INF DIASPORA INITIATIVE

DDECEC . 2011. 2011 NNOO . 8. 8

Diaspora DigestDiaspora Digest

Nepali migrants are worked ex-

tremely hard. They often do not

get a weekly day off and usually also have to do a lot of overtime

to earn a decent wage. Regular

fellowship meetings therefore

tend to be scheduled for the late eve-

nings—after work. However, most companies do allow them two short

holidays each year: one at Chinese

New Year

(CNY) and the other at

Hariraya (the

end of the

month of

Ramadan).

DISCIPLESHIP & TRAINING CAMPS

AMNESTY & EMBASSY

Recently, the govern-

ments of Malaysia &

Nepal declared an am-nesty for all Nepali

migrants who were living

illegally in the country.

25,000 took up this

opportunity to register, but there are still others

who h ave soc io -

economic, legal or

medical problems for

which the pastors—and Malaysian colleagues—

need to enlist the help of

the Nepal Embassy. This

is not so easy for those unused to bureaucracy

and solving these

problems sometimes

takes many months. Dr

Rishi Adhikari and his

staff have

b e e n

v e r y h e l p f u l

but sadly

Dr Rishi

and some

o t h e r s are now

near to completing their

terms of service in

Malaysia. It will be a great blessing if their

successors are as

supportive to the

migrants as the current

team have been.

FOCUS ON FOCUS ON

MALAYSIAMALAYSIA

~ 100,000 Nepalis

went to Malaysia in

the last year.

~ 300,000 Nepali migrant workers.

(excl. illegals)

~ 1,500 Gorkhalis

(Malaysian citizens of

Nepali extraction)

> 60 Nepali fellow-

ships.

< 25 Nepali Pastors.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

DISCIPLESHIP & TRAINING CAMPS

1

AMNESTY & EMBASSY 1

NEPALI FELLOWSHIPS IN MALAYSIA

2

MALAYSIAN CHURCH NETWORKING

2

HIMGLO 2011—HK 2

NEMUN MEMBERSHIP 3

OTHER TRAININGS 3

LADIES IN THE DIASPORA 3

INF & MNSB 3

WHAT THE B IBLE SAYS 4

INFO FROM IMI 4

At these times it is there-

fore possible for the local

leaders to arrange disciple-

ship or training camps with visit ing speakers—and

these are always a great

encouragement to those who attend.

The 2011 camps were held in Penang, Ipoh, KL, Klang and JB. In Ipoh, the

subject was ‘Jesus—the light of the

world’ and

this same

topic was s h a r e d —

appropriately–

as a one-day

seminar at Tihar in JB. Ipoh Camp JB Seminar

URGENT

PRAYER

POINTS

Jasman is looking for his brother in

prison in Malaysia.

Bina has been

sent from Kuwait to Saudi against

her will.

Dr Adhikari

Ambassador

PENANG

5 ‘church’ groups + house

fellowships in Penang. Links with Valdor & also Alor Star.

Several scattered small groups

in Kedah e.g. Kuala Kedah,

Jitra, Gurun & Sungai Petani.

Workshops were conducted on

topics like Integral Mission,

Migrant Discipling, IT, Media, Sustainable Mission.

A conclusion of the conference

was that “a combined pan-

regional priority for the Nepali-speaking people group will be

reaching the next door neighbors

of Myanmar, Thailand and

Malaysia.”

HIMGLO — HONG KONG, 2011

MALAYSIAN CHURCH NETWORKING

Network (LPN).

In Petaling Jaya & Shah

Alam 2-3 churches make up the Migrant Ministry

Partnership (MMP).

There is also a Malaysia

Sangati Network (MSN) that combines all the

churches in KL & PJ and

runs a camp each year at

Hariraya.

The Migrant Ministry

Klang (MMK) is a group

of more than 15 churches.

The Methodist Missionary

Movement (MMM) links

Tamil Methodist Churches

throughout Malaysia.

In JOHOR there are

Nepali Pastors working

with 2 groups of local

churches.

MNSB (Mobil isation

Network) — w i th

representatives from MSN, MMP & MMK — has

a vision to mobilize

Malaysian churches to get

involved in migrant

ministry and help them to find pastors for their

Nepali fellowships.

In Penang, 7 churches are

linked in the Love Penang

“MNSB HAS A

VISION TO

MOBILIZE

MALAYSIAN CHURCHES TO

GET INVOLVED

IN MIGRANT

MINISTRY.”

PAGE 2 DD IASPORAIASPORA DD IGESTIGEST

PERAK

2 ‘church’ groups in Ipoh. The

Pastor visits the Cameron Highlands.

MALACCA

1 or 2 ‘church’ groups.

JOHOR

‘Church’ groups in Muar, Kluang & Batu Pahat

as well as several in Johor Baru area.

KLANG VALLEY / KUALA LUMPUR

At least 20 ‘church’ groups scattered across the

centre of the country in Kuala Lumpur, Rawang, Petaling Jaya, Serdang, Kajang, and also in Seremban.

