News Briefs: November 9, 2006
Snapshots from the field: new images from Mozambique
In September 2006, Canadian Lutheran World Relief staff visited new project areas in the Province of Tete, Mozambique. Within this mainly rural province, CLWR is working with Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Mozambique in two districts, Chifunde and Tsangano. Images from this trip can now be viewed online at www.clwr.org.
“LWF oversees the projects in these two communities from its provincial office in the City of Tete,” says Lorne Kletke, editor at CLWR. “Yet the communities in these districts are spread out and often difficult to reach. LWF has a committed field staff with decades of combined experience. Photographing the communities, including the people and the work that has begun, was a real challenge and a privilege.”
Kletke noted the difference between old and new LWF communities: “As the relationship develops, each community comes to see that they are an active participant and partner in the development of their community. LWF/CLWR serves as a catalyst for change.”
– CLWR News Service
Miners clash in Bolivia, leaving 16 dead
State-hired and independent miners clashed with each other last month in the Municipality of Huanuni, Bolivia, resulting in 16 deaths, according to Latinamerica Press. Two stories are emerging from this mining community in western Bolivia, placing the blame on different parties.
Government officials said independent miners tried to take over the mine and were resisted by state-employed miners. But the independent miners, associated with or belonging to cooperatives, say they were conducting an assembly when they were ambushed by the state-employed miners. Independent miners do not enjoy fixed salaries or security benefits.
CLWR formerly worked in the Municipality of Huanuni, supporting a llama producers’ project, aiming towards creating new economic opportunities for local people. Currently, CLWR focuses its resources in the Departments of Santa Cruz and Potosí/Chuquisaca. In these areas CLWR advances environmental and mining-related issues in the Pilcomayo River Basin, particularly in awareness-raising about the degree of contamination of the Pilcomayo River and its impact on riverside communities.
– With files from Latinamerica Press
President of LIRS discusses five priority issues for refugee protection
“After three years the horrors of Darfur continue unabated,” writes Ralston Deffenbaugh, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS), based in the US. Darfur is at the top of Deffenbaugh’s list of priorities for protecting refugees. According to the president of LIRS, a political vacuum combined with the lack of a protection force leaves the international community powerless in Darfur.
Deffenbaugh ranks the humanitarian situation in Iraq as second highest, with hundreds of thousands having fled to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The security situation continues to deteriorate with no solution in sight. While Iraqis are fleeing their homeland, refugees from other nations are looking to return home but are finding there is nothing to return to in places like Afghanistan, South Sudan, Burundi and Liberia. Reconstruction, therefore, is the third priority.
The fourth and fifth priorities, respectively, are the people in need of asylum who are caught up in the larger flow of migrants (such as women victims of trafficking), and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP). IDPs are essentially refugees who have fled their homes but are still living within their own country. The rights of IDPs are not on par with those of refugees, according to Deffenbaugh. For the president’s full story, visit www.lirs.org.
– CLWR News Service
|
|
|
Resources
