15 July 2001

* DOCTORS FOR LIFE SUPPORTS DAY CARE CENTRE FOR AIDS ORPHANS
* "WOULD YOU BE MADE WHOLE?" : 7000 AT YOUTH CONFERENCE
* LAW BATTLES TO BEAT CHILD PORN
* 'MONEY CAN'T BUY YOU LOVE'
* 7-MONTH ILLEGAL ABORTIONIST IN SA
* UNISA TO PROBE `HEATHEN HINDUS' LECTURER
* CALLS FOR CAPITAL MARKET SANCTIONS AGAINST
* ATTACKS ON SUDAN CHRISTIANS
* `WAGE PEACE UPON COLOMBIA!'
* `CHAD CHURCH THREATENED WITH CLOSURE'
* `WOMBS ALIVE TO THE SOUND OF MUSIC'
* `CANADIAN CHRISTIAN PARENTS TARGETED'
* JANE ROE II: `NO FREE EXIT FROM ABORTION CLINIC'
* STD SURGE IN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT
* CATHOLIC CHURCH RECONSIDERS CONDOMS
* WORLD-RECORD

* DOCTORS FOR LIFE SUPPORTS DAY CARE CENTRE FOR AIDS ORPHANS - In a Press Release of 13 July, Doctors for Life (DFL) made known that they are now supporting their first day care centre for AIDS orphans in the Etete area of KwaDukuza (north of Durban). The day care centre, which supplies meals and basic care to 35 orphans, is presently housed in a small room "which is completely inadequate". The centre is being administrated by Mrs. Qinisile Mashobane. According to DFL the latest AIDS statistics estimate that there are 120 000 AIDS orphans in Kwazulu-Natal, and this is expected to rise to 750 000, 10 years from now. South Africa has more than 100 000 HIV+ children and it is estimated that by 2005 one out of every seven children will be an AIDS orphan... DFL plans to erect facilities to extend the care to accommodate at least the 189 AIDS orphans who have so far been identified in the Etete area... DFL plans to investigate further potential centres. This would form a new part of DFL's involvement in AIDS education and care, in addition to the AIDS Home Based Care Course, already completed by 500 candidates. For more information contact Dr. Anne Hyams at 031- 7640443. (DFL, 13 July)

* "WOULD YOU BE MADE WHOLE?" : 7000 AT YOUTH CONFERENCE - At the recent bi-annual KwaSizabantu Youth Conference, Rev E. Stegen said that unless young people turn to the Lord with all their hearts to be "made whole", there is no possibility of escape from the cycle of poverty and suffering which seems to be getting worse by the day in Africa. The conference was held from 6 to 13 July at KwaSizabantu Mission in KwaZulu-Natal. The estimated 7000 children and teens who attended the 27th year of youth conferences at KwaSizabantu were from various provinces, including very poor areas. Other speakers at the conference included pastor David Chauke, as well as two Sudanese pastors, Rev Kenneth Baringwa and Rev Jeffrey Kayanga, who made mention of the Islamic threat to Christians. The theme of the conference was "Would you be made whole?" from John 5:6. The problem of disease and especially Aids was highlighted during the conference, especially as, according to statistics, a third of the age group of teenagers and young adults are said to be HIV positive. The young people were encouraged to put Christ first in their lives and to uphold abstinence. (KSB, 15 July)

* LAW BATTLES TO BEAT CHILD PORN - Child pornography distributed on the Internet has reached alarming proportions, but local law enforcers' hands are tied by loopholes or stumbling blocks in legislation which makes it difficult to prosecute offenders, according to the Daily News. While the SA law prohibits people from owning visual portrayals of child porn, it does not regard written porn as an offence. It is also an almost impossible task to seize computers with child pornography from owners. Superintendent Lynette Prinsloo, provincial head of the Child Protection Unit, said South Africa was lagging behind in legislation on child porn. She says she has hundreds of pages of written child porn in her office, but she cannot prosecute the man on whose computer they were found. If police "stumbled on such a computer during the course of their duties, it could not be seized, allowing the owner time to remove the material by the time an order to seize was received. (Daily News, 2 July 2001)

