Adventist Church in Cuba Remains Unshaken Amidst Social Unrest; and other world news

This week on ANN. In Cuba, Seventh-day Adventist leaders have not been able to connect with church members as anti-government protests have escalated across the island nation. The protests resulted from power outages, continued lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the scarcity of food and medicine. For the past two Sabbaths, prayer vigils have taken place across Cuba. On Sabbath, the entire church on the island took part in fasting and prayer, and many from Spain and the United States joined to pray for peace, protection, and increased faith. In Ghana, Adventist students grapple with writing examinations on Saturdays, and members may be unable to vote in Ghana's next election because this will be held on a Sabbath, December 7, 2024. Close to a million Seventh-day Adventist voters will be unable to vote if nothing is done about it. The President of Ghana, Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo, has pledged his support to address some religious liberty issues affecting Adventists in Ghana. President Akufo Addo said Ghana is a secular state, but he also assured church leaders that he would explore avenues for a change in the voting date. He gave this assurance when church leaders visited him to discuss some national development and religious liberty matters affecting the Adventist Church in the country. Ghana's Minister of Education, Honorable Yaw Adutwum, has assured Adventist Church leaders that his Ministry will ensure that national examinations at the secondary level are not held on Saturdays. He gave this assurance when leaders of the Adventist Church and Seventh-day Adventist instructors recently called to congratulate him on his appointment as the substantive head of the Ministry of Education. The presidents of the two administrative unions in Ghana, Kwame Boakye-Kwanin and Thomas Techie Ocran, congratulated Adutwum and assured him of the church's support to help improve education in Ghana. In Haiti, Seventh-day Adventist leaders continue to appeal to church members to pray for God's protection and peace in the streets in the wake of the assassination of Haiti's president this week. The president of the Adventist Church in Haiti, Pierre Caporal, says that everything is moving slowly because those living in the country don't know what is coming and many are scared. Caporal says many of the leaders and church employees who do not live close to the church's union office and conferences in downtown Port-au-Prince continue to work remotely as well. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is launching 39 neighborhood information centers in Kyrgyzstan to create awareness about COVID-19 prevention and vaccination. They also aim to help vulnerable people access needed social services during the pandemic. ADRA Kyrgyzstan's local leaders say that a lack of understanding in regards to the importance of safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is a problem in the country. People in the region are also suffering from other impacts of COVID-19, including loss of income, reduced access to healthcare, domestic violence, and higher costs of goods. To address these problems, ADRA developed a plan to make information more accessible to the community. In Maryland, United States, a father and son sea kayaking team, Hearly and Andreas Mayr will embark on a self-styled expedition they've named the Bay 200 Challenge on July 16. The Bay 200 Challenge is a 12-day kayaking journey to raise money for hunger, one of the most pressing COVID-19 related issues affecting people today. The father and son duo will journey on a 200-mile north-to-south traverse of the Chesapeake Bay on the East Coast, the largest bay in the United States. The Bay 200 Challenge is supporting ADRA's COVID-19 hunger pandemic response campaign, which aims to raise US$3 million by July 31. For more Bay 200 Challenge information, visit Donate | ADRA AdventHealth partnered with the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team for a recent vaccination event attended by Dr. Jill Biden, the First Lady of the United States. For more inspiring stories and current events in the Adventist community, visit News | Adventist News Network Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHczAaK_PSY