News Briefs
Back to Weekly News Briefs...May 7, 2009
- Burma: one year after Cyclone Nargis
- Shipment to West Bank and Gaza arrives
Burma: one year after Cyclone Nargis
One year after Cyclone Nargis swept across southern Burma, the people of the Irrawaddy Delta are rebuilding their lives. While life remains difficult, through the generous support of Canadian Lutheran World Relief donors, the agency has supported relief and reconstruction efforts through partners Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, Canadian Churches in Action (CCA) and Lutheran World Service-Myanmar.
Through ACT, numerous relief items, ranging from basic needs such as food, tarpaulins, family kits, water, school kits, as well as agriculture and fishing inputs, have been distributed. All of these have helped cyclone-affected people to meet their basic needs of food and shelter, as well as a quick revival of their livelihoods.
In partnership with other CCA members, CLWR secured $300,000 from the Canadian International Development Agency to support a farm recovery program for cyclone-affected farm households in the Irrawaddy Delta area. This improved household incomes and boosted rice production to reduce the need for the importation and distribution of food aid. A total of 3,031 households received farming inputs such as rice seeds, fertilizer, hand tillers, tilling equipment, fuel for the tillers and cash transfers to hire labourers to prepare and plant fields. It is estimated that this has made available at reasonable prices rice for about 45,000 people living in the area.
Our implementing partner reports: "Villagers throughout the Delta have been so appreciative of our assistance package. They also appreciate the fact that we came directly to their village, despite the distance and difficulty, to deliver assistance into their hands."
CLWR continues to support ongoing rehabilitation efforts in the country including support for disaster-preparedness, education and water and sanitation initiatives through Lutheran World Service-Myanmar.
- CLWR News Service
Shipment to West Bank and Gaza arrives
A cargo container filled with 597 health kits and close to 2,000 quilts and blankets shipped from Winnipeg on February 20, has reached its destination in the Middle East. The health kits contain supplies difficult to acquire in Gaza. They, along with the quilts and blankets, are now being distributed to 1,200 households in the Palestinian Territories that were affected by the conflict that occurred in early 2009.
Donated hospital beds included in the shipment are being put to use in the new geriatric care unit of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem. Funding for the ward, which was officially opened on April 30, 2009, comes from CLWR and the Canadian International Development Agency.
The shipment, a collaborative project with the Mennonite Central Committee, was the fourth one completed in 2008-09 and the second to Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories. Others have gone to Mauritania and Zambia.
- CLWR News Service with files from the Mennonite Central Committee
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One year after Cyclone Nargis swept across southern Burma, the people of the Irrawaddy Delta are rebuilding their lives. While life remains difficult, through the generous support of Canadian Lutheran World Relief donors, the agency has supported relief and reconstruction efforts through partners Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, Canadian Churches in Action (CCA) and Lutheran World Service-Myanmar.
Through ACT, numerous relief items, ranging from basic needs such as food, tarpaulins, family kits, water, school kits, as well as agriculture and fishing inputs, have been distributed. All of these have helped cyclone-affected people to meet their basic needs of food and shelter, as well as a quick revival of their livelihoods.
In partnership with other CCA members, CLWR secured $300,000 from the Canadian International Development Agency to support a farm recovery program for cyclone-affected farm households in the Irrawaddy Delta area. This improved household incomes and boosted rice production to reduce the need for the importation and distribution of food aid. A total of 3,031 households received farming inputs such as rice seeds, fertilizer, hand tillers, tilling equipment, fuel for the tillers and cash transfers to hire labourers to prepare and plant fields. It is estimated that this has made available at reasonable prices rice for about 45,000 people living in the area.
Our implementing partner reports: "Villagers throughout the Delta have been so appreciative of our assistance package. They also appreciate the fact that we came directly to their village, despite the distance and difficulty, to deliver assistance into their hands."
CLWR continues to support ongoing rehabilitation efforts in the country including support for disaster-preparedness, education and water and sanitation initiatives through Lutheran World Service-Myanmar.
- CLWR News Service
Shipment to West Bank and Gaza arrives
A cargo container filled with 597 health kits and close to 2,000 quilts and blankets shipped from Winnipeg on February 20, has reached its destination in the Middle East. The health kits contain supplies difficult to acquire in Gaza. They, along with the quilts and blankets, are now being distributed to 1,200 households in the Palestinian Territories that were affected by the conflict that occurred in early 2009.
Donated hospital beds included in the shipment are being put to use in the new geriatric care unit of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem. Funding for the ward, which was officially opened on April 30, 2009, comes from CLWR and the Canadian International Development Agency.
The shipment, a collaborative project with the Mennonite Central Committee, was the fourth one completed in 2008-09 and the second to Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories. Others have gone to Mauritania and Zambia.
- CLWR News Service with files from the Mennonite Central Committee
