ESCAPE THE ORDINARY - STAND TALL!

DO PICTURES TELL T H E TRUTH?"
"Was it really like that?" we ask when we see a picture or photograph. Often there are pictures of Jesus (Isa Masih) in Bibles or storybooks that show him as a white man with blue eyes.
Of course, there were no cameras at the time when Jesus lived, so no-one knows what he looked like, or the exact colour of his skin. But we can be sure that because he was a man from the Middle East, he had dark skin and brown eyes.

BORN IN ASIA, LIVED IN AFRICA
Jesus was born in Asia, in the country then called Palestine. When he was a child, his family became refugees in an African country. They had to escape because their lives were in danger from a dictator - the cruel ruler of their country. Jesus was not a European, he never even visited Europe!
*Ancestors of his people came from different tribes and countries including Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.
So Christianity did not start in any Western country. Groups of Christians were meeting to worship God in many parts of Africa and India only a few years after Jesus died. Many people living in China, Mongolia and Japan 800 years ago believed in Jesus.
Europe is a place where people have turned away from God. There are many more followers of Jesus in Africa and Asia than in Europe.

DOES IT MATTER?
So does it matter what colour Jesus was? The Bible says that he was a person like us, except that he never did anything wrong. So if we make pictures of him, it is good to show him as a person from our country – even wearing the sort of clothes that our people wear. A picture that shows Jesus like this is telling something true. It is saying to us that Jesus can be a friend, a brother, a part of our family. It shows that he understands how we feel inside - our problems and worries.
He wants all of us to join his family, whatever tribe, group or country we belong to. Only when we belong to him can we be complete and whole. Without him, there is an empty space in our lives - nothing else can fill that space, even though we try to find things that will do it.
This is explained in the Bible's book of Hebrews (part of the Injil): "Jesus, the high priest that we have, is able to understand our weaknesses. When Jesus lived on earth, he was tempted in every way. He was tempted in the same ways that we are tempted but he never sinned" (Chapter 4 verse 15).
The One (Jesus) who makes people holy, and those people who are made holy, are from the same family. So he (Jesus) is not ashamed to call those people his brothers and sisters." (Chapter 2, verse 11)

NOT J UST FOR WHITE MEN
Onage James is a SOON reader from Busia, Kenya and writes: I did not know the love of God. When I was a boy I laughed at my friends if they talked about Jesus Christ. I used to say, "That is the white men's *tradition."
Our family rarely went to any Christian meetings even though my father knew the Bible very well. He never taught us that God loves us. Instead our home became a bad place to be in.
Then things began to change slowly. My grandmother came all the way from Sudan to visit us in Kenya. She was a Christian and I used to say, "This old woman is wasting her time," because she often talked to God (prayed), even saying thank you to him every time she had a drink of water. I hated her prayers.
My grandmother became ill and, after a few days, she died. The next morning, when we were going to bury her, my old grandfather died too. I was so sad that I could not hold back my tears. But even after this I did not turn to God and things just became worse. I continued to *mock Christians.

MORE SADNESS
In 1998, my mother had an accident and could not leave her bed. She died on December 15. I wanted to kill myself because I loved my mother so much but I decided not to do so. The sadness made me ill with stomach ulcers.
My father missed my mother and he missed his children because we were away at boarding schools. He too developed stomach ulcers. Then in February 2000 he died. All hope left us. People came and took all that we possessed and we were left with an empty house.
Because I am the eldest son in the family of five, I had to take over. I cut trees on our land and sold them to pay the school fees for my younger brother and sisters. My friends stayed away from me because they knew they could not help me.

SPECIAL STORY
One day I was alone in my room. I took my father's Bible and started to read. I found a story Jesus told about a boy who went away from his father and did many wrong things. His life got so bad that no one would help him and he could not help himself. At last he went to his father who welcomed him back into his home.

