FOCUS ON THE NEWS

ENDITNOW

Euro-Africa Division: Germany

The enditnow campaign was successfully implemented by ADRA Germany and the German Women's Ministries in the local churches of the German Unions. Both German Union Presidents support the campaign and encouraged the German Adventist churches to collect 50,000 signatures.
Each church got an information letter and was invited to use the material that is offered on the German enditnow website www.enditnow.de. On this site, users can invite others and tell them about the campaign.

Many local churches already took the opportunity to host an event and to invite people to their churches or other venues to watch movies or listen to project reports. Many communities are involved in enditnow events and often the mayors from the communities are supporting these activities. There were already some very positive articles in local and national newspapers.

Picture: An enditnow event in Grafing collected 250 signatures

Trans-European Division

Carlisle, Cumbria, England

Carlisle church is running the enditnow campaign in the town center of Carlisle, Cumbria. Youth from Stockport church, accompanied by Pastor Geoff Smith, sang in the town center with a portable amplifier while others collected signatures. It is hoped that one million signatures will be obtained throughout England and handed to the United Nations by the end of May. Many conversations are started about all kinds of abuse, and some people are given light counseling, with a focus on not re-living but forgiving others, and cutting off the past by walking into a new abuse-free future.

Serbia

The enditnow campaign was very well received in the town of Kragujevac, Serbia. The campaign started in the local Adventist churches but spread to the local community as well. The signatures for the petition have been collected at the main town square as well as before a concert titled "With Music against Violence." A total of 1714 signatures were collected.

The campaign was also implemented in the Smederevo district March 25 and 26. Promotion for the campaign was done in cooperation with the local municipality, the police, and the Center for Social Care. It was also promoted through special programs on the local TV channels and through articles in the daily news.

Picture Petition forms are distributed in the community

Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division

North and South Botswana

At the launch of the enditnow campaign in North Botswana, one of the ladies shared her story of how she was abused and mistreated by her husband. After attending a Women's Ministries program on abuse, she decided to do something about it. She is now a happy and content woman; to fully regain her self-confidence may take years, but by God's grace she is taking one step at a time. She is but one of many women who can testify about being silent rather than speaking out about, and changing, what they endure.

In South Botswana, Margaret Nasha, speaker of the Botswana Parliament, was the first to sign the petition and made a commitment to take the petition to parliament to have it signed by members of parliament.