Bread NEWS 05 - 'Slumdog inspired us to set up Indian orphanage' & 'A church truly 'on Fire' in the City of Jericho'

Slumdog inspired us to set up Indian orphanage   and   A Church that is truly 'on Fire' in the City of Jericho --------------   In a report from the International Christian Embassy in J erusalem, Lena Kachinsky states that: 'the world's oldest and lowest city,  Jericho in recent years has become a 'sleepy' enclave isolated from the terror hotbeds in the West Bank.  It's hot, dusty and poor, to be sure, but this desert oasis is showing signs of life again thanks to a courageous woman pastor driven by a calling to "win the city for God."Karen Dunham was living comfortably as a single mom and an assistant pastor and had just been offered her own show on a Christian television network in San Diego. Instead, she felt an overwhelming desire to travel to Israel and pray. A Catholic priest stopped her on the street in the Old City with an unexpected message: "If you go to Jericho and feed the people, you can win the city for Christ," he told her.  Dunham and her son opened their home to the Arabs, handing out bags of rice with tracts inside to those ho came for prayer and Bible teachings. She also regularly played the 'Jesus Video' in her garage.    After its 'home' in the refugee camp was burned down, Living Bread Church relocated to a restaurant owned by traditional Arab Christians.  The dire poverty in Jericho is enough to intimidate even the most well-meaning person. "We realize that hungry neighbors are angry neighbors," says Dunham. "If we feed Palestinians, they will experience love from Christians and then Israel will have happy neighbors."  --------------------------------------- A County Armagh, N. Ireland couple have been so moved by the multi-Oscar winning film, Slumdog Millionaire, that they are setting up their own orphanage in south-east India.Janet and Nelson Thomas-Raja have given themselves an 18-month timetable to uproot themselves from their cosy life in Portadown and create an orphanage for at least 10 street children and raise them as their own. “We aren’t going out blind by any means,” said Janet. “We’ve been toying with the idea of our very own orphanage, and when we saw Slumdog Millionaire, which highlights the plight of the street children in India, that was the catalyst we needed to go and do it.  “Children in India are often purposely blinded by adults and have their limbs broken and then banished to the streets to beg. It’s almost impossible to believe to us westerners, but it happens.”