I realized I was like the son and God is like the father. It was as though I had been a blind man and did not see how much God loved me. So I knelt down and asked God to forgive me for all the wrong things I had said about him. I needed Jesus Christ to show me the way to go.
Now I know he is not "the white men's tradition". He is the true God who loves us whatever we have done or said. I still struggle to help my brother and sisters, I am still an orphan, but I know Jesus will always be with me and help me in my struggles.
You can read this story in the book of the Bible called Luke, chapter 15 and verses 11 to 32.


DID YOU KNOW? Caring for young

Many baby animals need their parents. For some kinds of animals, it is a very short time, for others it is longer. For humans, children need their parents to look after them for many years. Many are damaged when this does not happen.
- When the eggs of the mallee fowl (a brown bird) hatch, the parents do not look after them at all. The chicks must look after themselves. They can run and find food a few hours after they hatch and fly when only one day old.
- Young roseate spoonbill birds stay in the nest for about six weeks. Both the parents care for them.
- The white-toothed shrew (a very small animal like a mouse) takes her babies with her when they are seven days old. Each shrew holds on to the one in front so they are safe. They can look after themselves when they are three weeks old.

ESCAPE THE ORDINARY - STAND TALL!

DO PICTURES TELL T H E TRUTH?"
"Was it really like that?" we ask when we see a picture or photograph. Often there are pictures of Jesus (Isa Masih) in Bibles or storybooks that show him as a white man with blue eyes.
Of course, there were no cameras at the time when Jesus lived, so no-one knows what he looked like, or the exact colour of his skin. But we can be sure that because he was a man from the Middle East, he had dark skin and brown eyes.

BORN IN ASIA, LIVED IN AFRICA
Jesus was born in Asia, in the country then called Palestine. When he was a child, his family became refugees in an African country. They had to escape because their lives were in danger from a dictator - the cruel ruler of their country. Jesus was not a European, he never even visited Europe!
*Ancestors of his people came from different tribes and countries including Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.
So Christianity did not start in any Western country. Groups of Christians were meeting to worship God in many parts of Africa and India only a few years after Jesus died. Many people living in China, Mongolia and Japan 800 years ago believed in Jesus.
Europe is a place where people have turned away from God. There are many more followers of Jesus in Africa and Asia than in Europe.

DOES IT MATTER?
So does it matter what colour Jesus was? The Bible says that he was a person like us, except that he never did anything wrong. So if we make pictures of him, it is good to show him as a person from our country – even wearing the sort of clothes that our people wear. A picture that shows Jesus like this is telling something true. It is saying to us that Jesus can be a friend, a brother, a part of our family. It shows that he understands how we feel inside - our problems and worries.
He wants all of us to join his family, whatever tribe, group or country we belong to. Only when we belong to him can we be complete and whole. Without him, there is an empty space in our lives - nothing else can fill that space, even though we try to find things that will do it.
This is explained in the Bible's book of Hebrews (part of the Injil): "Jesus, the high priest that we have, is able to understand our weaknesses. When Jesus lived on earth, he was tempted in every way. He was tempted in the same ways that we are tempted but he never sinned" (Chapter 4 verse 15).
The One (Jesus) who makes people holy, and those people who are made holy, are from the same family. So he (Jesus) is not ashamed to call those people his brothers and sisters." (Chapter 2, verse 11)

NOT J UST FOR WHITE MEN
Onage James is a SOON reader from Busia, Kenya and writes: I did not know the love of God. When I was a boy I laughed at my friends if they talked about Jesus Christ. I used to say, "That is the white men's *tradition."
Our family rarely went to any Christian meetings even though my father knew the Bible very well. He never taught us that God loves us. Instead our home became a bad place to be in.
Then things began to change slowly. My grandmother came all the way from Sudan to visit us in Kenya. She was a Christian and I used to say, "This old woman is wasting her time," because she often talked to God (prayed), even saying thank you to him every time she had a drink of water. I hated her prayers.
My grandmother became ill and, after a few days, she died. The next morning, when we were going to bury her, my old grandfather died too. I was so sad that I could not hold back my tears. But even after this I did not turn to God and things just became worse. I continued to *mock Christians.

