THIS CHRISTMAS....................................?

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE UPPALAPADU TRIBAL VILLAGE

People have to cross this lake to reach the village

Man smoking and making ropes out of used plastic cement bags at his hut.

Parents of the village children are praying for their kids future to turn good.

But because of no school, no hospital , no bus no train, no education, no safe drinking water, no proper hygiene, even to buy a single Paracetamol Tablet which costs a single rupee, they need to travel 15 Kilo meters by walk.

Pastor Yesudas crossing the lake to reach the other side of the their world

Drawing Competitions for Kids

Christmas Celebrations at Tribal village

The Team of the Burning Rocks attended a Church, a small congregation run by Sister. Amulya at Ramvaram Tribal village, Kothapalli, village, Gokavaram Mandal, East Godavari Dist, Andhra Pradesh, South India.

Walls of the Church constructed with mud instead of Cement, due to the lack of sufficient financial support.
Bro. Arun Bandi, Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi and Sis Amulya, picture taken at the time of our visit to thier church.
Sarees for Ladies have been distributed from the hands of the Team of The Burning Rocks.

Christmas Celebrations at Saint Thomas Church

Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi Distributed Calendar and lunch boxes for the women as Christmas Gift.

Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi Distributed Calendar and lunch boxes for the women as Christmas Gift.

Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi Distributed Calendar and lunch boxes for the women as Christmas Gift.

Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi sharing the cheer of Christmas with the Sunday school children of Saint Thomas Church.

Mrs.Prasanthi Bandi Distributed Calendar and lunch boxes for the women as Christmas Gift.

Eight Christians burned alive in Punjab

Brief: One of them is a child of 7 years. Among the dead there are 4 women. Religious and militant Islamic fundamentalists were inciting the crowd. The fuel is the same as that used in the destruction of Shanti Nagar (1997); Sangla Hill (2005) and Koriyan, a day before. The police accused of negligence.

Gojra (AsiaNews) - Pakistani special forces have taken control of the town of Gojra (Punjab) after yesterday’s bloody episode in which at least 8 people - including 4 women and a child of 7 years - were burned alive and 20 others wounded. At least 50 houses of Christians were burned and destroyed and thousands of faithful fled to escape execution. Relatives of the victims refuse to take care of dead bodies and do not want funerals until the culprits are arrested. Some of the killed have been identified: Hamed Masih, 50, Asia Bibi, 20; Asifa Bibi, 19, Imam Bibi, 22; Musa 7; Akhlas Masih, 40, Parveen, 50.

At least 3 thousand Muslims, after they have were incited by local religious authorities, marched to the Christian village Gojra founded 50 years ago. Groups of young Muslims - perhaps from the Sunni group Sipah-e-Sahabaha - with their faces covered started to shoot wildly. The villagers fled, but some were trapped and were killed by the uncontrollable fire unleashed by the mob.

To burn the houses, the militants used a particular fuel, that is difficult to extinguish. According to witnesses, the same fuel was used in the village of Shanti Nagar, burned in February 1997, in the destruction of the village of Sangla Hill (2005); in the burning of the 50 houses of Christians and the two churches on the evening of July 30 in Koriyan near Gojra.

It all started weeks ago with charges of blasphemy against Talib Masih, who is accused of having burned pages of the Koran during a wedding ceremony on July 29 at Koriyan.

On July 30 hundreds of Islamic militants attacked and set on fire the houses of Christians in Koriyan and two Protestant churches, the Church of Pakistan and the New Apostolic Church. According to police, some Christians fired shots against the militants, further fuelling their violent response.

The minister for minorities, Beat Shahbaz, a Catholic, has accused the police of negligence. The local Christians say they have been requesting the protection of law enforcement officers for days because the situation was tense, but have been ignored.

Some Christians argue that although the police were present during the attack at Gojra, the thugs were not apprehended. Other witnesses say that after a while the police tried to stop them, but the militants also attacked the police injuring some.

Yesterday, as the news of attacks against Christians spread, in Lahore there was a demonstration to demand guarantees of freedom for Christians.

