OM in Greece with other organizations and locals are trying to do something to help the gypsies.

Rosie from OM Greece helps at a project for homeless people run by local believers in Athens. She describes how one regular 'guest' is progressing towards faith in God.

Women caught in the sex industry find new life through Nea Zoi, a partner organisation, which reaches out to sex workers in Athens.

After working with the needy on a Transform 2012 outreach to Greece, Anthony (UK) returned to Athens to continue in that ministry.

A Greek woman embarks on a lonely journey to the Transform 2013 conference in Rome, a journey that began when she accepted Christ at 19.

Believers from different nations and denominations gathered to worship God together in Athens, promoting unity amongst the city’s believers.

After attending Transform 2014 and going on the Greece outreach, a young South African man returns to Greece eight months later to stay.

As Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees pour onto the beaches of Lesbos, OM Greece and partner organisations offer water, essential items and, more importantly, hope.

OM Greece facilitates food distribution and children’s programmes at an Olympic arena in Athens now housing hundreds of refugees a night.

Churches are the key to continuity in the refugee ministry, states Gabby Markus, director of OM Greece.

OM worker witnesses a new openness towards God and the Gospel amongst the thousands of refugees on their way to Europe.

Relationships form and opportunities to share Christ follow as OM workers minister to those seeking refuge in Athens and beyond.

God answers two specific prayers during an outreach in Mozambique.

OM Africa partners with Davar Partners International to distribute audio Bibles to those who cannot read.

Lives are transformed in Mozambique as OM’s Tabitha Project gives local women training in sustainable handiwork skills.

The OM Mozambique team builds a library in Mocuba to support and provide resources for the local community.

Lima, Peru, May 9, 2020 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Peruvian congresswoman Luz Milagros Cayguaray Gambini has demanded the country’s health minister provide the legal and scientific basis for a directive that would allow abortion when a pregnant woman is infected with the novel coronavirus.

Abortion is illegal in Peru except when pregnancy would cause death or permanent harm to a pregnant woman.

On April 22, Peru’s Minister of Health Victor Zamora issued a directive calling for provision of emergency contraception in the country, and allowing abortion for pregnant women who test positive for the coronavirus.

In a May 5 letter, Cayguaray demanded Zamora to “Indicate what the legal basis” is for the directive that allows doctors to “end the pregnancy,” if the mother has contracted COVID-19.

The legislator also challenged Zamora to indicate “the scientific and medical basis the norm is based upon.”

At issue is whether a positive test for coronavirus is sufficient to establish that a pregnancy threatens the life of a woman. Gambini says that assertion is unproven and unfounded.

Cayguaray has also written to Dr. Enrique Guevara Ríos, director of the country’s Perinatal Maternal Institute, asking him to report how many pregnant women with COVID-19 have been treated to date, “how many have had their pregnancies terminated,” “on what grounds,” and “what current regulation has been applied to carry out the interruption of those pregnancies.”

The Arequipa Doctors for Life Association has criticized the health directive in a statement.

"At this time in which all our efforts as a nation should be aimed at improving our precarious health system to mitigate the serious impact of the pandemic, the circumstances are being used to dictate measures that threaten the lives of Peruvians in their most vulnerable stage, life in the womb,” the group said.

Regarding the “morning after pill,” the group expressed surprise and concern “that the Ministry of Health promotes the irresponsible and reckless use of this drug in the general population and particularly for minors, and even worse, dispenses with obtaining the person’s medical history, which is an essential tool for the responsible practice of medicine, thus seriously exposing the users to danger."

Aborting a child because the mother has COVID-19, the doctors said “is contrary to the principles that govern medical practice, which must always be based on the application of therapies that are based on rigorous scientific studies and with respect to elementary ethical principles” which guide medical science in providing the best strategies to protect patients.

When a woman is pregnant “we have two patients to take care of, the mother and the unborn child," the doctors association stressed.

Concerning the babies themselves, five newborns whose mothers have COVID-19 were recently discharged from a government hospital in Peru. A sixth, also born of a coronavirus patient who is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, was born prematurely and remains hospitalized. None of the babies have tested positive for COVID-19.

