* ZIMBABWE GIRLS TRADE SEX FOR FOOD - Growing numbers of children in Zimbabwe are turning to prostitution to survive, the charity Save the Children says.

The aid agency says increasing poverty is leading girls as young as 12 to sell their bodies for as little as a packet of biscuits.

It also claims that the coming football World Cup in neighbouring South Africa could soon make things worse.

Unemployment in Zimbabwe is thought to top 90% and many cannot afford to pay for food, medical care or school fees.

The deputy head teacher of a large school with 1,500 pupils east of Victoria Falls told the BBC that hundreds of her female students are now selling their bodies for whatever they can get.
"It could be books, it could be biscuits, chips, some even just to be given a hug."

Throughout my conversation with the deputy head, two small teenage girls in threadbare school uniforms sat watching from a brick wall by the playground. Both are orphans.
The older one, who is 14, said she knows many girls here who have become prostitutes.
"I don't want to do that but life is so difficult, so very difficult. Both my parents are dead and I rarely see my two sisters. Recently I stood by the river and I thought about throwing myself in but I didn't. I don't know why."

There is also evidence that many girls are being targeted by child traffickers, Save the Children's country director Rachel Pounds says.
They are thought to have plans to send young Zimbabwean girls to South Africa to work as prostitutes during next year's football World Cup finals.
(BBC News, 12 June 2009) (to index)

* UPDATE ON GAO ZHISHENG (DAY 130: CHINESE AMBASSADOR COVERS UP KIDNAPPING OF GAO ZHISHENG) - With the increased pressure from people of justice around the world requiring the truth about kidnapped Christian attorney Gao Zhisheng, the Chinese government has been forced to respond. Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong recently issued the first official letter about Gao, in reply to a letter from Senator Byron Dorgan, Chairman of Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

According to the Ambassador, Gao is "currently serving probation" and "the public security authority has not taken any mandatory action against him." Obviously, this is a misdirect of information as Gao was last seen being hauled away by Chinese security officials.

We are very concerned about Gao's whereabouts and his condition. In the past, Gao has been repeatedly kidnapped and tortured by Chinese officials for his work defending house church Christians and others persecuted for their beliefs. There is no reason to believe that this has stopped now.

Prior to his first kidnapping, Gao told his wife that if he should be persecuted for speaking the truth, he believed that people of justice throughout the world would stand with him.

Our friends in Washington, DC, have strongly encouraged us to increase the pressure on the Chinese government, and we need your help. Please help us by flooding Chinese embassies around the world with phone calls on behalf of Gao Zhisheng's wife and children to urge that the Chinese government immediately reveal Gao's whereabouts and condition.

Please continue to spread the word to family and friends about www.FreeGao.com and encourage them to watch the video and sign the petition. We continue to push toward 100,000 signatures on behalf of Gao Zhisheng which we will deliver to Chinese and U.S. officials to give voice for justice on Gao's behalf.

ChinaAid appreciates the continued support of all of our friends. Your financial support enables a sustained cry for freedom for Gao Zhisheng and many others persecuted in China. We are committed to pressure the Chinese government until justice is brought to victory. Thank you for your partnership to free Gao Zhisheng and to expose, to the world, the truth regarding his case.
(ChinaAid, Voice of the Martyrs, June 2009) (to index)

* BURMA ARMY ATTACKS ORPHANAGE - A Christian-run orphanage in Burma near the border with Thailand has been attacked by the Burmese army, amid a fresh crackdown on the predominantly Christian Karen people in the area, officials and children told BosNewsLife Friday, June 5.

At least 90 children, including 30 orphans and kids " persecuted and traumatized by war" were trapped late Thursday, June 4, and were "forced to flee in the middle of the night," said Jeff King, the president of International Christian Concern (ICC) which supervises the project.

He told BosNewsLife that the only way to safety was across the river into Thailand, however "Not all of the kids knew how to swim so we are on pins and needles waiting to hear what happened." King added that initial reports suggested that "most survived", but there was no immediate confirmation.

The ICC official said the attack came as a major setback as the "orphanage was a new project for us" in Burma, also known as Myanmar. The buildings, including the dorms, church, and a school, had just been finished in April, King explained.