Rawalpindi, Christian burned alive is buried. Police suspected of setting him on fire

Arshed Masih's funeral was held today amid tight security. The silence of the Pakistani media and government on the matter. AsiaNews sources denounce the attempt at misdirection and reveal the last words of the victim: "The police set me on fire" following the instructions of the Muslim employer. In the past his wife repeatedly raped by officers.

Rawalpindi (AsiaNews) - the funeral of Arshed Masih, a 38 year-old Pakistani Christian, burned alive because he refused to convert to Islam was held today in Rawalpindi, under tight security. Hundreds of people attended the funeral, including members of civil society and NGO representatives. So far the police have arrested none of the alleged perpetrators and neither have steps been taken by the Federal Government or Ministry of minority groups. Meanwhile, more details have emerged on the crime: a well-informed source has told AsiaNews that police officers were the ones to set fire to the man, on the "instructions" of Arshed Masih.

The 38 year-old Pakistani Christian, married and father of three children, aged7 to 12, died on 22 March following the serious injuries sustained during the assault. He suffered burns on 80% of his body excluding any possibility of salvation. The violence of his assailants was sparked by the man’s refusal to convert to Islam.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), confirmed to AsiaNews, his "strongest condemnation of this act brutal" and underlined that "a team has reached Rawalpindi and launched a parallel investigation into the facts”. He adds that "soon will we release a report, after proper verification of all elements”. The activist denounces, with regret, the silence of the Pakistani media about the incident and the lack of initiatives from the federal government and the Ministry of minority groups.

Meanwhile, rumours have begun circulating that Arshed Masih set fire to himself to protest against repeated violence and torture of his wife Martha Arshed, by police. The abuse allegedly took place in the police station, where the woman was summoned several times by officers after a complaint of theft by Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, the employer of the Christian couple. In the house of wealthy Muslim businessman cash for a value of 500 thousand rupees (about 6 thousand dollars) has disappeared.

Christian sources for AsiaNews in Pakistan deny this version, noting that some "elements" are casting doubt on the sexual violence and overturning the facts "to exonerate the employer and the police." An eyewitness, present in the hospital when Arshed Masih - still conscious - recounted the events to the investigators, says that "it was the police to set fire" to the man. The victim also added that "the police carried out the instructions of Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, at the scene along with other extremists."

Since 2005 Arshed Masih and his wife had worked and lived on the estate of the late Sheikh Mohammad Sultan. The pressure on them to renounce Christianity had lately become incessant. The owner had come so far as to threaten "dire consequences", to persuade them to embrace Islam. The couple were also accused of a recent theft by the owner who has promised to drop the complaint for their conversion.

BosNewsLife.com reports that the Muslim businessman has declined to comment on the crime. However some eyewitnesses have seen him near the place where the accident occurred, but it is unclear whether he actively participated in the attack. Their children - adds the site - are sleeping in the hospital because they are homeless. The mother is still in shock and is unable to speak.

Crowd of 3 thousand Muslims attack a Coptic Christian community, 25 injured

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The toll from an attack on the Coptic Christian community that took place yesterday in the north-western province of Mersa Matrouh, Egypt is 25 wounded, including women and children. A crowd of around 3 thousand Muslims attacked the faithful gathered in prayer in a building adjoining the local church. The fundamentalists fury, encouraged by the imam, was sparked by the rumour that the Christians have begun to build a new place of worship.

Around 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, the Muslims - a group of Bedouins and Salafi fanatics - started throwing stones at a construction site, which they believe in reality will be a new church. Local witnesses reported that security forces present were not sufficient to contain the attack. The police fired tear gas and arrested a dozen people, including Muslims and Christians. Only this morning, reinforcements arrived from Alexandria, thanks to which the Coptic faithful trapped inside the building could return to their homes.

At the moment of the attack the Christian prayer house contained four priests, one deacon and about 400 parishioners. Christians say that the building under construction, in fact, is a nursing home and said they were "terrified" by the latest attack. The local imam Shaikh Khamees intervention during Friday prayers has helped to foment the anger of Muslims. He emphasized the duty to fight against the "enemies" of Islam and stressed that "we do not tolerate the Christian presence in our area."

Reverend Matta Zakarya confirms that this morning there was a summit between the leaders of the local church, state security forces and even some Muslims. "The Coptic are scared - he stresses - especially women and children who were inside the building and witnessed the assault."

