Story number 2 for 10 Jan 2000

We turn next to Indonesia where efforts continue to quell the violence between
Muslims and Christians that has claimed hundreds of lives in the past 10 days.
Compassion International’s Joe Harbison says thankfully, this latest eruption has not
affected them much. “We do work throughout Indonesia, but we don’t have any
projects in those areas affected. However, at this point in time, because of different
social and economic issues arising in Indonesia, there’s been tremendous upheaval.
One of the areas that we’re mostly concerned with is a situation that affects our
children in Timor.” Harbison says Timor’s mayhem temporarily suspended their
program, but the work of the Gospel continued. “We’ve had a complete upheaval in
the population in East Timor of the people who have had to flee. Compassion’s
response is to look to provide some kind of relief in the area of practical physical aid to
the children and families who have been affected. Since we partner with churches,
we’re also very keen to help them come through the crisis.”