News Briefs
Back to Weekly News Briefs...April 22, 2010
- CLWR aids seminary in delivering cross-cultural education experience
- CLWR video about Haiti now showing on YouTube
CLWR aids seminary in delivering cross-cultural education experience
In January of this year, Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) provided financial support to seven Lutheran Theological Seminary students that facilitated their participation in an international cross-cultural experience. Led by Rev. Dr. Jann E. Boyd, the seminarians travelled to the Afar region in Ethiopia where CLWR is supporting the construction of small-scale irrigation projects through its local partner, Support for Sustainable Development (SSD).
While in Afar, Dr. Boyd and the students saw first-hand the dramatic effect that water diversion projects were having on producing arable farm land in a sustainable system for the people of the region. They also met with SSD’s general manager and engineer, Mr. Gebreyes Haile, who one of the students, Marc Jerry, described as an exceptional host. "He provided us with a unique opportunity to learn about sustainable development and the success of the SSD projects. Mr. Haile also facilitated the opportunity to learn about some of the ancient Orthodox history of Ethiopia, and the work of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The theological analogy of being reborn into new life through the waters of baptism is a parallel that accurately characterizes the success of what the SSD has accomplished with the water diversion projects in Ethiopia."
The trip also included visits to a number of significant monasteries and Christian historical sites, including the centuries old rock hewn churches in Lalibella, These churches were carved entirely by hand, right out of the mountain stone almost 900 years ago. Marc adds that “it was a stunning and formational experience for our group to be able to stand in these historic structures while people came and went to worship.”
CLWR provides financial support for such trips through its Leadership Development Program. The program aims to raise awareness amongst future church leaders of the international community development work carried out by CLWR. For more information about the program, please contact Brian Lorch in the Community Relations Department (email: blorch@clwr.mb.ca or toll-free: 1.800.661.2597).
CLWR video about Haiti now showing on YouTube
CLWR has posted a video on its YouTube video channel featuring images of the relief effort underway in Haiti. The video, which has a running time of two minutes, incorporates photography provided by the ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together). The images portray some of the damage caused by the catastrophic 7.0 quake that struck Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions on January 12. They also demonstrate the resilience and resourcefulness of the Haitian people as well as signs of hope.
The music that accompanies the video is a traditional Haitian tune, Feuille-O. Shortly after the earthquake struck, Andrew Donaldson set the words of the Kyrie to the tune and made it available to the Canadian church community as a Lenten gift. The recording of Andrew's work used in the video was made at St. Mark's Lutheran, Winnipeg, on Palm Sunday. More information about the music and the performers can be found at http://www.clwr.org/Haitivideo.cfm.
The video concludes with a succinct thank-you message from CLWR to all its supporters for their generous contributions to the Appeal for Haiti. To date, over $1.1 million has been received from individuals, church groups and congregations.
A link to CLWR’s YouTube video channel can be found on the CLWR homepage: www.clwr.org, The channel also gives you access to “CLWR Trailer,” a video providing an overview of the work of CLWR as well as a series of short country-specific presentations around the theme of One Good Thing.
Back to Weekly News Briefs...
In January of this year, Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) provided financial support to seven Lutheran Theological Seminary students that facilitated their participation in an international cross-cultural experience. Led by Rev. Dr. Jann E. Boyd, the seminarians travelled to the Afar region in Ethiopia where CLWR is supporting the construction of small-scale irrigation projects through its local partner, Support for Sustainable Development (SSD).
While in Afar, Dr. Boyd and the students saw first-hand the dramatic effect that water diversion projects were having on producing arable farm land in a sustainable system for the people of the region. They also met with SSD’s general manager and engineer, Mr. Gebreyes Haile, who one of the students, Marc Jerry, described as an exceptional host. "He provided us with a unique opportunity to learn about sustainable development and the success of the SSD projects. Mr. Haile also facilitated the opportunity to learn about some of the ancient Orthodox history of Ethiopia, and the work of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The theological analogy of being reborn into new life through the waters of baptism is a parallel that accurately characterizes the success of what the SSD has accomplished with the water diversion projects in Ethiopia."
The trip also included visits to a number of significant monasteries and Christian historical sites, including the centuries old rock hewn churches in Lalibella, These churches were carved entirely by hand, right out of the mountain stone almost 900 years ago. Marc adds that “it was a stunning and formational experience for our group to be able to stand in these historic structures while people came and went to worship.”
CLWR provides financial support for such trips through its Leadership Development Program. The program aims to raise awareness amongst future church leaders of the international community development work carried out by CLWR. For more information about the program, please contact Brian Lorch in the Community Relations Department (email: blorch@clwr.mb.ca or toll-free: 1.800.661.2597).
CLWR video about Haiti now showing on YouTube
CLWR has posted a video on its YouTube video channel featuring images of the relief effort underway in Haiti. The video, which has a running time of two minutes, incorporates photography provided by the ACT Alliance (Action by Churches Together). The images portray some of the damage caused by the catastrophic 7.0 quake that struck Port-au-Prince and surrounding regions on January 12. They also demonstrate the resilience and resourcefulness of the Haitian people as well as signs of hope.
The music that accompanies the video is a traditional Haitian tune, Feuille-O. Shortly after the earthquake struck, Andrew Donaldson set the words of the Kyrie to the tune and made it available to the Canadian church community as a Lenten gift. The recording of Andrew's work used in the video was made at St. Mark's Lutheran, Winnipeg, on Palm Sunday. More information about the music and the performers can be found at http://www.clwr.org/Haitivideo.cfm.
The video concludes with a succinct thank-you message from CLWR to all its supporters for their generous contributions to the Appeal for Haiti. To date, over $1.1 million has been received from individuals, church groups and congregations.
A link to CLWR’s YouTube video channel can be found on the CLWR homepage: www.clwr.org, The channel also gives you access to “CLWR Trailer,” a video providing an overview of the work of CLWR as well as a series of short country-specific presentations around the theme of One Good Thing.
