Yokohama YMCA - Special Prayer meeting for Myanmar (online)

Last Updated (Thursday, 26 May 2022 13:16)

A special prayer meeting for Myanmar was held on Saturday, May 7, 2022, hosted by the Yokohama YMCA International Committee. Thirty-five (35) participants from Japan and overseas participated in the online meeting.

Since the military coup d'etat in February 2021, the lives of Myanmar people have been threatened. We at Yokohama YMCA have been volunteering in villages with poor medical services and disaster-affected areas since1992 with YMCAs in Myanmar. We had a prayer time to express our solidarity with the people of Myanmar in their difficult situation.

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APAY in solidarity with victims in Sri Lankan Crisis

Last Updated (Monday, 16 May 2022 16:43)

16^th May 2022

The crisis in Sri Lanka, which has seen protests that were mostly peaceful on the streets of Colombo for over a month, has now descended into deadly violence after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa announced his resignation. The defense ministry has ordered troops to shoot on sight after it granted its military and police emergency powers to arrest people without warrants after government and public properties were burned and eight people died in the violence. There is now a serious risk of militarization and the weakening of institutional checks and balances in Sri Lanka. It is impossible to monitor if human rights are not abused in a situation where there is a state of emergency, curfew and social media blackout.

The problem:
Years of corruption and mismanagement by the government controlled by the Rajapakse family has contributed to the country’s worst economic crisis since the country gained independence in 1948. Unsustainable financial policies and economic programs eroded the foreign exchange reserves and left the country unable to service its debts and pay for import of fuel, medicine and other essential goods.

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Gender Equity Committee Felicitated the writers of the International Essay Contest

Last Updated (Thursday, 05 May 2022 15:48)

The felicitation ceremony of the International Essay Contest on “Towards a Better World for Women and Girls: Gender Justice by 2030” as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence was organised virtually on April 29, 2022. Around 25 participants joined the meeting, including members of the gender equity committee (GEC).

MC of the ceremony, Cecilia Lou, a member of the GEC, opened the meeting by welcoming the participants and guests. Sunita Suna, executive secretary of APAY, briefly introduced the international essay contest, its objectives, significance, etc. She also explained in detail the process and criteria of the said contest. She informed the following judges were selected to review the essays are:

Dr. Marie Aubrey J. Villaceran, professor at the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of the Philippines, Diliman.

Dr. D. Dominic, Professor & Director, Dept of Kannada Studies, Bangalore University, Karnataka, India

APAY General Secretary Nam Boo Won gave congratulatory remarks to the achievers. He expressed his deep appreciation for the work done by the GEC and congratulated the achievers of the essay contest. GS Nam said it would be interesting and meaningful to know this generation's perspectives concerning gender equity, and he is very much looking forward to reading those essays. He also acknowledged that only the APAY region has the gender equity committee and affirmed to continue to work on achieving a gender-just world, and said the essay contest would be an ongoing activity of the APAY.

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RESPONDING TO THE FIFTH WAVE WITH THE YMCA SPIRIT

Last Updated (Wednesday, 04 May 2022 13:05)

With the unprecedented rise of COVID-19 cases in Hong Kong, our city’s underprivileged are facing even harder times than ever before. Hong Kong is a city populated with over 7.6 million people where over-crowdedness is a social problem, especially in the district of Sham Shui Po. Elderlies living alone, the unemployed, new immigrants, low-income families living in subdivided flats and scavengers concentrate in this area. Under normal circumstances, they already encounter lots of challenges in living and working, and now they have to face substantially more hardships under the fifth wave of COVID-19.

Under the dire epidemic situation in Hong Kong, people have to cope with the stress of quarantine and social distancing, especially the isolation of families who tested positive. Subsequently, there comes the return of panic buying of basic necessities such as food and sanitizing products. Facing the urgent needs arose in the society, NGOs in Hong Kong stepped up to fill the gaps in providing rapid antigen test kits, masks, food, and other necessities to the community.

Being an NGO, serving the community is one of YMCA’s prime missions. Our two community centres, situated at the heart of Sham Shui Po and Tung Chung districts, stand at the frontline to connect and support the neighborhoods. To help people cope with the stress, we have joined the fight in ramping up our efforts to meet the needs of our communities. Through the generous donations and partnerships of like-minded organizations such as Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel, HKEX Foundation, churches and individuals, YMCA of Hong Kong has rallied volunteers and staff to provide necessities and shelters for the people in need.

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