* 'MONEY CAN'T BUY YOU LOVE' - Designer labels and fast cars may be the dream of millions, but craving material possessions can cause depression and anger, research released on 3 July showed. According to News24 Australian academics found a positive correlation between materialism - or an "excessive concern" for material things - and negative psychological phenomena. Shaun Saunders, one of the authors of the report from the University of Newcastle, Australia, said it came as no surprise to discover that money can't buy you love. "While there is growing concern over the environmental effects of materialism and global consumerism, little attention has been paid to its psychological effects," he told Reuters. Saunders explained that one source of depression among dedicated consumers was the fact that the property they acquired tended to lose value quickly. "If your self-worth is invested in what you own, as can be the case in our market-driven society, then these things may not hold their value for very long," he said. (News24.co.za, 3 July)

* 7-MONTH ILLEGAL ABORTIONIST IN SA COURT - A nurse from Vryburg is appearing in the regional court on accusations of performing an illegal abortion in a hotel room on a woman who was approximately seven months pregnant. According to a report in Beeld, Mrs Rina du Plooy did the abortion for Mrs Tersia Bedeker in January 1999. The court case might shed light on the mystery as to what happened to the foetus or baby. According to one report Du Plooy had left the hotel with the foetus, but a police spokesman from Vryburg said that a foetus was never found in spite of intensive search operations. The government holds that Du Plooy used equipment belonging to Vryburg hospital and since Bedeker was, according to government report, about seven months pregnant, the baby was capable of maintaining life. It was therefore illegal to do the abortion. (Beeld, 9 July)

* UNISA TO PROBE `HEATHEN HINDUS' LECTURER - The University of South Africa (Unisa) is investigating comments by a senior staff member describing followers of the Hindu faith as heathens, according to a report in Sunday Times. Education lecturer Dr Irmhild Horn offended Hindu believers with an article in the `Good News' newspaper, based in Potchefstroom, in which she claimed that the prana - a breathing exercise used by Hindus during meditation - could lead to schizophrenia and mental derangement. The head of media affairs at Unisa, Doreen Gough, apologised to the Hindu community, saying Horn's views "did not reflect that of the university". She further said that the university has a code of conduct, which will be examined in relation to Horn's comments and that the internal relations department will take whatever steps are necessary. (Sunday Times, 8 July)

* CALLS FOR CAPITAL MARKET SANCTIONS AGAINST SUDAN - In April 2001 Newsroom-Online reported that debate over United States policy toward Khartoum's Islamic regime, increasingly includes talk of using U.S. capital markets to discourage foreign oil companies from investing in Sudan's recently developed oil reserves. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom recommended such sanctions for the second time in 10 months in a report it issued on Sudan in March. According to a June report from "Shatter the Silence" The Sudan Peace Act has passed through the U.S. House of Representatives on 13 June 2001, through the representation of Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO). The bill condemns war being waged by the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum as well as the human rights abuses that are associated with it.

* ATTACKS ON SUDAN CHRISTIANS CONTINUE - Rev Peter Hammond from Frontline Fellowship reports: " To the dismay of Christians around the world, the churches I so recently visited in the Nuba Mountains have been destroyed in an onslaught of attacks from the National Islamic Front. In the past month, thousands of people have been killed, captured and driven from their homeland. At least 14 villages have been burned and 5,000 homes destroyed. The wonderful priests and workers I met while in Sudan are among the thousands of people fleeing from these attacks. According to Bishop Gassis, "[The Fundamentalist Islamic regime] appears to be aiming at a 'final solution' for the Nuba people." (Shatter the Silence, June 2001)

* `WAGE PEACE UPON COLOMBIA!' - 28 July - Open Doors with Brother Andrew is urging Christians around the globe to join together on July 28, 2001, for an international day of prayer and fasting for Colombia. Colombia is considered by many to be the most violent country in the world, and is in desperate need of peace, justice, conversion and restoration. Since 1998 an estimated 300 churches have been closed and 52 pastors and leaders have been killed. ("Shatter the Silence", June 2001)

