CLWR News & Stories

“When I first arrived, every day was a struggle just to survive,” says Yacenys Andrea Mendoza who fled from her home country – Venezuela. For Yacenys, those first days in Colombia were defined by uncertainty. “I had no steady income, and I didn’t know how I would pay rent or feed my family,” she said. She has […]

Egle Torres stands behind a small table on a busy street in Saravena, a town in northeastern Colombia near the Venezuelan border, carefully arranging golden, freshly fried stuffed potatoes.  Not long ago, this scene would have been hard to imagine.  Seven years ago, Egle fled Venezuela’s deepening political and economic crisis, leaving behind her two teenage […]

Yesinia Parada stepped forward beneath a thatched-roof shelter in her village and handed her ID to a Lutheran World Federation (LWF) staff member. In return, she received a small bundle of everyday essentials: shampoo, soap, lotion, a toothbrush, menstrual products and more.  Around her young women and children gathered in the open-air community space, seated on plastic chairs […]

William Díaz weaves barefoot past defenders across a dusty field until he reaches the end and scores. Cheers erupt from the crowd gathered around the field in Genereros, an Indigenous community in Colombia’s eastern Arauca department, near the border with Venezuela. For decades, Arauca has been shaped by conflict. Armed groups — including guerrillas, criminal […]

On a recent visit to South Sudan, CLWR’s director of Humanitarian Programs Tyler Braun visited a CLWR program providing clean water and support for women and girls. He shares about what they saw and the impact the project has thanks to your support.

Three Canadian organizations join forces to deliver coordinated support across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad as war enters its fourth year  OTTAWA, APRIL 15, 2026 — As the war in Sudan enters its fourth year, the Government of Canada has announced $8.5 million in funding for the first year of a two-year joint humanitarian response […]

Longtime faith-based humanitarian leader to guide the organization into its next chapter as CLWR marks 80 years of service. Winnipeg, MB — April 8, 2026 — The Board of Directors of Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) has appointed Darryl Loewen as the organization’s next Chief Executive Officer, effective June 1, 2026. Loewen succeeds Rev. Dr. […]

Ongoing gang violence and political instability in Haiti have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Women and girls face a higher risk of abuse, while many families live without income, clean water or safe shelter.  With support from the Government of Canada and the generosity of Canadian Lutherans, women and girls across Haiti are getting the support they need to help […]

A group of 28 farmers in the Lake Chad Basin are on the front lines of a climate crisis that is damaging their crops and threatening their incomes.  Members of the group, who call themselves Diri Marmou — let’s love one another — say they used to harvest 50 sacks of chillies from one hectare in a single season. […]

On a recent program visit to Colombia, Program Manager Linnet Damien saw the impact of your support for CLWR.

In December, 2025 CLWR’s Refugee Resettlement team held a winter celebration in Vancouver, BC. At the event Shakila Bahrami, a refugee from Afghanistan who was resettled to Canada with support from CLWR, shared this inspiring message on the power of refugee resettlement to change lives. Thank you for giving me the honour to stand here […]

Ebla Aden Ahmed fled her home in Jilib, Somalia, with her four children when life there became unbearable. “We lived in constant fear. Armed clashes were happening close to our home, and I worried every day about my children’s safety,” Ebla said. “I left my farm, my house and everything I worked for. All I wanted […]

When Gloria Montañez Rodríguez speaks about protecting women from gender-based violence, she speaks from a lifetime of knowing what happens when it is absent.  The 62-year-old lives in Caño Claro, an Indigenous community in Colombia near the Venezuelan border – an area shaped by generations of armed conflict. As a child, Gloria’s sister was killed at 15, and […]

Over the past year, your generosity helped families affected by conflict, climate disasters and displacement. From emergency food and clean water to sustainable livelihoods and welcoming refugees in Canada, these were the impacts we achieved together in 2025. You did not just give. You stood with people when it mattered most. Thank you for being […]

“When I was six, we had a visiting missionary from Cameroon. I went to the presentation, came home, and announced I was going to be a missionary in Africa,” says Gayle Moore-Morrans (formerly Johannesson).  Nearly 50 years later, Gayle found herself on a mission. Not in Africa, but in India. In 2000, she and 17 […]

PANYAGOR, South Sudan – When floods swept through Lith Payam in 2022, 57-year-old Amam Kuir Angok lost nearly everything, her livestock, her household goods and the farmland that had sustained her family for years.  Three years ago, her husband and his second wife relocated to an Internally Displaced Persons camp in Lake State, these camps […]

Feeding a family of six on a single income is a daily struggle for 60-year-old Akoi Riak Akech, who lives in Kongor Payam, South Sudan. Two years ago, he lost his wife to illness, leaving him to care alone for five sons and one daughter. “Since I lost my wife, I am struggling to manage […]

Winnipeg — September 22, 2025 — Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR) welcomes Canada’s formal recognition of the state of Palestine, aligning with a broad international consensus on a solution based on international law and human dignity.  Canada’s announcement builds on decades of partnership with Palestinians, exemplified by its longstanding support for CLWR’s work for human […]

“We had to flee or end up in a concentration camp,” says John Weingartner.  Born in 1936, in what was then Yugoslavia, now Croatia, John was just a child when war forced his family to leave everything behind. Alongside his parents and three siblings, he fled to Austria, where they lived in limbo for nine […]

WATERLOO, Canada – On four quiet Sundays in June, the congregation at Christ Lutheran Church in Waterloo turned their attention to the disappearing waters of Lake Chad. Once one of Africa’s largest lakes, Lake Chad is now a symbol of the climate crisis affecting millions. And Christ Lutheran’s congregation is part of a growing movement […]

It was the mid 1980’s and there was famine in Mozambique. CLWR sponsored and advertised an appeal where one cow became four. At that time there was a young teenager at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Owen Sound, ON, who was captivated by this idea of one becoming 4. Brilliant! I was that teenager. It […]

In Logone Birni, Cameroon, the land has always sustained life—but in recent decades, it has also become a source of conflict. As weather patterns shift, rain becomes unpredictable, and floods and droughts grow more common, the natural resources that people rely on—land, water, grazing areas—have grown scarcer. This has led to rising tensions between farmers […]

Amina, a single mother of six, lives in the 9th district of Chad, where life has not been easy. Years ago, her husband left the family, and Amina has carried the full responsibility of raising her children ever since. In 2022, things got even harder when a devastating flood destroyed her home, forcing her to […]

In the rural town of Logone Birni, Cameroon, Ache is both a farmer and a leader. As president of her agricultural group and a member of the local Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA), she’s helping her community grow—not just crops, but opportunity. Ache’s farming group—made up mostly of women, along with a few men—is […]