"The project was such a success that another 60 kids (not orphans), persecuted and traumatized by war, had come to the orphanage for an education and relative safety, compared to living without defence in the jungle on the constant run from the army," he added.

King said an ICC representative warned earlier that the Burmese army "might attack" as the fighting was getting increasingly close. "The Burmese army was going to make a final push this year to defeat the Karen people," King added, citing local sources.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), an outgunned group which includes 'born-again' Karen Christians, has been fighting for autonomy and protection since British colonial rule ended after World War Two. Burma's unelected junta, a group of generals known as the State Peace and Development Council, views especially Christian Karens as a threat to its power base, rights investigators say.

Witnesses said the Burmese army attacked a camp for internally displaced people in Burma first this week, then went and crossed the river entering Thailand. "They then crossed the river again from the Thai side into the other camp, our kids were trapped and could not run deeper into Burma because there were landmines placed around the camp," a witness said in a statement distributed by ICC.

Hundreds of children and adults were apparently hiding on the Thai side of the border Friday, June 5. Another rights group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told BosNewsLife that at least 1,000 people have fled the latest Burmese offensive.

"This is an urgent situation which requires immediate international attention. Karen civilians have been suffering such attacks, as well as other gross violations of human rights amounting to crimes against humanity," stressed CSW Advocacy Director Alexa Papadouris.

Among the children seeking shelter from the latest clashes were orphans who already experienced suffering, according to letters distributed by ICC. "My name is Kham Loo, I am 13 years old. I have been [at the ICC orphanage in Burma] for eleven months," one letter said.

"My parents were killed in Burma. I am an only child. It was very dangerous for me to get here. I had to avoid the many landmines. I saw the Burmese soldiers come into my village and have witnessed many of my friends being murdered." She said, "Many girls have been raped and then killed by Burmese soldiers. Other girls who were gang raped became crazy. The Burmese soldiers also took our harvest."

Another child, Seng Mon, 11, wrote: "I have been here four months...It took me one day to travel here. My father died and my mother was taken away by the Burmese soldiers. I came here, because in Burma it is very dangerous [as] I have seen the Burmese soldiers raping girls. There are many landmines around our village in Burma [but] I feel safe here and I want to learn to speak English."

It was not immediately clear where the orphans would be staying Friday, June 5, but Thailand has set up refugee camps and Christian groups also support Burmese orphans there. CSW said the latest tensions come as the trial continues of Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for allegedly violating terms of her house arrest.

Burma, is majority Buddhist, a close ally of China, and mainland Southeast Asia's biggest country.
(BosNewsLife, 5 June 2009) (to index)

* JUDEO-CHRISTIAN HERITAGE BILL CHALLENGES OBAMA’S CLAIM THAT U.S. IS A SECULAR NATION - Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) believes that the United States is a nation founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and hopes that his sponsorship of a bill designating the first week in May as "America’s Spiritual Heritage Week" will make that belief official.

"Our Founding Fathers unanimously said we have a Creator who gave us those rights," Forbes told CNSNews.com, referring to the Declaration of Independence, which says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

"If we let people who want to challenge that convince us there is no Creator, then we also have no rights," Forbes said.

The "Spiritual Heritage" bill includes a long list of congressional actions that testify to how and when Judeo-Christian principles have shaped the nation, from Congress approving in 1777 the distribution of Bibles for schools and families throughout the states, to the law passed by Congress in 1954 adding "one nation under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Forbes said he first introduced the act in the 110th Congress, inspired by the sacrifices made by the Founding Fathers and the self-serving nature of today’s politicians. But President Barack Obama’s remarks made during his tour of the Middle East have renewed Forbes’s determination to preserve America’s religious heritage, the congressman said.

At an Apr. 6 press conference with Turkey’s president, Obama said secularism is what makes America great.

"That’s something that’s very important to me," Obama said. "And I’ve said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is – although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values."

On May 4, Forbes introduced the House Resolution 397 in the House of Representatives and spoke about it on the House floor on May 6.

"When our Constitution was signed, the signers made sure that they punctuated the end of it by saying, ‘in the year of our Lord, 1787,’" Forbes said. "And 100 years later in the Supreme Court case of Holy Trinity Church v. The United States, the Supreme Court indicated, after recounting the long history of faith in this country, that we were even a Christian nation."

