News Briefs: June 22, 2006
Packing the We Care bags
Thank you to all those groups who are packing kits into We Care bags for shipment overseas and distribution to those in need in refugee camps, local health centres and other communities in the developing world.
When using the We Care bags, please do not put the kit in a plastic bag before putting into the We Care bag or backpack. Kits should be assembled as before but should then be placed directly into the We Care bag. The bag should be folded as compactly as possible and taped shut with masking tape. Please also use the masking tape to label the type of kit enclosed (health kit, men’s kit, etc.). (Please pass this information along to any groups in your congregation who are involved in the We Care program.)
From the launch of the We Care program in fall 2005 to March 31, 2006, CLWR received $9,288 toward shipping costs through the We Care program and had sent out 3,588 We Care items: 1,528 We Care shoulder bags, 1,192 We Care backpacks, and 868 We Care labels for quilts
The suggested donation of $5 per We Care product is sent to CLWR at the time of ordering the products or when the items are completed/kits filled. The donation covers the cost of production of the bags and the anticipated costs of shipping the bag/quilt overseas.
For more information about the We Care program please visit the CLWR web site at www.clwr.org or call 1.800.661.2597.
—CLWR News Service
Refugee sponsors needed
Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has contacted Sponsorship Agreement Holders (SAHs), including Canadian Lutheran World Relief, in hopes of finding groups interested in sponsoring Karen refugees (formerly referred to as Burmese refugees) in 2006 and 2007. CIC is currently processing a group of Karen refugees who have been living for almost a decade in a refugee camp in Thailand. 805 persons have been accepted for resettlement to Canada and CIC hopes to have 500 to 650 resettled later this year with the remainder arriving in 2007.
CIC is working with its regional partners to determine how best to stagger the arrivals so as to minimize the impact on settlement services. Given that 80% of the refugees are farmers, they are exploring the possibility of distributing the group to large cities to accommodate their linguistic and settlement needs, while ensuring access to rural communities where they can use their farming skills.
For more information about sponsoring the Karen refugees please contact CLWR’s Refugee Offices in Vancouver (1.888.588.6686) and Toronto (1.888.255.0150).
—CLWR News Service
June 20—World Refugee Day
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there were nearly 21 million uprooted people in 2005. This includes refugees living outside their native countries as well as internally displaced persons (IDPs)—people forced from their homes but still living in their country of origin.
Across the world, from Darfur to Colombia, from East Timor to Jordan, millions of people struggle daily with no place to call home. In many of these places, the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International is responding to their plight. Whether as a result of a conflict or natural disaster, long-term, slow-onset civil wars or sudden earthquakes or floods, in the majority of emergencies, people are often affected by being forced from their homes. ACT assists by providing the critical items and services to keep people alive and healthy or accompanying them in their return home and re-settlement in a normal life.
In Indonesia, from the December 26, 2004, tsunami to the recent volcanic eruptions that have beset the country, ACT members have been assisting thousands of people forced from their homes in a series of natural disasters. In the days since the powerful May 27 earthquake in the southern part of the island of Java, ACT members have distributed material aid to people whose homes were damaged or destroyed, including food, tents, blankets and hygiene kits and have provided critical medical care.
In Pakistan, millions of people in mountainous areas in the northwestern part of the country were forced out of their villages and down the mountains into the valleys when a major earthquake struck in October 2005. The same held true for around 350,000 people across the border in India. Their homes had been destroyed, and in order to make it through the winter, they made their way into organized and spontaneous camps where they received shelter and other living assistance.
In Northern Uganda, in one of the most under-reported emergencies today, as many as two million people have been forced from their homes by violence from the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. Many of the country's IDPs live in makeshift camps where their lives are characterized by their fear and poor conditions. Others have found places to live in existing villages with host families. ACT members in Uganda, the Lutheran World Federation and the Church of Uganda, have not forgotten the country’s many displaced people. Through its members ACT has assisted people with their basic needs—food staples, household items, access to clean water, and the means to grow some of their own food. Some students have also received school supplies.
Almost four million Congolese have left their homes due to the country's protracted and complex conflict. Many of them have wandered, displaced, around the country and will ultimately have to settle far away from their original home regions. They lack almost everything: food, shelter, plots to dig, clothing, pots and kettles, seeds and tools. However, the return of uprooted people and reconstruction is beginning in many places. The ultimate success of the resettlement depends on how the returnees are being supported at this crucial stage. While people wait for the first proper harvest, widespread malnourishment still prevails in many areas. Children have received daily rations provided by feeding centers for returnees, supported by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a member of ACT, and run by the local church agencies. Children are also receiving vaccinations at a health post which was set up with LWF assistance.
Refugees of the Iraq conflict who were living in a so-called "no-man's land" in the desert areas of Jordan received warm outdoor clothing during a cold winter in early 2005. ACT member Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) distributed winter clothing to children in two refugee camps where it was working. With funding from an ACT appeal, MECC distributed clothing to 450 children between the ages of one and 18.
Forty years of conflict and a recent economic downturn have led to the deterioration in basic living conditions for many Colombians. A World Food Program study concluded that 80 percent of Colombians displaced by violence live in extreme poverty and lack access to sufficient food. Among its various ways of responding to this ongoing crisis, ACT members in Colombia have provided children with psychosocial services. Children have not only had to deal with the impact of being forcibly displaced, but also the many consequences of displacement, which affected their social and psychological development, given the levels of violence often starting at home, but also endemic in the broader communities.
As part of the ACT (Action by Churches Together) alliance, LWF’s Department for World Service (DWS) is committed to supporting and facilitating communities in responding to emergencies and to the ongoing process of ensuring sustainability. DWS ensures effective and efficient cooperation and collaboration throughout the DWS-related network in relation to emergencies, refugees and IDPs and works in close cooperation with the ACT office. Financial support for DWS emergency response comes from LWF related agencies, such as Canadian Lutheran World Relief, member churches and the global ecumenical network, governments and inter-governmental organizations (especially UN agencies).
—with reports from ACT International and Lutheran World Federation
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