In Egypt, the Coptic Christian community is about 10% of the population in a country with an overwhelming Muslim majority, which discriminates against the Christian community. It is the victim of violence, caused by a sharp rise of Islamic fundamentalism. Sometimes the basis of many attacks there are disputes over land ownership and disputes for women, but they soon become sectarian clashes.

3 minutes of silence for Leke Akande, Tola Odusola, and Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin

Kindly if you are reading this, please observe 3-minutes of silence for Leke Akande, 23years old; Tola Odusola, 20years old; and Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, 23years old……..
The above are three members of the National Youth Service Corps, who were until their death serving in Pankshin, Jos central, in Plateau State. They lost their lives, were murdered in the recent crisis in Jos.
Questions to ask: q1) were they mere casualties of an uproar or were the murders planned? q2) we they killed because of their religious convictions? q3) were they killed out of inter tribal sentiments or because they failed to show their support for a particular political party.
We can ask so many questions but none of the answers we may find will bring back the dead.
According to various media reports, members of the All Nigerian Peoples’ Party, who, suspecting they were about to lose the elections to the dominant party in the state, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, took to the streets in protest, especially as they claimed that the election was being manipulated in the favour of the PDP candidate.
The manner in which the protest took place cannot, however, be said to be mere protest. With the huge number of people involved in the act of protest and the kind of weapons of mass destruction used to wreak havoc, it can be concluded that the riot was pre-planned, probably an act of defense on the part of ANPP who must have believed that with the rigging tendencies PDP was largely known for, they would be dealt an unfair hand in the election.
It had to be, for even if a protest was to be staged against electoral injustice, it needed not be against innocent citizens who probably did not even vote in the elections. Of course, there were killings and reprisal killings and that generating into a larger crisis, soon assumed a religious dimension.
Words are not enough to express the sadness felt when a life is lost. The positions occupied by the above promising Nigerians, in their respective families can not be replaced. Money will not replace them. Time will not replace them. Nothing will. I pray that God Almighty will bring succour and comfort the the parents, brothers, sisters and family members of the deceased.
May their gentle souls rest in Perfect Peace.
‘My son’s killing in Jos is Satanic’
Three young men on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme in Jos were on Friday morning killed in the rampage that broke out over the council polls. They were among the hundreds killed in the crises. Joke Kujenya spoke with family members of one of the victims, Ibukun Akinjogbin
The gloom that pervaded the Lagos State Low Cost Housing Estate, Meiran, Ojokoro, Lagos, residence of Mr. and Mrs. Akintola Tokunbo Akinjogbin, yesterday can be felt with touch. The woman, emotionally broken, laid on the bed while female members of her family and friends sat around to share in her grief. Her eyes bore the image of a woman that is wearied from shedding excessively painful tears.
The second son of the family, young Mr. Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, 23, was one of the fifty people whose lives were brought to a cruel end by the rampaging voters in Jos on Friday morning. He was killed along with his nephew, Mr. Leke Akande, 23, and a friend, Mr. Tola Odusola, 20, all youth corps members, in the home of Ibukun’s uncle, Mr. Bisi Akinjogbin, an Abuja-based businessman. The hatchet men, who broke down the high gates and stormed the residence along Katako Junction by 7Up depot in Jos about 9.15am on Friday morning; caught down the three young men in the presence of Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin, the uncle’s wife while her daughters also watched in horror.
Mrs. Doyin Akinjogbin is already placed under sedation as a result of the shock she suffered from witnessing the killings of the young men in her home.
The three men were among the scores of youths doing their one year mandatory youth service scheme in Pankshin, Jos central, in Plateau State, till they were killed.
Riot had broken out in Jos on Thursday, due to attempted manipulations with the results of the local government polls. The election was said to have been widely won by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), candidate.
Mr. Akintola Akinjogbin, who seemed to be taking the incidence with calmness, said the killing of his son is “barbaric, satanic and uncalled for.”