"President George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan all disagreed with the President’s [Obama’s] comments and indicated how the Bible and Judeo-Christian principles were so important in this nation," Forbes said. "And Franklin Roosevelt even led this nation in a six-minute prayer before the invasion of perhaps the greatest battle in history, the Invasion of Normandy, and asked for God’s protection."

In that same speech in Turkey, Obama compared that nation’s history to the founding of the United States.
"I think Turkey was – modern Turkey was founded with a similar set of principles, and yet what we’re seeing is in both countries that promise of a secular country that is respectful of religious freedom, respectful of rule of law, respectful of freedom, upholding these values and being willing to stand up for them on the international stage," said Obama.

Forbes told CNSNews.com that he decided to replace the pictures of himself posing with politicians and dignitaries on the wall of his congressional office with a copy of the Declaration of Independence and pictures of the men who signed that historic document.

The spiritual heritage bill is a way to honour those men and educate people about the Judeo-Christian principles the country was founded upon, Forbes said.
"They can pull God off of the walls of every federal building, and if they convince us that talking about a Creator is somehow mixing religion with government, they will be refuting the core principles that our Founding Fathers utilized to birth this nation," Forbes said.
(CNSNews.com, 12 Jun 2009) (to index)

* VOICE OF THE MARTYRS’ FAX PROJECT RECEIVES THREAT - A recent Voice of the Martyrs fax campaign has yielded results--in the form of a threat.

Over the past months, VOM has collected as many fax numbers as possible from locations inside North Korea, including their embassies. They have then sent weekly faxes to all the numbers, which include the message of Christ and several Scripture passages. The most recent messages contained stories of Christians loving Communists, even of those who had been abused by Communists.

A response to the faxes came recently from the North Korean Finland Embassy.

Written in Korean without a signature, it read, "We know who you are. We warn you that if you send this kind of dirty fax again, something very bad will happen to you. Don’t do something you will regret."

While it has not been confirmed that the North Korean government in Pyongyang had knowledge of the fax sent by the Finland Embassy, Nettleton said he had a hard time believing the fax would be sent without Pyongyang having any knowledge of it.

"It’s hard to imagine that an embassy would … take an action like this without at least checking with the folks in Pyongyang. So our perception is that this has at least been approved by someone in Pyongyang," Nettleton said because of North Korean government’s tight control over the country.

However, VOM is not becoming discouraged from this message.

"For us, that’s good news because it means our fax campaign is working. The Gospel is getting through, but obviously it’s a challenge as well," said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s director of Media Development.

Therefore, their campaign will not be ending anytime soon.

"At this point our plan is to go forward to continue to get the Gospel into North Korea. You have to be creative to do that," Nettleton said. "We’ve done that in the past through Scripture balloons. We continue to launch balloons over North Korea. This fax campaign is just another creative way of getting the Gospel into that country."

Please pray for VOM as they continue their fax campaign. Pray that the people of North Korea will receive the faxes, and as Nettleton said, may the "seeds we’re planting land on fertile ground grow and bear fruit."

* GRADER BRINGS ENTIRE FAMILY TO FAITH - One night Chema Lopez, a JESUS Film team leader, was sitting outside his home in Nicaragua with his daughter. A young man approached them, introducing himself as Gabriel Antonio Madrigal. Gabriel explained that he was a Christian because of a presentation Chema did at his school seven years ago when he was in fifth grade.

Gabriel and his class watched "Jesus for Children," and then Gabriel prayed to become a Christian. When he got home, he told his parents that he had seen the presentation, that he'd become a Christian, and brought home the small book that Chema had given each student.

Gabriel was the oldest of four boys. His father drank very heavily and abused his mother very badly. After hearing of Gabriel's commitment to Christ, his father did not change. However, a month later, in 2002, Gabriel found his father in their living room reading the small book and crying. He became a Christian that day, and life changed drastically for Gabriel's family. The drinking and abuse stopped, and his father began conversing with and giving advice to his sons. Today, every member of his family is a believer.

JESUS Film has been considered one of the most successful evangelistic projects ever. However, they believe that the true success isn't the number of people who have already seen it, but the number who will follow Christ after seeing it. They seek to share the Gospel with people in their heart language via media.