christian aid works in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.
christian aid works in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.
how many countries do christian aid work in?
over 200 countries and territories worldwide
on august 3, 2001, the then-ruling taliban police raided the kabul offices of shelter now and arrested two americans, heather mercer and dayna curry. on or about august 5, the taliban arrested two german women. the group's german director, georg taubmann, was also arrested when he arrived at the women's home. over the following days, the total number of aid workers arrested in connection with their work for shelter now international would reach 24. the captives included four germans (georg taubmann, margrit stebnar, kati jelinek and silke duerrkopf), two americans (heather mercer and dayna curry), two australians (diana thomas and peter bunch), and 16 afghans. the workers were accused of attempting to convert muslims to christianity, which is a crime in afghanistan subject to severe punishment. the taliban accused the aid workers of being in possession of christian literature, bibles, and thousands of christian videos and audio tapes. the christian aid workers were accused of exposing the muslim workers to this material. mohammad salim haqqani, the taliban deputy minister for the prevention of vice and promotion of virtue, emphasized the fact that the group had bibles in pashtu and dari, even though the christian workers were not proficient in these languages. the situation became dire when, less than six weeks later, the september 11 attacks occurred. soon after the attacks, it became clear that the saudi national and leader of the salafi jihadist organization al-qaeda, osama bin laden, was behind the attacks. bin laden had resided in afghanistan for some time preceding the attacks, where he led various jihadist training camps and oversaw al-qaeda's terrorist activity around the world. the taliban refused demands by the united states that bin laden be extradited, citing the nonnegotiable pashtunwali command that guests be protected from their enemies at all costs. as a result, the continued imprisonment of the 8 western aid workers became a point of serious tension in the conflict that was to follow 9/11. in mid-august, the taliban looted shelter now factories and stole approximately $45,000 worth of equipment, including a toyota pickup truck, two generators, several cement mixers, and manufacturing tools. on november 15, the eight westerners were freed from taliban captivity near ghazni by forces from the northern alliance. the workers were then airlifted by u.s. special forces helicopters to islamabad, pakistan.
shelter now
all hallows was damaged during the second world war but was restored in the early 1960s. it is a guild church associated with the worshipful company of carpenters, which has held its annual elections in the church for over 600 years. until 1994, it was the headquarters of the council for the care of churches. on 14 december 1994 the council for the care of churches and the cathedrals fabric commission for england moved out of all hallows, leaving the church empty for two and a half years. then in april 1997 the london and south east team of christian aid were given use of the building and garth hewitt, the team leader, was appointed guild vicar and licensed by the bishop of london on 18 june 1997. all hallows went on to become the centre of a thriving community for christian aid and its supporters, becoming a centre for issues of justice, development and peace. under the wing of christian aid other organisations have been based at all hallows, including the community fundraising unit of christian aid, the amos trust (a small charity with a commitment to justice issues), the time of our lives (the archbishop of canterbury's millennium youth event organised from the crypt of all hallows), and greenbelt festivals (an arts festival with a christian viewpoint and a partner of christian aid).
all hallows-on-the-wall