Give a radio this Christmas

Christian charity Feba Radio is asking people to give to its radio appeal this Christmas to help transform the lives of people living in hard-to-reach places.

Its "Give radio, give life" campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the vital role of radio in mission and ministry in areas without many communication links to the outside world.

The charity is appealing for donations so that it can reach more people with its life-changing programmes.

Jonathan Frank, who leads Feba Radio in the UK, said: “In the UK we get trustworthy, inspiring content from a variety of media – press, radio, TV, and online. But for people in the places where Feba works, our broadcasts may be the only content they can trust.

“It’s in that context that Feba is enabling communities across Africa, the Middle East and Asia to use radio to improve their social, material and spiritual lives, and to be transformed through the power of the Gospel.

"One of our listeners recently summed it up perfectly when she said: ‘The village I live in has no electricity; no access to television. Radio is my only friend in the darkness at night.’”

Whilst reaching people physically can be challenging, radio allows Feba to broadcast programmes about the life and hope in Jesus Christ as well as life issues such as health and disaster preparation through its broadcasts.

During the recent floods in Pakistan, Feba used its broadcasts to give hope to families and communities struggling in the wake of the disaster.

“In that disaster lives were destroyed and communities were decimated. For farmers it became an immense struggle to bring anything out of the land. Feba was able to use radio to reach vast areas that were affected by the floods and bring some sense of hope,” said Frank.

Many of the people who benefit from Feba's broadcasts live in areas affected by poverty, illiteracy, persecution or geographical remoteness.

Feba’s Director for International Development John Sutor said that Feba was helping communities in the Middle East to build bridges of peace in the midst of conflict.

“Recently our team went to the scene of a bomb blast in the Middle East and then broadcast interviews with people from all sides of the religious divide and they invited people to phone in," he said.

"In that way radio in the Middle East is connecting communities and people who wouldn’t ordinarily communicate across ethnic or religious divides.

"So in many ways it’s been a tremendous bridge to promoting social dialogue, getting people to discuss issues and promoting peace.”

To find out more about the Christmas appeal, go to www.giveradio.org.uk