MORE SADNESS
In 1998, my mother had an accident and could not leave her bed. She died on December 15. I wanted to kill myself because I loved my mother so much but I decided not to do so. The sadness made me ill with stomach ulcers.
My father missed my mother and he missed his children because we were away at boarding schools. He too developed stomach ulcers. Then in February 2000 he died. All hope left us. People came and took all that we possessed and we were left with an empty house.
Because I am the eldest son in the family of five, I had to take over. I cut trees on our land and sold them to pay the school fees for my younger brother and sisters. My friends stayed away from me because they knew they could not help me.

SPECIAL STORY
One day I was alone in my room. I took my father's Bible and started to read. I found a story Jesus told about a boy who went away from his father and did many wrong things. His life got so bad that no one would help him and he could not help himself. At last he went to his father who welcomed him back into his home.

I realized I was like the son and God is like the father. It was as though I had been a blind man and did not see how much God loved me. So I knelt down and asked God to forgive me for all the wrong things I had said about him. I needed Jesus Christ to show me the way to go.
Now I know he is not "the white men's tradition". He is the true God who loves us whatever we have done or said. I still struggle to help my brother and sisters, I am still an orphan, but I know Jesus will always be with me and help me in my struggles.
You can read this story in the book of the Bible called Luke, chapter 15 and verses 11 to 32.


DID YOU KNOW? Caring for young

Many baby animals need their parents. For some kinds of animals, it is a very short time, for others it is longer. For humans, children need their parents to look after them for many years. Many are damaged when this does not happen.
- When the eggs of the mallee fowl (a brown bird) hatch, the parents do not look after them at all. The chicks must look after themselves. They can run and find food a few hours after they hatch and fly when only one day old.
- Young roseate spoonbill birds stay in the nest for about six weeks. Both the parents care for them.
- The white-toothed shrew (a very small animal like a mouse) takes her babies with her when they are seven days old. Each shrew holds on to the one in front so they are safe. They can look after themselves when they are three weeks old.

THIS IS TRUE TORTURE!

"I   W A S   I N   T W O   P R I S O N S”

Wang is a SOON reader. He is 43 years old and comes from Fujian Province in

China. But now he is in prison in Thailand. There he learnt that Jesus Christ loves him and he became a Christian. Here is his story:

LIFE SENTENCE

In January 2000, the police arrested me in Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, for carrying illegal drugs. The sentence I was given in the court was life imprisonment. But this was my second prison.

All my life I worshipped idols and bad spirits. Fear had hold of me. I felt as if I was a prisoner in a dark place - my first prison.

HOPE

When I was put in prison in Thailand, I was given a Bible, the Christian's holy book. I began to read it. As I studied it, my life began to change. I read about Jesus Christ who came to bring freedom for the whole world.  

He gives us hope in place of fear and despair. I realized that even in Bangkok Prison, my mind and spirit could be set free.

I asked Jesus to change me and give me a new start with him as my friend. I learned that he was with me and that he even loves people who are in prison.

My body is still suffering because I have lost my freedom, but my spirit is not a prisoner any more. It is free and happy because Jesus Christ is now my friend and helper.

Africa Zero Poverty Association (AZPA)

WHAT IS AZPA?

Africa Zero Poverty Association (AZPA) is a

Non-Governmental Organization incorporated in Nigeria to combat, with a view to eliminating, poverty from Africa.

OUR MOTIVATION

We are driven by the graveness of the effects of the poverty pandemic in Africa. By the fact that sub-Saharan Africa has been in decline for a quarter of a century:

That the other regions that around 1980 were characterized by low per capita income have on the average grown rapidly.

That, while for instance, between 1981 and 2001 the number of people living in absolute poverty fell worldwide from 40% to 21% of the total population, in sub-Saharan Africa it increased from 42% to 47%: the world is moving forward in economic development, Africa is moving backward. This prompted UNIDO to in 2004 to declare “arresting and reversing economic decline in Africa as the most vital development challenge today”.

Realizing that the great obligation of ending the long haul of poverty in Africa is the honourable responsibility of the generation, we accepted the difficult task in good faith.

