International Development day at Territorial Music School

Day 4 at tms saw the morning session led by the International
Development department of the Salvation Army. During the session we
explored a range of issues present in the modern world and there are
two thoughts I'd like to share. Firstly the statistic that if you live
in a house, have access to your own food and own your own clothes then
you are richer than 75% of the world's population. Secondly, a simple
story of a woman in the developing world shows how one issue can
quickly lead to several others. This woman was HIV positive and
pregnant, but if she paid for the drugs to prevent her unborn child
from getting the virus then she wouldn't be able to afford to send her
other children to school.
The challenge for us is to live in a way so that our actions benefit
other people. Please pray that the Salvation Army can continue to
reach out and assist those in need, and that as we live we receive
opportunities to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

Initial Thoughts and background

So here I am, a scant 19 days before I fly off to Sri Lanka with the Salvation Army's International Development department and I've been encouraged to keep a blog as best as I can of the events of the JOURNEY. I don't know the full details yet of what will be occurring during the 10 day visit, but I do know that the JOURNEY group will be visiting and working with a range of initiatives run by the Salvation Army as they help to tackle some of the many problems faced by the people there. As I understand them these initiatives include The Haven; a residential home for a range of vulnerable women and children, an Anti-Trafficking centre, an orphanage and post-tsunami (from 2004) construction projects. A list of the full services provided by the SA in Sri Lanka can be seen here.

A video of the SA's work in Sri Lanka regarding the tsunami can be seen below.

So to conclude this, my first ever blog post, I feel sure that God has a lot in store for us during our brief visit to the country and I'm looking forwards to getting hands on with the challenges that will present themselves. In the coming days I will be researching Sri Lanka in general, as most of what I know of the country is based around cricket! Please pray for God's blessing on our group as we go, and that we can help to have an impact for those in need in Sri Lanka.