News Briefs: June 1, 2006
CLWR Issues Appeal In Support Of Indonesian Earthquake Victims
Canadian Lutheran World Relief has issued an appeal in response to the devastating earthquake which hit south of the city of Yogyakarta on Indonesia’s island of Java on the morning of May 27, 2006. According to the United Nations World Health Organization, the latest available figures show that an estimated 5,000 people died and several thousand people were injured in the earthquake. Some 1,500 people were seriously injured, requiring urgent evacuation and care, and approximately 200,000 people were displaced from their homes.
On behalf of ACT members in Indonesia—YAKKUM Emergency Unit (YEU), Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia (YTBI) and Church World Service (CWS)—the Geneva-based ACT Coordinating Office has issued a preliminary appeal for approximately US$1.5 million. This appeal enables the local ACT members to continue their immediate responses with food and non-food items, shelter, potable water, sanitation, health and medical services, psycho-social assistance, disaster preparedness and advocacy.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada's Global Hunger and Development Appeal (ELCIC/GHDA) is accepting donations to support relief efforts and designated funds received by GHDA will be sent on to CLWR. Any ELCIC person or congregation wishing to contribute to relief efforts can send their donations to GHDA. Please mark your cheque: GHDA - Indonesia Earthquake Appeal or go online to http://www.elcic.ca and click on the 'Donate Now" link.
Donations may also be made through your local Lutheran Church–Canada (LCC) congregation, 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.
CLWR, as a member of ACT since it began 10 years ago, will channel funds received for the Indonesia earthquake to the ACT partners situated in the area who have excellent delivery mechanisms already in place to bring the needed relief and aid to victims.
—CLWR News Service
CLWR announces New International Program Director
Elaine Peters will assume her responsibilities as International Program Director at CLWR on October 1st, 2006. Elaine is currently Executive Director of International Development Enterprises Canada and brings a wealth of international experience and skill to this position including working closely with CIDA on proposal development, project monitoring, evaluation and reporting; project officer in Zambia; Interim Middle East Director for Mennonite Central Committee Canada; and had responsibility for all grant funding received from the Canadian and provincial governments, and other funding sources for MCC’s international programs. Elaine will be an excellent addition to the CLWR team.
—CLWR News Service
Wealth and Extraordinary Suffering on Bolivia’s Altiplano
POTOSI, Bolivia -- The mineral-rich Cerro Rico mines here created fabulous wealth for the Spaniards and caused unimaginable suffering for millions of indigenous Bolivians.
Although the scale has changed—the most valuable minerals have long been carted away and the city is a shadow of what it once was—the suffering continues.
The silver deposits that made the area famous were virtually depleted in the early 19th century, but Cerro Rico still contains tin, zinc and dozens of other minerals. Thousands of miners work the worm-holed Cerro Rico peak, earning 25 Bolivianos a day—less than $4. Mining shafts are crudely dug and ventilation is poor.
Although working conditions for the miners remain harsh—there is little money for safety equipment or modern mining tools—they have banded together to form cooperatives. They share what they earn. Middlemen buy the ore and re-sell it to companies that process the ore.
The smelters that process the ore sit in the valley below Cerro Rico. Smelting techniques were modernized over the past two decades and chemicals are now used to separate the minerals from the ore. The gray effluent that is a by-product of this process flows in open concrete channels to encrusted holding ponds at the edge of Potosi.
Tendrils of dried deposits mark where effluent has escaped or been drained from the brimming ponds. Some of this effluent eventually makes its way into the river systems in the area, including the Pilcomayo. Communities along the Pilcomayo River have witnessed the death of their river over the past 10 -15 years and the effluent is largely to blame.
Canadian Lutheran World Relief is working with communities along the Pilcomayo, helping them to cope with the effects of this pollution. These communities are beginning to work together to encourage the Bolivian government to enforce laws that will stop the contamination of the Pilcomayo.
—CLWR News Service
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