OUR VISION

To end human misery and want in Africa

OUR MISSION

To make a statistically significant contribution to Africa's achievement of GDP per capita growth of 6% and more till 2015.

OUR OBJECTIVES

The Africa Zero Poverty Association exists to:

a. Combat income and non-income poverty in Africa

b. Advocate accountability and the rule of law in government as a poverty reduction strategy.

c. Advocate and press for the adoption of business friendly policies by the government as a way of fostering economic growth and employment expansion.

d. Foster the growth and development of small and medium scale enterprises in Africa.

e. Combat functional illiteracy in Africa through human resource development programs.

f. Improve the productivity of small holder farmer.

g. Improve income growth through financial mediation.

CORE VALUES

1. Strong desire and deep commitment to making a significant contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa.

2. A determined focus on market principle, trade and development as a strategy for the actualization of the organization's objectives.

3. Sense of urgency about our desire to effect a change.

4. A deep commitment to the principle of selflessness and to a boundless sense of sacrifice in the pursuit of our set objectives.

5. An acceptance, as our exclusive responsibility, of the duty of eradicating poverty from Africa.

6. A commitment to the promotion of citizenship participation in government.

7. High ethical standards, excellence and integrity in the conduct of our business.

STRATEGIC PLAN

SME CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT - International opinion on poverty eradication was shifted to a functional approach which centres on household income and consumption expansion driven by increased employment generation rather than on welfare transfer. The emphasis is on the efficient development and utilization of productive capabilities in such a way that the working age population becomes more and more fully and productively employed. The UN MGDs stated that “achieving the income poverty goals depend more on trade and development”. However, since in developing countries, there is, due to the pervasive poverty, a lack of effective demand, trade and development is greatly constrained reinforcing the vicious cycle of poverty.

It is in this regard that export promotion becomes crucial for any serious developing country poverty reduction strategy.

EXPORT-LED POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMMES

UNITAD in 2004 declared that “it is very difficult to reduce poverty in an LDC if exports are not growing, or are growing very slowly, and if import capacity is severely constrained”. Very poor countries experience a number of interlocking domestic vicious circles that serve to perpetrate a circle of economic stagnation and mass poverty. Integration with the world economy through trade, investment, technology imports, financial flows and movement of people and ideas can greatly help countries to break out of these vicious circles.

However, for export expansion to be able to reduce poverty, experts say, the real export growth must exceed 5% per annum. Secondly, it is believed that manufactures exporters have higher success rate at reducing poverty than commodity or mineral exporters.

Africa Zero Poverty Association (AZPA) adapted the ITC export-led poverty reduction programme as its key strategic policy. The EPEP has two main pillars:

a. The development of the entrepreneurial capacity of the poor with

regard to exporting.

b. Linking that capacity to proven export market opportunities.

EPEP projects focus on five sectors based on analysis of demand in regional or international markets and the employment and income generation potential of these sectors. The sectors are:

1. Agricultural products (fresh and processed)

2. Textiles (fibres and clothing)

3. Animal skin (leather and leather goods)

4. Light manufacturing

5. Community-based tourism.

AZPA hence works with SMEs in these sectors with a view to helping them in:

1. Identifying winning products and growth markets - Projects are selected on the basis of the growth potential of the product in question, and the existence of a stable demand for the product. An attempt is made to identify products that can mobilize dormant or underutilized production capacities by adapting them to the specifications of a clearly identified product-market demand.

2. Product development, product adaptation, standards and quality - The products to be exported must be competitive in international markets and meet international product requirements. AZPA seeks co-operation with bigger organizations like ITC, NEPC, etc to help in providing technical assistance for this purpose, i.e. assistance in this stage could involve aiding producers in seeking ISO Certification, technological support in production and adaptation of the product to the market, or assistance in quality control and packaging. Other examples of assistance are aiding producers with trial orders before a large scale export order is made to identify and correct any potential problems.