SINGAPORE 4 groups.

KLANG

10 ‘church’ groups in Klang & Shah Alam.

NEPALI FELLOWSHIPS IN MALAYSIA All Nepali fellowships are

linked with local Malaysian

churches, whose members give

practical and prayer support.

Hong Kong was the venue of the

2nd Himalayan Global Summit

(the 1st was held in 2009 in Pattaya, Thailand).

About 400 delegates from all

over the world gathered at the

YMCA in HK for a 3-day conference to discuss the in-

volvement of Nepalis in cross-

cultural mission. Plenary sessions

were addressed by Dr David Lim,

Dr Sadiri Joy Tira and Ps Cargay.

As one way of working

towards local sustainability

of NeMUN and also of helping Mitra Niwas with

the costs of hospitality,

NeMUN has begun a

membership scheme. To

date, 145 members have been enrolled in Malaysia

and over 100 in Nepal.

The benefits of NeMUN

membership are:

Regular Diaspora

prayer bulletins.

2 nights free stay in Mitra Niwas.

Responsibilities are:

Prayer support.

Subscriptions.

INF is now not only part-

nering with Nepali (ex-

migrants) in NeMUN in Nepal but has also signed

a formal agreement to

work with MNSB in

Malaysia. This is exciting

as it makes an even stronger link between

sending and host countries

as well as between mission

and churches.

NEMUN MEMBERSHIP

INF & MNSB

PAGE 3 NNOO . 8. 8

“NEMUN

MEMBERSHIP STANDS AT

245 AND

COUNTING…”

OTHER TRAININGS

Visiting speakers not

only preach at evangelis-

tic and discipleship camps and services but

also try to encourage

the Nepali pastors and

give appropriate and

contex-tual

training

to them.

Bible Survey—Ipoh

New Believers

Leaders’ Training

Group—JB

LADIES IN THE DIASPORA

Ladies now make up about 6.8% of all

Nepal i Migrants.

Those in Malaysia

mostly work in factories, and live to-

gether in hostels.

This means that they

have some security and companionship in

their own language.

However, the amazing growth that God

is bringing to the church among the

Nepali men, has hardly been seen among the ladies—as yet. Most pastors are

serving without the help of their wives

(who remain back home in Nepal) and so

it is very difficult for them to offer real pastoral care or teaching to the ladies.

In the Middle East, the situation is

often very different. Many

girls are employed as

housemaids. This means that they live with the

families they serve and are

often not allowed out to

meet other Nepalis or have any friends. They

may be forced to work 18

-hour days for huge families. If they

do not understand their instructions,

(given in Arabic) they may be beaten. Sometimes they are denied

medical help when needed and some

are even sexually abused by the men

in the household. Not surprisingly many run away and become illegal.

Training Camps are

not all serious!

share the good News of

the Gospel with the

participants.

A set of similar activities

was conducted in most

of the centres:

Children's’ tuition

classes

Literacy classes

English classes

Computer classes

Tailoring classes

Cooking classes

Health awareness

seminars

Vision Workshops

After the first complete

year of IMI working in

4 centres (Delhi plus

Dehradun, Shimla &

Kotdwar in the NW), it

was noted that part-

nering with the local

churches was good,

and the churches felt

God’s call to reach out

to the migrants. Many

of the local teachers of

the skill training pro-

grammes were from

the local churches and

found an open door to

INFO FROM IMI (INDIA MIGRANT INITIATIVE)

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS...

Verses that are relevant in the Malaysian context—although also a

challenge to people in all countries hosting migrants—are Lev. 19:33-34.

So many agents and company bosses treat migrants very wrongly but as

Christians we are not only to treat them well but love them as God

does, and—as far as it is possible within the constraints of govern-

ment—give them equal rights with citizens. In Malaysia, most of the

(Chinese and Indian) Christians serving migrant groups (& not only the

Nepalis) so generously were themselves migrants not so long ago.

“When a stranger sojourns

with you in your land, you

shall not do him wrong.

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as

the native among you, and

you shall love him as your-

self, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am

the LORD your God.”

International Service Office

PO Box 1230 Kathmandu

NEPAL

INF DIASPORA

INITIATIVE

Phone: 00977-1-55-21183

Fax: 00977-1-55-26928

E-mail: diaspora@world.inf.org

INF A Christian Mission

Serving the physical and spiritual needs

of Nepali people NeMUN:

Board Chair—Sapana Basyal

EPC 2028, PO Box 8975

Satdobato, Lalitpur, NEPAL Phone: +977-1-55-26913

Email: nepalmigrantunitynetwork@gmail.com

Mitra Niwas:

Host / Hostess—Devendra & Ram Maya Joshi

Satdobato Chowk, Lalitpur

Phone: +977-1-55-26913 Mobile: 9841 026 339 or9803 424 011

Email: dvemaya@gmail.com

N EMU N WI LL S O O N B E ON TH E W EB

Tuition Class Literacy Class

Vision Workshop

for facilitators