One of the three youth corps members, Ibukun Oluwatosin Akinjogbin, a 2001 to 2003 Quantity Surveyor student from the Obafemi Awolowo (OAU), Ife, was said to have been in contact with his family on phone up till the last minute that life was ebbed out of him.
According to the father while narrating the gory ordeal, Ibukun was about coming to Lagos when the incident caught up with him without prior warning. He said prior to that day, the late young Akinjogbin had finalised plans to visit Lagos after a while.
He said: “My son had reported for the NYSC on August 26, 2008. We were in constant touch with him because mine is a very closely knit family. He would have actually returned to Lagos on Thursday but could not because it was rather late. So, I called him around 6. 20a.m on Friday morning and he said he was on his way to the park. Then later, he called that he was going back to his uncle’s home because the riot going on in Jos was quite heated. I said it was a good decision. So, he ran back into the house and we remained in touch.
“From that time, there were several calls and it was as if he was giving us situational reports. Then, his elder brother, Kayode Akinjogbin, an Investment Analyst with Lead Capital in Lagos, took over from me and kept monitoring his brother.”
Speaking, Kayode said Ibukun started asking for prayers. “Please start praying for us’’; he had begged. “They are moving towards our side of the town. In fact, they seem to be getting close to our gate. Please pray Bro. Kayode. They are outside our house now. I don’t know why they came to us but they are here,” Ibukun was reported to have said.
“Now, our gates are down,” were the last direct words the young man could say to me, said Kayode. “Then I started hearing him beg them. Later there seemed to be some struggles but my younger brother was still pleading. Then, I heard cries and I was afraid while at the same time shouting his name. I heard the voices of women screaming and praying to God for help. For some time, everything seemed to get silent but by this time, I was almost running crazy when my colleagues in the office grabbed my phone from me to calm me down.
“A few minutes later, after I had regained my composure, I picked my phone to call my younger brother. But it was a Hausa man that replied me. And he said in Hausa tone and seemed to be mocking at the same time: ‘Ya broad, im dey die, im det die…hHa ha, now, im don die’. And at that point, the phone went dead. And that was when I blacked out too,” Kayode said.
Akinjogbin senior said his son had come to the Uncle’s house because of the visit to Lagos. “The uncle is like their father over there. They all go to his house whenever there is need. Ibukun served as a Works Officer with the Pankshin Local Government council because he was a Quantity Surveyor. But what can I do now than to throw my hands up to God and accept my fate?
“My concern however is why the Nigerian government should subject our children to death on annual basis? Every year, Youth Corpers die in their numbers. The government should please scrap this programme. Parents would have laboured to educate their children and in the process of doing the youth service, those children will die. This is very unfair,” Akinjogbin said.
“Ibukun was a core gentleman. He was very quiet and easy-going. Everyone that ever dealt with him knew that. And how can a people kill such a young man? Nigeria is one country and we should all learn to accommodate one another regardless of religious differences. As a matter of fact, how does a political riot change to religious fight? This is why government must tame these people up North. They can’t just be killing innocent people and go scot-free all the time. If they have been dealt with in time past, they wouldn’t have done it again. For me, the NYSC stuff is a bad taste that has left a traumatic mark in my family. I just pray God to grant my wife the grace to bear the incident with calm equanimity.
Kayode also described late Ibukun as a promising, enterprising and diligent and gentle young man that everybody said something good about in his life time. “Rather than brawl, Ibukun will usually hold his peace over any issue. Sadly now, he has been caught off in his prime with his hopes and aspirations all gone with him.”
In another instance, a young youth corps member, Mr. Gesham Jagboro, 26, a graduate of Geology from the Federal University of Technology, Akura (FUTA), was reported dead in an automobile accident in Lokoja, while returning from Jos where they had gone to attend a Christian conference, last weekend. According to family members, young Jagboro was among the few corps members chosen by his team of corps members to represent them at the programme.
Mr. Akinjogbin said the charred remains of his son’s body would be brought to Lagos on Monday so that he can be given due burial.

