North India: A land of incredible contrasts, by the year 2020 it is estimated that India will be the world´s most populous country with 1.3 billion people. A 1991 survey indentified 4,635 different communities or people groups. Most of the mega-sized unreached people groups are concentrated in a belt sweeping across North India.
Pakistan: 96%of its population of 150 million is Muslim. An Islamic Republic, the government has been pursuing a policy of Islamization of the legal system, taxation and public life, despite widespread popular misgivings. This has resulted in extreme excesses in the persecution of Christians under the infamous "Blasphemy Law". According to this law it is forbidden to speak against the Koran or the Prophet Mohammed, under the sentence of death.
Sri Lanka: Once a peaceful island paradise, this country (20 milllion inhabitants) has suffered under civil war between terribly embittered Tamils (Hindus or Muslims) and Singhalese (Buddhists) since the early 1980´s. In the midst of the break-down of order, the Buddhist clergy have been making moves to strengthen its influence on the government, by introducing changes in the constitution that will favour Buddhism as a religion.
Thailand: This Buddhist nation (75 million inhabitants) is dedicated to the peacock god, Siam and Bangkok has been labelled "the sin capital of Asia" with every second person involved in some way in the sex trade. Even though churches and missionaries enjoy relative freedom, the Thai church has remained small and weak.
Afghanistan: Since 1975 Afghanistan (25 million inhabitants) has been at war, first with Russia, and now with itself. The result was untold suffering; millions of refugees fled into surrounding countries creating the largest refugee population in the world. The take-over of the ultra-fundamentalistic Taliban in 1994 resulted in severe repression. After the fall of the Taliban end of 2001 the Loya Jirga (tribal council) installed a transitional caretaker government which has been working on a new constitution. With the help of the international community reconstruction work has begun.
Bhutan: Atiny Buddhist Kingdom of about 1 million, it has stauchly resisted every outside influence. Minorities are oppressed and regarded as 2nd class citizens. There is very little tolerance for other religions.
Philippines: After the fall of dictator Marcos at the beginning of the ninties the Philippines (75 million inhabitants) became a republic. Arround the capital Manila there are many slums in which people desperately try to survive under harsh circumstances.
Cambodia: From 1975- 1978 this Buddhist country (11 million inhabitants) suffered one of the worst massmurders of the last century under the extreme marxist Red Khmer regime. After the Vietnamese army defeated the Red Khmer, there still continued a civil war between 4 warring factions until 1991. Only after 1993 the situation in the politically quite unstable country calmed down a bit.
China: Formerly nomads, the Uyghurs are a Muslim people group found in Xinjiang, one of the largest provinces of China. Descendants of ancient Turkic peoples, over 9 million Uyghurs live in this area of northwest China. The captial of Xinjiang is Urumqi, which was a major city along the historic Silk Road. The Uyghurs are one of the largest of the 55 minority groups in China.
Mongolia: (2.8 Milion) is the largest fully landlocked country typically classified as being a part of East Asia, though it is sometimes considered as being a part of Central Asia instead. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. Mongolia's political system is parliamentary democracy. Its capital and largest city is Ulaanbaatar.
Most of the country is hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, with January averages dropping as low as -30ºC (-22ºF). The country is also subject to occasional harsh climatic conditions known as zud or dzud. Ulaanbaatar has the coldest average temperature of any national capital in the world.
... what we do
If you are interested in what we do in the different countries in Asia, please click here
