she is even trying to participate in different social activities. Changing lives in Nepal When ADRA came in contact with Udaya, he avoided interacting with others, was afraid to leave the house, had become an insom - hen Devimaya, 27, was studying Part of ADRA’s current initiative in Nepal, niac, had lost appetite and weight, and was to become a nurse, she never co-financed by the European Commission convinced his father’s killers would return to imagined being involved in party and ADRA-UK, is to educate and empower kill him too. Moreover, he was struggling with Wpolitics: but in December of 1999 young people through literacy and vocational memory loss, unable to remember simple she was suddenly escorted off campus by a training, and provide psycho-social support. facts or tasks; for example, he would leave police officer, charged with providing support Through the help of its local partner, ASTHA, home to get water from the tap, but return to Maoists and their activities. ADRA Nepal is training district counsellors without the water jar. After fourteen months of mental and phys- and community psycho-social workers in Through the counselling ADRA has provid- ical torture, she was finally released. Once order to provide psycho-social counselling ed, he has received the emotional support he home she was persecuted by locals who con- and education. needed. Udaya is making significant progress; tinued to believe her to be a Maoist supporter. In September 2010, ADRA met with his behaviour, relationships with others and Udaya Oli was 10 years old when his Devimaya. She had been suffering from a memory are all improving. This has enabled father was assassinated by one of the number of psycho-social problems, including him to recognise his problems and learn conflicting parties. He was unable to anger, trouble concentrating, and headaches. coping methods. He is actively taking part attend school for months, suffering from She also was suffering from loneliness, since in community activities, as well as attending psycho-social problems. she had distanced herself from the rest of the classes. Udaya has a set of goals and a plan These problems only increased when community and her family. of action for his future. he transferred into secondary school; he ADRA provided her with a safe social Over the next eighteen months, ADRA had to walk several hours to school, and environment, which allowed her, for the first and its partners will provide psycho-social immediately return after classes ended in time, to share her experience and feelings support for 2,000 such children and young order to work and provide food for his family. with others. ADRA also provided counselling adults. This project in Nepal, and the other Devimaya and Udaya are among thou- for her family, and education about psycho- life-skills education, literacy and vocational sands of children and young adults who have social care, helping re-establish Devimaya’s training, will give 4,000 young people the suffered from the decade-long civil conflict in family as a source of support in her life. opportunity to begin a new stage in their lives. Nepal. Though it ended five years ago, many With this help, she is now comfortable young people are still struggling to overcome sharing her problems with her family and For more information, go to: www.adra.org.uk. the repercussions. But this is where ADRA others she trusts. Devimaya’s relationship and its partners are effecting change. with her friends and family has improved, and EDITED BY KAITLYN RASMUSSEN 2 3 Corrigendum: Laura Prescott's name appeared incorrectly in Messenger 8 July, and the article sorry . ! is reprinted in this issue. The MESSENGER edito- editorial rial and design team would like to thank all news contributors for the care they take when Dear Readers submitting the names of those mentioned in I have just clocked up seven months as editor of the MESSENGER, and it is now time for a few their news reports. We rely on your continued apologies. Up to the 24 June issue of the magazine we had a fairly good track record regarding diligence and accuracy is this regard. such things, but in that issue the proverbial wheels ‘came off’! We offended some of the nicest, All of us cherish special dates, and I have a most salt-of-the-earth people you could wish to find: our members in Northern Ireland. few good ones in my memory bank. My baptism date was 24 August, 1968, and I got married on Christmas Eve 1974 – memorable Julian Hibbert This offence was caused by the following: Milk is not Editor 1. The use of a Gaelic typeface on the front cover, the old name for Belfast, and a closing Aand definitive moments. There are others too, blessing in the Irish language. but I’ll not bore you with them. 2. The mention of a number of acronyms which have political overtones. Let me tell you about what happened on 3. The fact that some important information was edited out of the report on the renovation of 26 December, 1975, something that made the Belfast church (page 14). me part of a select group: those who have come ‘face-to-face’ with Hemachatus good enough When editors offend people’s consciences they are usually on target, but when they offend haemachatus. in matters of language and culture they should apologise without reserve. So to my friends in My wife’s family had gathered for the Belfast, please accept my sincere apologies. marriage of her older sister, scheduled for the next day, and most of the adults were busy For the cover I can do little more than apologise and be more sensitive in the future. For the 1 2 news item glitch, I have arranged for some prominent restitution to take place in a forthcoming with preparations. has a neurotoxic venom which, when it enters the eyes, ‘causes great pain’. That pain is issue. Suddenly there was the squeal of sharp unique. It is like burning, coarse sand beneath your eyelids. If left untreated, it can cause a significant deterioration of the victim’s eyesight, even blindness. THE EDITOR braking from the street, and a woman’s shrill voice calling: ‘A big snake has just crossed I was pretty helpless by that stage of the game. I couldn’t see clearly. I was in considerable Bramble doesn’t Gamble! the road into your yard . and there are pain. I was drenched in fresh milk – and milk wasn’t enough! Dear Readers children there!’ While we are on the subject of mistakes, let me also confess that Mr Charles Bramble recently Growing up in Southern Africa with its A pair of eye patches became a victim of the elusive ‘printer’s devil’, when his name appeared consistently on pages proliferation of large, aggressive and very The family bundled me into a car and sped across town to the hospital, where I received four and five of the 24 June MESSENGER as Charles Gamble! I have apologised to him on behalf poisonous snakes, I knew the danger that immediate attention, including anti-venom eye drops that seemed more painful than the snake of MESSENGER and he has taken the misprint in good spirit. suddenly faced us. My brother-in-law helped spittle! Charles has been promised a follow-up feature on the granoVita/Wellingborough project, me get the children to safety, after which we I left the hospital with a pair of Johnny Depp eye patches and a once the building gets under way. At that point we will make sure that we get it right! went in search of the snake. caution to keep them on for a few days. THE EDITOR I had selected a long piece of 2x2 timber as my weapon, and upon find- The anti-venom was essential ing the snake I took a swing at it. One thing is clear to me about that ‘face-to-face’ encounter The timber snapped in two, leav- with Hemachatus haemachatus: the milk was helpful, but • Subdural haematoma – a collection of blood on the surface of the ing me facing an angry snake the anti-venom was essential. brain. This is more common in the extremes of age (very young or with a short-range weapon! And I think that is what Jesus was trying to tell Nicodemus in very old). It can occur as a result of repeated head injury, recurrent Undeterred, I struck again John 3:14-15 (NKJV): falls, anticoagulant medication (blood thinners, including aspirin) and and again. The large snake ‘And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must by Sharon Platt-McDonald the long-term abuse of alcohol. appeared to be stunned and the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in Him should not RGN, RM, RHV, MSc • Epilepsy – recurring seizures brought on by abnormal over-activity of was lying on its back. perish but have eternal life.’ Health Ministries director, BUC the cells of the brain, affecting different regions of the central nervous ‘I’ve got him!’ I shouted. He was drawing on the powerful imagery of Numbers 21, where system. This may result in physical convulsions. rebellious Israel is suddenly at the mercy of ‘fiery serpents’ that slither • Brain tumour – abnormal growth that involves the brain itself or its It spat first through the camp on a killing spree. Knowing your body – part 5b surrounding structures. This can upset vision, balance, co-ordination I then raised the timber for the The desperate Israelites plead urgently with Moses for God to and cognitive function.