In a May 5 interview with the El Comercio daily, Dr. César García Aste, who heads the hospital’s neonatology department, explained that there are strict protocols as to how the baby is to be fed in order to avoid infecting it.

A doctor from the hospital is assigned to follow up daily by phone on the baby’s condition for an average of 14 days, and “so far we haven’t had a problem with any of the five babies,” Garcia said.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA's Spanish-language news agency. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

Michel Di Feliciantonio and three other Italian Christians spent a week in Šid, Serbia, helping refugees on their way into Europe.

At an OM-led art session in Serbia, some Syrian refugee children have a chance to express themselves, and let their creative talents shine.

Sometimes it's not about handing out blankets, meals or having conversations, noticed OM worker Elizabeth when volunteering in the refugee ministry in Serbia.

Iranians in Serbian refugee camps are turning to Jesus, becoming baptised and sharing their faith—events that one OM leader describes as being straight out of the Book of Acts.

Slobodan never thought he could be free, but Jesus gave him a new start. Now Slobodan urges Roma in Croatia and Serbia that there is a better way.

OM Norway Field Leader Willy Andre Meberg expresses condolences and prayer for the people of Norway.

In January 2013, OM Norway and Norwegian Naval Training Agency agreed on internship programme for deckhands and motormen on board MV Logos Hope.

Earlier this year, a severe storm blanketed Romania in snow that left hundreds stranded. A team brought food, wood and hope to victims.

Rafael Nastase is the field leader of OM Romania. He tells his story and describes the current work of OM Romania.

Bloody feet. Blisters. That wasn’t the expectation of eager Transform participants who left the conference in Rome to join OM Spain on a unique journey.

Zoila Garrido is building relationships with immigrants by teaching them Spanish. Some of them never had the chance to go to school before.

Walking the thousand year old pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela gave the Transform team many opportunities to share the Gospel

Heikki drove the nearly 4,000 km from Finland to Transform in Spain on his motorcycle. A Harley-Davidson and a saxophone were useful instruments in God's hands.

Transform staff Esther Banzi (South Africa) loves to share the needs in Europe with people from the Global South and see them moving into missions.

Träff International, OM Switzerland’s newest project, offers hospitality to people in the community every Wednesday morning.

A teenage boy's ankle is healed and the Good News is spread through this situation.

Lawrence and Susan Tong encourage the OM Switzerland team during their annual retreat.

Swiss youth are challenged by a group outreach to Hungary.

Time spent giving and receiving blessings is a special highlight for the participants of a weekly children's meeting.

The second batch of Timothy Trekkers met for the first time in Seremban, Malaysia, on 1 July to begin the 12-month leadership development course.

Seventeen participants from nine churches gather for OM Malaysia and OM Singapore's Life Direction Weekend in Port Dickson, Malaysia, from 21-23 March.

Logos Hope Outbound team cleans homes in Malaysia damaged by flooding.

A young refugee hears about Christmas.

Young believers among the indigenous people in the rural areas of Sabah, Malaysia are impacted through discipleship.

Traders have discovered the benefits of coordinating option expirations with the release of economic data focusing on the impact of certain indicators.

From the outcome of the U.S. elections to OPEC's output cut, there were seven noteworthy trading days last year whose effects could ripple into 2017.

Twice a week Lourie Ferreira heads out into rural Zambian communities to show God's love through dentistry.

Mwando village along the shores of Lake Tanganyika didn't have a church, but they did have an interest in sports.

How one man who is affected but not infected by HIV is helping his community.

Yande learns to walk with the aid of crutches and splints provided by Bethesda Mercy Ministries.

Cecilia dreamt of being able to provide a safe place for at-risk girls. In January 2016 that dream was realised in Hope House.

Foundations for Farming is changing lives in Zambia by reaching out with God's truth and practical training.

God's vision is unfolding in Mkushi, Zambia as he makes his plans clear to a worker named Mary and blesses the work of the team.