NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
May 30, 2002
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
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LWF Leaders Seek Sharon Meeting to Lift $4 Million Tax Claim Against Refugee Hospital in Jerusalem
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Peacemaker From Sudan to be Honored in Washington
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Colombia, Peace and Governance Among Topics Before LWR Board
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Correction: Liberian Hospital Damage Not as Bad as Reported
LWF LEADERS SEEK SHARON MEETING TO LIFT $4 MILLION TAX CLAIM AGAINST REFUGEE HOSPITAL IN JERUSALEM
Baltimore, May 30, 2002 -- Top leaders of the Lutheran World Federation will meet in Jerusalem next week, hoping to settle an Israeli government tax claim against the LWF hospital there. The LWF Executive Committee will meet with Israel's Ministry of Finance, which is claiming $4 million in alleged back taxes from the LWF for its Augusta Victoria Hospital, a non-profit facility on the Mount of Olives that serves mostly refugees.
The church leaders are also seeking a meeting on the case with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and enlisting the help of the German foreign minister to bring that about, an LWF official reports.
Augusta Victoria is one of five church-related institutions in Jerusalem facing tax claims that would alter agreements made after Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. All five institutions provide services to Palestinians. Each has tax-free status granted by the Jordanian government, re-negotiated with Israel in the 1970s and observed by both parties ever since. In the last two years, however, Israeli tax authorities changed their interpretation of the agreements and have begun taking the institutions to court.
The LWF case is the first of the five to have been argued in court. A judge's ruling on the case is expected in early August.
The other organizations facing large, retroactive tax claims are a refugee program of the Middle East Council of Churches -- also an LWR partner organization -- and Roman Catholic, Mennonite and Swedish humanitarian and community development agencies.
Lutheran World Relief has supported Augusta Victoria Hospital for more than 50 years, as have other Lutheran-related agencies and churches from across the LWF, which encompasses 133 member churches in 73 countries. The LWF hospital provides specialized medical services to Palestinians in coordination with other hospitals in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Click here to read more about LWR's work in the Middle East.
PEACEMAKER FROM SUDAN TO BE HONORED IN WASHINGTON
Baltimore, May 30, 2002 -- Awut Deng Acuil, a leader in two Lutheran World Relief partner organizations in East Africa, is the recipient of this year's International Humanitarian Award from InterAction, an association of 160 U.S.-based international voluntary agencies.
Awut Deng, the mother of seven, has helped the Nairobi-based New Sudan Council of Churches establish agreements on conflict resolution and peace between two of Sudan's largest ethnic groups. InterAction calls her "instrumental" in the church-supported "People-to-People Peace Process" of the NSCC, which is an LWR partner. The award will be presented next week in Washington, D.C.
The award "recognizes the plight of my people and the work that I am doing in a risky situation," says Awut Deng. She notes that "common interest in peace building" among the Sudan's Dinka and Nuer people and their churches, along with LWR's "unshakable commitment," has helped make a series of grassroots peace conferences possible.
She is also a founding member of the Sudanese Women Association of Nairobi, a refugee group that LWR supports, and works for the Dinka-Nuer West Bank Peace Council.
Sudan has been wracked by a deadly civil war for more than forty years.
Click here to read more about Sudan.
COLOMBIA, PEACE AND GOVERNANCE AMONG TOPICS BEFORE LWR BOARD
Baltimore, May 30, 2002 -- The board of Lutheran World Relief met in regular session in Baltimore, May 14-15, 2002. Business before the board included a revision of LWR's governance policies in light of new strategies and reporting on worldwide projects including the inter-Lutheran Stand With Africa campaign.
A delegation from Colombia -- "Voices for Peace in Colombia" -- reported on LWR's efforts to promote peace locally in that Latin American country while advocating changes in U.S. policy there. The group of five -- pastors, displaced people and community workers -- had just completed meetings with 24 members of Congress or their staff plus congregational and local media visits in Minnesota and South Dakota. Working with church peace initiatives in Colombia LWR is urging changes in U.S. policy so that aid supports development and peace rather than fueling violence related to drug production and civil war.
The projects also included one in Sierra Leone, another country where peace is in taking hold, and where LWR has provided $3 million of humanitarian aid to returning refugees, children, the elderly and ex-soldiers - some 100,000 people in all.
Nineteen new projects in Africa, Latin America and Asia were reviewed. These include the first voluntary HIV/AIDS testing and counseling center in Niamey, the capital of Niger, an initiative among 2,000 marginalized women in Bihar, India, to improve health, education and incomes, and steps to further enhance the grassroots peace process being led by the churches of Sudan (see story above.)
CORRECTION: LIBERIAN HOSPITAL DAMAGE NOT AS BAD AS REPORTED
Baltimore, May 30, 2002 -- After fighting caused the evacuation of Phebe Hospital in Liberia earlier this month, LWR reported the director's initial assessment of extensive damage and looting. However, when the director, Dr. Walter Gwenigale, was able to return to Phebe he found less destruction than he had reported earlier.
Generators, hospital beds, medicines, refrigerators and the library were mostly intact, he said, although 4,000 gallons of valuable fuel had been stolen or spilled and staff housing heavily looted. Government troops have promised to prevent further looting in the area, Gwenigale said. All of Phebe's staff and patients had fled to safety in the incident.