3. Selecting and organizing poor producers - AZPA has worked extensively in the area of ensuring they are organized in some form of co-operative to ensure they achieve a sufficient scale to produce, market and distribute their products. We are currently feverishly searching out ways of facilitating their training in marketing, producing and entrepreneurship.

4. Selecting the right product markets for the producer organization - A key aspect is the ability of the productive organization (producers) to sustain production under competitive condition, as well as its ability to meet changing competitive demands. Attention is paid to the strength of the export in international markets.

5. Linking producers to buyers - Another crucial element of the EPEP is the linking of Nigerian producers to international buyers. AZPA works to match-make Nigerian producers with international buyers.

6. Finance and Credit - AZPA works in ensuring self-sufficient credit services for EPEP projects.

7. Managerial Training - The development of appropriate managerial skills with a view to making poor producers self-sufficient in the long-run is a key issue addressed via training. AZPA seeks partnership with other organizations like NEPC to ensure this.

8. Support Services - AZPA does a needs’ assessment at the onset of the project and carries it throughout the project to ensure every support needed is provided to ensure success.

9. Gender - We encourage women participation.

10. Environment - We also encourage the production of environmentally friendly products.

ADVOCACY

In advocacy AZPA aims to stimulate the supply, by the government of Nigeria, of conditions conducive for economic growth, employment, household income and consumption expansion. The consensus in development economics is that basic infrastructure is sine quanon for economic development and poverty eradication. Hence the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) noted that “Meeting the imperious social needs in sub-Saharan Africa is actually a precondition of economic development: the inability to cross thresholds such as basic standards of healthcare, agric productivity and core infrastructure block the regions' transaction to sustained growth”. This report went on to hinge any hope of success in poverty reduction on successes in supplying basic infrastructure. It noted this would deliver an effective GDP growth impulse of about 1.5 percent per year.

Noting the importance of good governance for poverty reduction, we mainstreamed advocacy in our strategic plan.

THE CORRUPTION MENACE

Corruption is the albatross of our nation. The nation's nemesis and its obituary. It has been the barrier to the effective mobilization of the nation's resources - tax and revenue corruption - and also to the effective allocation and utilization of these resources embezzlement, graft, etc; drifting prized resources away from the activities that are necessary for our sustainable development.

A recent report noted that six Niger Delta Governors squandered a whooping five trillion naira between 1999 and 2007 with nothing to show for it. The roads and drainage infrastructure are still antiquarian, the taps dry, power unavailable, and their citizens miserable. Little wonder at the close of 2007 the EFCC said it has cases against 35 State Governors. In the statement, its former Chairman Malam Nuhu Ribadu, noted that “eighty percent of Nigeria's money has gone to waste” over twelve billion dollars are taken off Nigeria's coffers in theft every year.

For this reason AZPA decided to start its advocacy work in the area of the war on corruption.

After studying the nature and forms of corruption in Nigeria, we have come to the conclusion in concordance with Transparency International (TI) that immunity for senior political office holders is the chief policy-related cause of corruption in Nigeria.

Hence, we undertook the Write-Your-Rep Advocacy project focused on a demand for the removal of the immunity clause (section 308) from the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

BE A MEMBER...

AZPA is a membership NGO. The member is the foundation and pillar of the Association. Its membership is open to all Africans.

We enjoin you to sign up for membership today and be a co-worker with God in the process of recreating a world where justice and equality shall prevail; where hunger, poverty and oppression shall be no more. No one can save Africa but Africans!

DONATE

You can leave gifts in cheques, credit or debit cards, shares, experience, payroll giving otherwise.

Thank you for taking a moment to fill this form and helping to fight poverty with a cheque, credit or debit card. Your gift to help AZPA with its work all over Africa, supporting the poor to work their way out of poverty is appreciated.

Mail us today at:

www.azpanig@azepanig.org

OFFICE ADDRESS:

No. 255 Agbani Road,

Enugu,

Nigeria.

E-mail: azpanig@azepanig.org, azpanig@yahoo.com

Tel: +234 (0)8065838656, 8030888245, 7089333922.