NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
October 22 , 2002
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
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Praying for Peace in Iraq but Making Plans to Cope With War
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Prospect of War Raises Voices of Experience, Peace
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LWR to Receive Wittenberg Award
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Grassroots Training to Equip Midwest Advocates for Colombia
PRAYING FOR PEACE IN IRAQ BUT MAKING PLANS TO COPE WITH WAR
Baltimore, October 22, 2002 -- Praying for peace but making plans to cope with war, Lutheran World Relief and partner organizations in and around Iraq are mobilizing staff, choosing aid sites and pre-positioning relief supplies.
In the event of war, LWR and those partners are preparing to provide food, shelter and household items for refugees and displaced people at emergency shelters and camps. Nearly $500,000 worth of relief supplies is already on the way to the crisis zone from LWR warehouses in the U.S.
Aid is to be used primarily for people inside Iraq and on the Iraqi-Jordanian border. Medical supplies will also be procured for certain hospitals in Iraq. But preparations also extend to the West Bank and Gaza-where a severe humanitarian crisis will only be sharpened if a regional war breaks out-and Turkey.
International aid officials in the region estimate that war and related deprivation could put up to eight million Iraqi citizens at risk and send 1.5 million people into Iran, Jordan, Syria and Turkey as refugees.
For more information on LWR's work in Iraq and a print-friendly fact sheet, click here to visit www.lwr.org/mideast.
To contribute to LWR's efforts in the region:
Call 1-800-LWR-LWR-2, make a gift on-line, or mail a check or money order to the address below.
Lutheran World Relief - Middle East Crisis
PO Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832
PROSPECT OF WAR RAISES VOICES OF EXPERIENCE, PEACE
Baltimore, October 22, 2002 -- The prospect of war over Iraq raises questions rooted in past crises for Lutheran World Relief and for people with whom LWR works.
"What does a pre-emptive strike on Iraq mean to other governments involved in conflicts?" LWR President Kathryn Wolford asked members of the LWR board last month, noting places where LWR works, such as Colombia, Russia, and Israel and the Occupied Territories.
"Can we build security and build up the global 'immune system?'" she continued, "based on international law, human rights and respect for civil society?"
"There is official concern for civilians, but far more resources go to military strategies," she said. "With civilians in mind, we have to ask why this war should happen in the first place?"
"What is this war drawing away from other major issues like the war on AIDS?" she asked, and: "Can we bring the voices of our partners in the region to bear back here in the U.S.?"
Voices are being raised in the region and by church leaders and other church aid agencies. Middle Eastern Christians urge churches in the West to tell their governments to make "a sustained and determined diplomatic and political effort that engages the Iraqi government and re-empowers the Iraqi people," the Middle East Council of Churches says in a statement.
"[S]tand unequivocally for peace," says The Rev. Mark Hanson, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. "We extend our prayers for peace to all who must decide and to all who are affected, here, in the Persian Gulf region and around the world." A current statement from Hanson urges the U.S. to work through the United Nations to control Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The American Friends Service Committee, a counterpart of LWR, calls "preemptive strikes by nations that feel threatened by others. . . a terrible precedent [that] would undermine international law and the U.N. charter and could lead to a tremendous increase in wars and violence in the future."
LWR has helped vulnerable Iraqi citizens during the past decade of sanctions and during the last Gulf war. LWR has worked in the Middle East for more than 50 years.
LWR TO RECEIVE WITTENBERG AWARD
Baltimore, October 22, 2002 -- Lutheran World Relief is to receive The Luther Institute's annual Wittenberg Award for "distinguished service to church and society."
"This is an award not to one or two people, but to the hundreds and thousands of people who are Lutheran World Relief," said Dr. Edgar Schick, the Institute's president. "LWR has been such a significant influence for good around the globe because so many have contributed and so many have benefited." The award will be made November 9, 2002, in Washington, D.C.
Honorees this year also include Dr. Arthur Simon, founder of Bread for the World; Dr. Joachim Gauck, a pastor and leader in the reunification of Germany; and General John Vessey, a leader in strengthening the education work of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
LWR is only the second organization to receive the Wittenberg Award. Three LWR board members are past recipients: the current chairperson Betty Duda, in 1991; a former chairperson, Dr. Robert Marshall, in 1992; and current member, Rev. April Larson, in 1998. The Luther Institute is an inter-Lutheran center for education and research.
GRASSROOTS TRAINING TO EQUIP MIDWEST ADVOCATES FOR COLOMBIA
Baltimore, October 22, 2002 -- Lutheran World Relief is holding training sessions in the Midwest to mobilize people to advocate for peace in Colombia. The training, in early November in Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota, is part of the LWR campaign 'Voices for Peace in Columbia.'
"The meetings are to put people in touch with each other, identify local leaders working for justice in Colombia and give them training to move forward," said Kirsten Anderson, LWR's outreach organizer for the campaign.
Participants will be equipped to teach others and to help colleges, seminaries, city councils and service organizations take up the issue, bringing it to wider attention locally and nationally, Anderson said.
Sioux Falls Lutheran parishioner Delaine Shay is one of the people planning to take part. "I am really looking forward to putting my faith in action with [this] advocacy network. My heart goes out to all the Colombians affected by the war," she said.
The long-term goal of the LWR campaign is to shift U.S. policy toward just and peaceful solutions for the people of Colombia. Current U.S. policy is exacerbating Columbia's violence and suffering as a result of intensified counter-insurgency and anti-drug measures, LWR partner organizations there report. Aid to Colombia will be debated in the next few weeks as Congress deals with a backlog of legislation.
To learn more about the training and about peace making for Colombia, click here to visit www.lwr.org/advocacy/colombia.