* `CHAD CHURCH THREATENED WITH CLOSURE' - The Evangelical Church in Moundou, in southern Chad, is a thriving church with several hundred members. According to Compass, the land where it is located was originally offered to the Muslim community when they requested land to build a mosque. The Muslims turned it down because it was too far from the center of town. But recently, Muslims requested that the Evangelical Church be closed, saying that it interferes with their activities at the mosque just opposite the church. This is despite the fact that the mosque, originally built in 1993, was little used until a year or two ago when Muslim fundamentalists came on the scene. (Compass, 9 July)

* `WOMBS ALIVE TO THE SOUND OF MUSIC' - (London) Babies up to 12 months of age can remember music played to them in the womb, a study into the earliest memories of childhood has found, according to The Star. Researchers asked a group of pregnant women to spend about half an hour each day playing a piece of music. More than 12 months after they gave birth, 11 of the mothers took part in an experiment to see whether their babies preferred the same piece of music. The tune was played to them for the first time since they were born and researchers assessed the babies' preferences by measuring the amount of time they spent looking towards the source of the music - a loudspeaker next to a flashing light. When a baby looked towards the light the music started and, when it looked away, the music stopped. (The Star, 10 July)

* `CANADIAN CHRISTIAN PARENTS TARGETED' - Authorities in Canada have removed seven children from their parents because they allegedly refused to stop using corporal punishment. The four boys and three girls aged between six and 14 were in foster care until their parents appeared in court in Ontario. The German-speaking parents allegedly take a literal view of the Bible and don't believe in "sparing the rod". The Rev Henry Hildebrandt told The Globe and Mail his congregation at Aylmer Church of God believes in the Proverbs 13:24 quotation "He that spareth his rod hateth his son." "I'll be quick to say that rod doesn't mean an iron rod, it doesn't mean something that would bruise them," he said. Mr Hildebrandt claimed the children were checked for signs of injury before they were taken, but nothing was found. (Ananova Alerting, 6 July)

* JANE ROE II: `NO FREE EXIT FROM ABORTION CLINIC' - A Florida woman is suing an abortion clinic, claiming she changed her mind after she entered the abortion clinic, but that the abortion providers forced her to undergo the procedure and physically held her down on the surgical table until the deed was done, according to Breakpoint Online. Filing under the pseudonym of Jane Roe II, the woman from Melbourne, Florida, has based her case on the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, abbreviated FACE. The intent of FACE, as drafted by Congress and signed by former President Clinton, was to provide unimpeded access to clinics for women seeking abortions. "In essence, Ms. Roe II is asking the courts to interpret the law in a way that would also prohibit clinics from blocking exits. She contends that a woman should have the right to cancel the scheduled abortion even after she has entered clinic property. Preventing patients from changing their minds and refusing to allow them to leave the clinic with their babies still alive, she says, is as coercive as preventing them from entering the property in the first place." (Breakpoint.Online, 12 July)

* STD SURGE IN HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT - A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a surge in STDs in Hartford, Connecticut, according to AgapePress. The report reveals that Hartford teens are catching certain sexual diseases at twice the rate of teens elsewhere. Also, 20% of the city's seventh-graders say they are having sex - with the number jumping to 55% by the time they enter high school. Monsignor Michael Motta, who is with Hartford's Catholic diocese, tells Family News In Focus that the increase in STDs among the city's teens results from the failure of schools to teach abstinence. (AgapePress, 12 July)

* CATHOLIC CHURCH RECONSIDERS CONDOMS - The Roman Catholic Church in southern Africa is to consider backing the use of condoms to combat the AIDS epidemic, according to a report from Crosswalk.com. The idea, contained in a policy paper to be discussed later in July by the Southern Africa Catholic Bishops Conference, runs counter to the church's fundamental principle of the sanctity of life, which bans condoms. It is expected to pit the traditionalist wing of the Catholic Church in the region against pragmatists who argue that the devastating effect of HIV and AIDS means the issue of condoms must be reconsidered. Bishop Kevin Dowling, from Rustenburg in South Africa's North West province, has prepared a policy paper. The document reiterates the church's view that sex should take place only within marriage, but says that it should accept that a large proportion of people do not follow this rule. (Crosswalk.com, 13 July)