Where is LOVE?

Nigeria cracks down after attacks

The bodies of the dead lined dusty streets in three villages south of the regional capital of Jos. At least 200 bodies had been counted by Sunday afternoon. However, on Monday Dan Manjang, an adviser to the Plateau State government, put the death toll at 500. "We have been able to make 95 arrests but at the same time over 500 people have been killed in this heinous act," he said.

The bodies of children tangled with each other in a local morgue, including a diaper-clad toddler. Another young victim appeared to have been scalped, while others had severed hands and feet. One woman victim in the morgue appeared to have been stripped below the waist, but later covered by a strip of black cloth.

Jos has been under a dusk-til-dawn curfew enforced by the military since January's religious-based violence. It was not clear how the attackers managed to elude the military curfew early Sunday.
Nigerian authorities have arrested nearly a hundred people in connection with attacks near the central city of Jos that killed more than 500 people.
Police and soldiers surrounded the village of Dogo Nahawa, about 15km south of Jos, as survivors buried the dead in mass graves on Monday.
Residents said herders from nearby hills attacked their village at about 3am (02:00GMT) on Sunday, shooting into the air before using machetes to cut down those who came out of their homes.
At least two other villages nearby were also targeted in an area close to where sectarian clashes killed hundreds of people in January.

Al Jazeera correspondent quoted police as saying that the attackers were Muslim Hausa-Fulani herders while the victims were mainly Christians from the Borom community.
But she added that while many people would view the violence in a religious context, people she had spoken to said the violence was about indigenous groups, who are mainly Christian, and migrants and settlers, mainly from the Hausa-speaking Muslim north, competing for access to resources.
The latest violence in the centre of Africa's most populous nation comes at a time of uncertainty for the country, with Goodluck Jonathan, the acting president, trying to assert his authority while Umaru Yar'Adua, the president, remains too sick to govern.
The situation is a test of Jonathan's ability to show that he has the power to deploy the police and army as commander-in-chief, and many people will be watching to see how he deals with the situation, our correspondent said.
In a statement after Sunday's attack, Jonathan's office said he had "directed that the security services undertake strategic initiatives to confront and defeat these roving bands of killers".
Mohammed Lerama, a police spokesman, said the official death toll stood at 55 so far, but Gregory Yenlong, Plateau State's Commissioner for Information, said: We are estimating 500 people killed but I think it should be a little bit above that."
Yenlong added that "soldiers are patrolling and everywhere remains calm", but security officials have been criticised for failing to prevent another outburst of violence just weeks after hundreds died in Muslim-Christian clashes.
The violence in the three, mostly Christian, villages on Sunday appeared to be reprisal attacks following the January unrest in Jos when most of the victims were Muslims, Robin Waubo, a Red Cross spokesman, said.

Washington, D.C. - International Christian Concern (ICC) has received additional details on attacks by Islamic extremists against Christians and churches in Maiduguri, Nigeria. ICC first reported this story on July 29 ("Islamic Extremists Kill Pastor, Raze Churches in Nigeria"). We have now learned that the Islamists killed 12 Christians, including three pastors, and razed twenty churches.

Sabo Yakubu, pastor of a Church of Christ congregation in Nigeria, Rev. Sylvester O. Akpan, pastor with National Evangelical Mission, and Rev. George Orji, pastor with Good News of Christ Church, were killed by members of an Islamic extremist group known as Boko Haram (which means "education is prohibited"). The group opposes Western education and fights to impose Sharia law throughout Nigeria, including areas that are majority Christian.

The Islamists also razed churches including: Deeper Life Bible Church, St Joseph's Catholic Church, St. Michael's Catholic Church, Church of the Brethren, Church of Christ in Nigeria, the National Evangelical Mission, Life Church, the Charismatic Revival Ministries Watchman (Lord's Chosen), Elijah Apostolic Church, the Good News of Christ Church, and the Celestial Church of Christ.

"Mohammed Yusuf, the Islamic sect leader, who initially said their targets were government property and security agencies, later changed and started setting ablaze churches and killing pastors who had nothing to do with their activities," said Rev. Yuguda Zubagai Ndurvuwa in a statement quoted by the Guardian. Rev. Ndurvuwa is the chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

Boko Haram started the attacks on July 26 in Bauchi state. The violence later spread to the northern Nigerian states of Borno, Kano, and Yobe. Seven hundred people including police, Islamic militants, and civilians, were killed, and twenty church buildings worth an estimated $966,962 were demolished.

Nigerian security officers have captured or killed some leading members of the group including Mohammed Yusuf, the group's leader, who was killed while in police custody. But the group, which styled itself after Afghanistan's Taliban, is still believed to have over half a million followers in Nigeria.