Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust
Baroness Cox, HART's founder will speak at both morning services on Sunday 14 July.
Life-Saving Assistance to Victims of Conflict
As our Church Lectionary moves rapidly through the life of Christ – from Epiphany and Candlemas into Lent, the Gospel of St. Matthew, 2:13-23 first has a significant and still-topical event, when, with the prompting of an angel, Joseph takes the infant Jesus and Mary to Egypt to escape the wicked King Herod who would kill the Christ Child. Thus they become the first Christian refugees.
The Geneva Academy of International Law & Human Rights lists more than 35 current armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa; 21 in Asia and 7 in Europe – including places we don’t see in the news. This month, following HART’s motto “We go where others won’t” we report progress against almost overwhelming evil in less well-known places. From the slopes of the Caucasus Mountains, with distant views of Mount Ararat; amongst the cloud forests, hills and river borders of Burma, and on the central plateau of Nigeria, where big game roam – but so do violent armed terrorists.
Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre – Now operating in Yerevan the Armenian Capital
As we reported in Outlook, September 2023, Azerbaijan’s blockade and shelling of civilian targets culminated with ethnic and religious cleansing of the former Nagorno Karabakh region of Artsakh – the location of the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre since 1999. As Azerbaijan aggression came to a head, almost the entire ethnic population of about 120,000 Armenian Christians left Stepanakert and its environs in great haste, taking little more than the clothes they stood in. Along chaotic roads, in harsh weather, the exodus was controlled by the International Red Cross and other aid agencies whilst Russian “peacekeepers” stood by.
A young Armenian Christian child – we trust and hope for her future.
On reception in Yerevan, the capital of the Republic of Armenia, Vardan Tadevosyan, the Director of the Rehabilitation Centre, and his team, continued their medical and humanitarian work whilst expressing the intention to rebuild the Centre there. And on 19 October 2023 the Lady Cox Rehabilitation Centre’s operations were formally granted Armenian registered NGO status. Rebuilding both figuratively and structurally will take time and valuable medical equipment will need replacement. However amazing resilience and determination will, with God’s help, prevail.
At present, the focus is on providing home-visits and treatment for individuals who were forcibly displaced, and in some cases face ongoing severe disabilities and mental health difficulties. The team are providing renewed socio-psychological support, as well as arranging social activities to help the patients work through their traumas.
Practical support is also being channelled through a new partner organisation called the Tekeyan Centre Fund. This was first registered during the 44-day Artsakh War in 2020 as ‘Support Artsakh Families’, assisting refugees who lost their homes, personal belongings, and livelihoods at that time. HART is involved with Tekeyan in the distribution of food, medicine, hygiene items, and clothing.
The Republic of Armenia, much reduced in size over decades, is in a fragile security position, and HART continues as ever their secondary but important role of advocacy, on a national and international basis.
Burma/Myanmar SWAN
In Burma/Myanmar, civilians – especially women and children - are in grave danger from fighting between armed groups opposing the unelected military junta. The junta has more powerful weapons and aircraft, but their opponents are skilled in jungle warfare. When hilltop villages are shelled and strafed it is the young and their mothers who are in greatest danger.
SWAN birth attendant trainees – trained paramedics cover a range of emergency situations.
Christmas 2023 Big Give Challenge helped HART to raise further funding of £22,644 for humanitarian aid in the Shan State, on the Chinese/Lao/Thai border. Shan Women’s Action Network has been providing medical assistance to remote communities there since becoming a HART Trusted Partner in 2004.
Community Health Workers provide ante-natal, delivery and post-natal services together with general first-aid in the displacement camps. They handle medical emergencies such as acute trauma, vector-borne diseases, burns, snake and insect bites. Children from the camps are also educated and cared for on a living-in basis for better security and they have practical training in farming and animal husbandry.
Diocese of Jos - Central Nigeria
HART has been supporting the Diocese of Jos since 2005 and in 2021 they introduced “Roads to Hope” in which four-wheel drive pickups and vans are fitted out to carry teaching materials, screens, solar panels and other assistance to rural villages where access to normal schooling is unsafe. Terrorist violence is escalating and life-changing injuries by machete and gunshot wounds are common, with women and children vulnerable victims. As recently as Christmas 2023, two villages were attacked, with 300 deaths.
As the van arrives, children proudly show their new schoolbooks - Jos Diocese, Central Nigeria.
The 2022 Christmas Challenge raised £34,932 which added more Teaching Vans and expanded services into Healthcare Mobile Paramedic units. Currently, four teaching vans serve around 5,000 displaced students annually and healthcare vehicles reach approximately 2,500 villagers who have little or no chance of getting to hospital.