* NO CELL PORN FOR KIDS – Johannesburg – Cellular telephone operators agreed yesterday to take steps to protect children from accessing unsuitable "adult " content on mobile phones.
"The code of good practice will also promote the adoption of responsible processes and procedures for the provision of mobile content services," read a joint statement from Cell C, MTN and Vodacom.
"It also requires operators to adopt reasonable measures to ensure that no illegal mobile content is screened over their networks.
"Whether at work or play, cellular communication is there to benefit everyone. This is a step in the direction of ensuring that cell phone spam and the irresponsible use of adult content are no longer possible," said Jim Courtney, the chief commercial officer of Cell C. – Sapa. (The Witness, November 3, 2005). (to index)

* PRAY FOR ZIMBABWE - Zimbabwe is now in a desperate and chaotic condition! Apart from the tyranny and the torture which grow daily, hunger stalks millions in the country. Commonplace items are often unobtainable. Maize, the staple diet, is indeed sometimes to be had on the black market, and is only belatedly and reluctantly being imported - with foreign help and in inadequate quantities. Sugar, cooking oil and the like are in desperately short supply. The public water supply and electric power frequently break down for long periods. Fuel (petrol etc) is often simply not to be had, in spite of the long and futile queues. Garbage is not collected. Inflation rockets. Britain, colonialism and the drought are blamed for everything, though people did not go hungry during Rhodesia's frequent droughts.
Even worse is the environmental devastation which will take generations to repair. The farmland is being wrecked, forest land burned for firewood, and the game in the reserves is being snared, shot and eaten. Many of the country's assets are being sold off to South Africans, the Chinese or other foreigners. And the Zimbabwe government is intensifying it’s brutal campaign against its own people, arresting literally thousands of men and women who are struggling to put food into the mouths of their destitute families. It’s filthy goals are filled to overflowing.
The root of much of the trouble is the lack of foreign currency, in spite of these foreign sales. The main supply is cut off by the West, which is unable to protest or intervene more actively. Yet jet fighter 'planes (to repel British attacks!) make their way into the country, as do Chinese passenger aircraft. Meanwhile there are lots of luxury cars for the elite.
Incidentally, I note that Didymus Mutasa, a malicious schoolboy when I was priest-in-charge of St Faith's Mission Rusape, is now mentioned as a possible Prime Minister of Zimbabwe!
Dreams of an "orange revolution" in Zimbabwe (as in certain former Soviet lands) remain just that - dreams. A tortured, starving and unarmed people, without friendly neighbours, struggle to survive. A military revolution seems entirely impracticable.
We have much need and opportunity for prayer and practical help for our friends in Zimbabwe as well as those who have been driven out of the country. Pray especially for the prisoners: former MP Roy Bennett, now transferred to the even more brutal Chikurubi Gaol, Kevin Woods (who draws and sends us beautiful pictures), Michael Smith, Philip Conjwayo and many, many others. Prayer is strength for those who otherwise have little hope. It often, too, brings unlooked-for responses - even though we can never just tell God what to do. Rev Arthur Lewis, Rhodesia Christian Group (Frontline Fellowship, November 2005) (to index)

* MISSIONARY MURDERED IN SOUTHERN SUDAN - A missionary couple were ambushed while driving from Uganda to Yei, in Southern Sudan. On Saturday 5th of November, Collin and Hedvig Lee of International Aid Services (IAS) were ambushed by L.R.A. rebels. The missionaries were driving to Yei when their vehicle came under fire. Collin was severely wounded, shot in the neck and shoulder. Hedvig, who was heavily pregnant with their first child, was also wounded, but not as seriously.
They both walked on foot to Yei, for 6 -7 hours. Collin died in Yei on Sunday morning, 6 November, from wounds received. Hedvig is still bleeding and in a serious condition. By now she would have been airlifted to a hospital.
On Tuesday 8 November, a British citizen, Keith Steve Willis, was killed by L.R.A. terrorists. Mr. Willis was assisting the British and New Zealand Expedition team attempting the first complete ascent of the Nile River. Other members of the team were wounded, but escaped.
Please do pray for Hedvig Lee and her baby during this traumatic time.
And please do also continue to lift up other missionaries in the area. Frontline Fellowship has a mission team in the area at this time, and they need our ongoing intercession.

MORU CHRISTIANS ATTACKED

The Moru Christians of Mundri County in Southern Sudan have appealed for intercession as their communities have come under repeated violent attack from Dinka tribesmen. The Dinka have been destroying the crops of the Moru subsistence farmers, polluting their water sources, destroying forests, looting church and mission property, terrorising local Christians, including beating, raping, torturing and murdering many innocent people. The assailants have included Dinka elements within the SPLA forces.
Numerous attempts have been made to address this crisis with the SPLA leadership, tribal leaders of the Dinka Bor, and the various civil authorities in Western Equatoria. However, so far without success.
For more details, see the Mundri community's letter to the Western Equatoria State Governor:

Please do pray for all the Christians and missionaries in Mundri County during this time of instability and heightened tensions.