NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
July 27, 2000
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
- A Kosovo Safe House Offers Women Escape From Bondage
- Fighting Abuse, A Refugee Women's Group Now Feels "A Little Okay"
- New Program Tackles Kenya's Terrible Drought in One Dry Place
- In Two Sudanese Counties Times Are Good Enough to Offer More and More People Work, for Food
- Mozambique Flood Aid Shifts From Relief to Recovery
- Be It Resolved: Drink This Good Coffee
A KOSOVO SAFE HOUSE OFFERS WOMEN ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE
Baltimore, July 27, 2000 -- A safe house in Kosovo is helping women escape from the international traffic in human beings that is doing a brisk business in war-torn Kosovo. Women and girls from Eastern Europe and Russia - lured, tricked or forced into prostitution - come to the shelter for protection, medical care and psychological assistance. Housemothers provide security and help around-the-clock in the facility which is now being run by the United Methodist Committee on Relief and supported by Lutheran World Relief. Residents leave voluntarily, when it is safe for them.
"The project is going very well," reports Elizabeth Callender, women's program officer at the crisis shelter. "We were able to return three women to Moldova this past Monday morning. So far 64 women have been sheltered by the project, and all of them have returned home." Aid officials predict that by the end of the year up to 90 women will need help after escaping from traffickers in Kosovo. Successful repatriations have been rising too. In just one month last spring, 20 women were able to return to their families or friends in countries like Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia and Russia.
Kosovo, host to numerous soldiers and other foreigners, is proving to be a profitable business location for sex traffickers who move women through the Balkans on their way to Italy and the West. Local mafia clans are thought to be mainly responsible for the trade.
LWR recently made a $75,000 grant to help keep the 20-bed shelter open. Although needs are growing, United Nations funding for the operation is ending next month. UMCOR's plans for the center include better counseling, therapy and medical services. "Thanks to your contribution, we will be able to continue providing assistance to victims of trafficking," Callender told LWR.
FIGHTING ABUSE, A REFUGEE WOMEN'S GROUP NOW FEELS "A LITTLE OKAY"
By Kathryn Wolford, LWR president. She visited Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya in July.
"We are a little bit okay." With that intriguing comment, the meeting of the Unity Women's Support Group began. Then the leader went on: "We give thanks for the gender program."
Life was hard enough for these Somali women and teenagers back in their home country. Stranded in a crowded refugee camp their situation as women can be even worse. The group documented 102 cases of domestic violence and rape last year. In one case, a mother was severely beaten by her husband just over a month after giving birth. All the while her baby cried in another room. Rescue finally came when women of the support group and gender program staff intervened.
That was not their only success. The group told us they now feel empowered to stand up for the rights of women.
Members have saved over 50 girls from female genital mutilation. After a nurse showed them a video about the harmful custom, the group decided that their men must also see and discuss the video and, as a result, the men agreed that the practice must stop.
A woman police officer is now present in the camp (and male officers are being educated) so that rape victims and battered women will be treated with more sensitivity and respect.
Gender staff Jacqueline and Eugene are clearly a godsend. Refugees themselves, they model respectful and cooperative behavior in their own work. They also advocate for basic rights - that girls have the right to attend school, for example, and not to be forced into marriage at the age of 12 or thirteen.
At the end of our visit one woman said, "As you have assisted us, we ask that God will assist you." I share her prayer. I know that I cannot possibly comprehend the struggle to which these women awake each morning. But I pray that God will assist those who confess Christ as Lord to share His love and compassion in ways which bring healing, safety and hope - for them and for their daughters whose eyes still shine brightly.
The gender program at Kakuma is a cooperative effort of Lutheran World Relief and Lutheran World Federation. LWF also provides overall management of the 60,000-person camp, registers new arrivals, and offers pre-school, elementary, secondary and vocational education. The long-time LWR partner also runs a program to assist girl drop-outs. All these activities are supported by US-government funds.
NEW PROGRAM TACKLES KENYA'S TERRIBLE DROUGHT IN ONE DRY PLACE
Baltimore, July 27, 2000 -- In Kenya, the Horn of Africa drought is now one of the worst droughts ever recorded there. According to the United Nations, 80 percent of the livestock have died in the worst-affected areas of the country. More than three million people are in need of food aid.
Lutheran World Relief recently secured $350,000 for a program to sustain people and livestock in the hard-hit Marsabit district. More than 42,000 people will receive help with local and emergency water systems via an LWR partner organization. Meanwhile, a network of veterinary health workers equipped with drug supplies and special training will take up the challenge of protecting 430,000 goats, cattle and camels from drought-related diseases. The US-government funded program will last through the end of the year.
There are three other LWR drought-related projects in Kenya. As the drought worsens, support is needed for them as well.
IN TWO SUDANESE COUNTIES TIMES ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO OFFER MORE AND MORE PEOPLE WORK, FOR FOOD
Baltimore, July 27, 2000 -- A $4.3 million, year-long aid program will nourish and encourage two battered counties in southwest Sudan to turn the corner on the worst effects of drought, crop failures and malnutrition. Many of the 140,000 people in the area who have needed free food until recently will work on community and agricultural projects in return for food as part of the new program. School children, hospital patients, apprentices in training and recent returnees will still receive free rations.
Food-for-work crews organized by this Lutheran World Relief partner program will build 42 school and community buildings, repair 500 miles of roads and clear land for farming. In order to bridge another food gap next year, they will also gather and save 240 metric tons of indigenous seeds for a crucial planting season next May. Food for school children also has a long-term benefit. Times have been so difficult in the area that large numbers of boys are forced to drop out of school in order hunt and gather food. Now they will be able to attend.
Lutheran World Federation managed a large food aid program with LWR support in the same province, Bahr-el-Gazal, last year. Funding for that work and for this new LWF-LWR effort has come largely from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The province has been struggling for years with scant rainfall, crop infestations and the effects of the intermittent civil war in Sudan.
MOZAMBIQUE FLOOD AID SHIFTS FROM RELIEF TO RECOVERY
Baltimore, July 27, 2000 -- Long-term recovery - for nearly half a million flood survivors - is the focus of current work that Lutheran World Relief is supporting in Mozambique. Providing seeds and tools, re-establishing community health care and repairing schools are among the main goals of the $8.9 million program. Farm-to-market roads will also be rebuilt using 1,000 laborers who will be paid with food. Certain areas will continue to receive food and shelter assistance.
Now is the best time for recovery work because the dry season is in progress. LWR has provided a total of $103,000 in crisis aid for Mozambique, plus $50,000 for a smaller, flood-relief effort in neighboring South Africa. The grants include a recent $35,000 gift from LCMS World Relief.
Mozambique and its immediate neighbors suffered the worst flooding in 25 years after heavy rains in February. Lutheran World Federation assisted a quarter million people during the emergency using relief items either purchased locally or sent by LWR and other members of the Action by Churches Together alliance. Most of LWF's staff were themselves disaster victims.
BE IT RESOLVED: PLEASE DRINK THIS GOOD COFFEE
Baltimore, July 27, 2000 -- Citing parish hospitality, the fate of farmers, protection of the tropical environment and the delicious taste of the product, the ELCA La Crosse Area Synod Assembly in June adopted a resolution supporting the Lutheran World Relief Coffee Project. The gathering voted to encourage "members and congregations to purchase Lutheran World Relief coffee both for congregational and individual use."
Nationwide, parishes participating in the project bought nearly 50,000 pounds of the fairly traded coffee last year.
