News Briefs: April 6, 2006
CLWR Issues Middle East Appeal
Canadian Lutheran World Relief, following consultation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, has issued an appeal in support of the Augusta Victoria Hospital (AVH) in Jerusalem. This appeal comes in response to an ACT (Action by Churches Together) appeal on behalf of Lutheran World Federation/AVH to cover, for six months, service provided by the hospital. These costs previously had been covered by the Palestinian Authority, with funding from a number of international donors. After the recent Palestinian elections, this funding has been discontinued.
CLWR has made an initial commitment of US$10,000 to the AVH Appeal. Donations can be made online at www.clwr.org, by phone at 1.800.661.2597 (CLWR), or by cheque or money order to: Canadian Lutheran World Relief, 1080 Kingsbury Avenue, Winnipeg, MB R2P 1W5.
The Lutheran World Federation has been providing health care services to refugees and other Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for over fifty years through the programs of the Augusta Victoria Hospital, serving patients regardless of race, gender, religious belief, nationality, ethnic origin or political persuasion.
—CLWR News Service
Soap Supplies Running Low
Soap—essential for maintaining hygiene among refugees and others displaced from their homes—is running low in the CLWR warehouse in Winnipeg, where material goods are collected for shipment overseas. Collect used soap or make soap from kitchen grease. Consider talking with local hotel or motel managers and explaining what CLWR does and ask to pick up discarded soap regularly. For complete instructions for packing and shipping soap to CLWR, see the Quilts and Kits brochure at www.clwr.org or call 1.800.661.2597.
—CLWR News Service
Drought Erases Long-Term Gains
The women of Sabant, a small village in southern Ethiopia, are in distress. They have seen their livestock die, their businesses collapse, and now their children are getting sick. These women had been active in finding ways to tackle the day-to-day poverty they faced. They had established a cooperative and saved enough money to gain access to credit facilities. With this money and credit they had helped each other to establish small businesses that sold milk, butter and hides at the local markets. The income from these businesses helped them to pay their children’s school fees and buy medicine and extra food for their families. But all of this has fallen apart because of the drought.
“The drought started gradually,” remembers Suku Deda, one of the women living in Sabant. “At first we thought the rains would come. But now the ponds have dried up, and any water nearby is too dirty and makes our children sick.”
“Our businesses have collapsed because most of the cows and camels have died, so we have no milk, butter, hides or meat to sell,” Suku continues. “We can’t feed our families, and I am struggling to keep my children in school.”
Suku and the other women in the village are not optimistic about what the future may bring. “We are just sitting here hopelessly,” Suku explains, frustrated and angry that she is unable to help herself. “If nothing comes now, we will be lost. We will just sit and wait and die.”
Christian Aid’s country representative in Ethiopia, Abiy Hailu, reports that “after something like this, it could take up to eight years for pastoralist communities to restore the stock of animals they have lost because of the drought. Reviving things like the cooperatives and schools could happen more quickly, but,” he warns, “this is dependent on the communities receiving the support they need.”
--Report from Christian-Aid’s Caroline Waterman and ACT International
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