to be increased and people mentored in income generation activities.
5. For recreational activities for children and youth in town camps and Alice so they don’t get bored and destructive.
6. That children and youth will have a purpose for their lives, and dreams of a future for themselves, and the motivation and self-confidence to achieve them.
7. That parents and other elders will earn and receive respect from the younger generation.
8. That the children and youth would re-engage with their schooling and get help to catch up what they have missed out on and that adult education services would be more accessible.
9. For the government to provide more housing and infrastructure, especially in the town camps.
10. For local decision-makers including Aboriginal organisations (Tangentyere Council, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, and others), Alice Springs Council, government departments, community organisations etc. to make wise decisions and come up with workable strategies. For all consultations to include Indigenous people, organisations, and communities and to be empowering for them.
11. For Teen Challenge to be set up again and for the government-funded drop-in centre to operate again with a night patrol of Aboriginal elders.
12. For finances (already allocated and new) to assist Alice Springs and region to be used strategically to bring a breakthrough in this situation.

Prayer for Spiritual Issues

1. For the 20m cross that has been erected on Memory Mountain near Haasts Bluff nearby the Aboriginal communities of Ikuntji and Papunya to bring revival. It was a vision of the Aboriginal people of Ikuntji that Ken Duncan helped raise the money for. It will be lit up at a special event on Good Friday 2023. The Lord may even call you to go there However, this is a great opportunity to pray for spiritual renewal and revival. (For more information, see https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-22/haasts-bluff-cross-monument-central-australia-ken-duncan/101528352)
2. That the local churches in Alice Springs will come together in unity and pray together and that they would be prepared to engage with youth on the streets at night. That Indigenous Christians would be supported to outreach more and pray for Indigenous Ps Sherry Lowah’s congregation as they do outreach.
3. That children and youth who disrupt church services or steal from them will get saved and repentance and revival will fall on Alice Springs and other affected communities.
4. Pray against a spirit of fear enveloping Alice Springs and region, affecting Indigenous and non-indigenous people, and for their safety.
5. Pray against a spirit of addiction, boredom, and hopelessness.
6. Pray against a spirit of lawlessness and anarchy.
7. That the youth, children, and adults will have a sense of right and wrong.
8. That the media would report accurately on the situation and not inflame the situation by calling concerned citizens “white supremacists” and that the troubles will not increase any racism that already exists from either side.
9. That God’s peace would reign over the region.
10. That Indigenous Christians would honour those parts of their culture that line up with God’s word and let go of those aspects of their culture that don’t and have the wisdom and discernment of God to know the difference. That non-indigenous Christians would do the same.
11. That just as God covered Adam and Eve’s shame with His glory, He would cover the shame of Aboriginal people with His glory. This is because “shame” is a word Aboriginal people often use to express how they feel.
12. Some Aboriginal people have felt invisible because their plight is not seen and their cries are not heard. We break off the legacy of the doctrine of terra nullius that said that the land we now know as Australia was uninhabited. If what happens in Alice Springs was happening in Sydney, e.g., action would have been taken a long time ago.

L-R Books by Barbara Miller on the Holocaust,- If I Survive, the story of a Polish Jewish Holocaust survivor and Shattered Lives Broken Dreams about the Australian Aboriginal Response to the Holocaust. They are available from www.barbara-miller-books.com.

Barbara was pleased to speak briefly at the Southern Cross Alliance for Israel (SCAFI) zoom meeting just before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day to launch the Handbook on the Holocaust (below). The main speakers at the SCAFI event were the former Israel ambassador to the US and Eli Rabinowitz from the WAH! Foundation.

UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day 

The WE ARE HERE! Foundation is proud to announce three new education initiatives in response to the UN International Holocaust Remembrance Day’s pledge to broaden educational programs.  These three active education programs promote human rights and social justice through the principle of being an Upstander. These are:

1. IN MY POCKET Project on the Kindertransport and displaced people, suitable for 9 to 12 year olds, in collaboration with educators in Germany and Scotland.
The project has been further developed for this age group for WA Museum Boola Bardip and other organisations in Australia. These consist of Book Readings with Art & Craft Workshops.

2. Holocaust Teachers’ Resources and Year 10 Holocaust History Curriculum Resources by Dr Bill Allen, retired Senior Lecturer in Education
Dr Bill Allen’s new and comprehensive resources are for Year 10 teachers to use to teach the Holocaust component of the in-depth study of World War 2.

3. Handbook – The Holocaust and The Australian and Australian Aboriginal Responses by Barbara Miller
This handbook is a resource for educators and teachers and for upper secondary students and adult education programs in Australia and internationally. The handbook focuses on Australia’s response to the events leading up to and during the Holocaust, and in particular the specific responses of Aboriginal political and social activist William Cooper and fellow members of the AAL. This online handbook is free.

WAH! Foundation chose Aboriginal William Cooper as their ambassador, a fine example of the compassion of an Upstander. He was a prominent activist who set out against the odds to protest the plight of the Jews in Nazi Germany, culminating in the tragedy of Kristalnacht in 1938.

Success is not always achieved overnight. William Cooper marched to the Melbourne German Consulate on 6 December 1938 to present his petition in support of Germany’s Jews. His petition was not accepted. This deed was only fully recognised by the German government in 2017.

“Some say that William Cooper only performed one act of solidarity in protesting  to the Germans’ cruel treatment of the Jews. However, I sense that he has become more than a Christian Aboriginal upstander. He has become a symbol of the bond between Jews and Aborigines which was formed through his protest and which has deepened with the commemoration of his actions.” Barbara Miller, biographer.

These online resources are offered free of charge to educators and students, as long as the source is credited. To arrange your copy, or for more information, email: elirab@iinet.net.au  

This is an excerpt from a press release by the WE ARE HERE! Foundation.

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