Women and men who watched SAT-7’s Arabic women’s programme Needle and New Thread were more likely to support women’s rights to live free from violence and discrimination, says an independent evaluation that shows the programme successfully raised awareness among high percentages of viewers. The results of the final evaluation of the programme, released last month, reveal that Needle and New […]
THE MIDDLE EAST BRIEFING – NOVEMBER 2021
A year ago, Sudan stood out as the North African country where the signs of change were brightest, despite endemic poverty and a legacy of authoritarian rule and rebel movements. But on 25 October this year, the transition towards civilian rule and democracy came to an abrupt halt. Military forces arrested civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other senior officials. […]
Following Christ in Afghanistan
Fear and hopelessness are casting a shadow over the lives of people living in Afghanistan. Many Christians – afraid of discovery by the country’s new rulers – have gone into hiding and avoid even the secret meetings with other believers that some attended previously. Responding to this great need, SAT-7 has filmed a new discipleship series designed to help seekers […]
Modelling Church in Afghanistan – a country with no visible Church
“Afghanistan has no visible church”, explains SAT-7 broadcaster and Pastor Shoaib Ebadi. But since the year 2,000 a church with less than 100 known indigenous believers has grown to five or eight thousand. With them in mind, his programme, Secret of Life, aims to model what church can be, beginning with an “impact spot” that addresses a current situation before […]
BROADCAST CALLS FOR PEACE AFTER DEADLY BEIRUT STREET CLASH
For many in Lebanon, the gun battle that broke out at a protest rally on 14 October brought back bitter memories of the country’s 15-year civil war. A special episode of SAT-7 programme You Are Not Alone was broadcast just two days after the clashes. It shared survivors’ voices, called for peace, and encouraged prayer as life becomes more and […]
THE BRIEFING – OCTOBER 2021
Sunday 10 October marked the tenth anniversary of the martyrdom of 24 Coptic Christians in Egypt in 2011. They were killed during a demonstration by hundreds of Copts against increasing attacks on churches and the lack of any measures by the state to halt them. The peaceful protest outside the Maspero television building was confronted by armoured vehicles that rammed […]
BREAKING DOWN LEBANON’S “TRANSPARENT WALLS”
“One activity after another broke down our transparent walls,” says Marie-Belle Milan, a 19-year-old participant in the project Lebanon: Our Story. As crisis-hit Lebanon waits on a knife-edge to see if its newly confirmed government can offer hope, this project has begun its first Storytelling Clubs, bringing together youth from different backgrounds to create change from the ground up. Here is Marie-Belle’s experience in […]
FREEDOM DENIED: THE IMPACT OF TALIBAN CONTROL ON GIRLS AND WOMEN IN AFGHANISTAN
SAT-7 women’s show Insiders spoke to an Iranian journalist and social activist who recently travelled to Afghanistan. Zahra M updated viewers on the stark new realities facing women and girls under Taliban rule in the country. “The reason the Taliban is afraid of women is that when women become informed, the world becomes well-informed,” Zahra M said. She explained that […]
Detox for the Persian soul: Christian counselling series for Iran and Afghanistan
Many people in Persian countries live with trauma, says Revd Annahita Parsan, a refugee and survivor of domestic abuse and the presenter of a new biblical counselling series on SAT-7 PARS. But the liberating message of her series, Detox for the Soul, is that no-one with these emotional and mental scars is a lost cause: they can be set free. Although […]
The centrality of religious freedom highlighted at party political conferences
SAT-7-sponsored panels on the fringes of the Labour and Conservative Party conferences have highlighted both the centrality of the right to freedom of religion or belief and the continued need for collective action to defend it. Fiona Bruce, the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), spoke in an online panel during the Conservative Conference (4 […]