The Micah Challenge coalition – made up of a number of leading Christian churches and charities –told BosNewsLife that thousands of Christians made "a deafening demand for justice," Saturday, June 2, by blowing whistles in a call to the Group of Eight (G8) leaders to keep their promises and tackle poverty ahead of an upcoming summit.
The G8, made up of governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, represent about 65% of the world economy and should do more for impoverished nations, Micah Challenge said.
Millions of Christians are among those suffering of poverty in the third world and are often not reached by aid groups, because of discrimintion, persecution and logistical reasons, BosNewsLife established earlier.
WHISTLE CAMPAIGN
Following a worship service at Methodist Central Hall in London at the culmination of its ‘Blow the Whistle’ campaign, worshippers joined the ‘World Can’t Wait’ rally, prayerfully walking to the banks of the Thames, the group added.
They reportedly joined thousands of others on the ‘World Can’t Wait’ rally. "People with placards lined both sides of the banks of the [river] Thames as whistles were blown, car horns were honked and alarms went off to make a deafening signal to the government that the world can’t wait to end poverty," Micah Challenge said in a statement.
The ‘Blow the Whistle’ campaign also focused on calling on the British and other governments to honor commitments to alleviate global poverty by 2015. Rudo Kwaramba, a director with the World Vision aid group warned that, “Unless world leaders do more to reach those that are hard to reach, the Millennium Development Goals will not be kept.
"HALFWAY" POINT
He said that they are only "halfway ‘the] point towards the 2015 target [and] there are many children and families who are still without water, education, health [and] who do not live to five years. There are women dying in childbirth and there are millions – who do not have access
to the treatment that delays the onset of AIDS.”
Around 850 people flocked to Methodist Central Hall for the worship service, including representatives of some of the world’s poorest nations. Fidelis Wainaina, founder of the Maseno Interchristian Child Self Help Group Kenya, told the congregation poverty is close to the heart of God.
"As much as it’s good to blow whistles, it’s good to take action," she said in published
comments. "I’m not talking about you all coming to Kenya , but having the understanding that global problems have a grass roots cause, a political cause and an international cause."
The service included prayers for the G8 leaders.
GERMAN RIOTS
It seemed a far cry from the riots in Rostock, where protesters with black hoods and bandanas covering their faces showered police with rocks and beer bottles before the heavily armored officers drove them back with water cannon and tear gas during a rally against the upcoming G8 summit.
Some 146 police were reportedly hurt, 25 of them seriously. Police said they made 17
arrests.
It was an unruly start to what is expected to be a week of rallies against the three-day G8 summit beginning Wednesday, June 6, in the fenced-off coastal resort of Heiligendamm, about 22 kilometers (14 miles) from Rostock. (With reporting from Germany and the United Kingdom).
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