NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
November 21, 2002
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
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Three Years After Super-Cyclone, Villages Have Shelters That Double as Schools, and More
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In a Parched Zimbabwe Village, Almost Every Family is in Need
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Ohio Seminary Student Who Knows What AIDS Means Wins LWR Study Visit Scholarship
THREE YEARS AFTER SUPER-CYCLONE, VILLAGES HAVE SHELTERS THAT DOUBLE AS SCHOOLS, AND MORE
By Kathryn Wolford, LWR president. [Wolford recently led a team that examined 'best practices' in LWR-supported programs in India.]
Baltimore, November 21, 2002 -- Three years ago this month, a 'super-cyclone' shattered lives and livelihoods of 12 million people on the eastern coast of India. Today local communities are back on their feet with storm shelters that double as schools, better ways to save each other from future disasters, and more.
Lutheran World Relief's local partner in this transformation of a tragedy is the Churches' Auxiliary for Social Action, or CASA. With help from U.S. Lutheran and other churches, CASA responded immediately to cyclone in 382 villages, providing food, cooking utensils, blankets, tarpaulins, medicines and lanterns. After a three-month emergency phase, CASA shifted into efforts to help people rebuild homes and recover livelihoods.
Through 'food for work' projects, community members received basic foodstuffs while working to repair homes, roads and water canals for irrigation. Such projects respect the dignity and initiative of local people in rebuilding their assets while also avoiding undue dependency on outside relief aid.
Wells constructed on raised platforms - for flood protection - now provide clean drinking water. Likewise, raised shelters will keep people safe from floods and are built to resist cyclonic winds. Just as important, the shelters provide much improved school classrooms for year-round use. As one villager put it, "This new school is a blessing where tragedy once reigned."
Today, three years after the cyclone, the focus is on education and training so that when other disasters strike, communities will be able to minimize the loss of life and mobilize local resources. This is crucial because in major emergencies it may be days before outside rescue teams and supplies reach remote villages. While the training focuses on disaster preparedness, it is clear that the organizational and leadership skills that are developed will serve the community in many other activities as well.
Disaster preparedness and reducing the vulnerability of poor communities in times of disaster are a centerpiece of LWR's strategy for the next five years.
In the village of Ramchandrapur, Orissa, we met with community leaders and residents. The young people did a skit on how to mobilize the community when a cyclone is predicted. Then they led us through a simulation of what they would do in an emergency and of how they will save lives in a community that is ready to weather future storms. [Click here for photos of rescue drills and of shelters that double as schools.]
IN A PARCHED ZIMBABWE VILLAGE, ALMOST EVERY FAMILY IS IN NEED
By Rainer Lang, Action by Churches Together
Baseru, Zimbabwe, November 18, 2002 -- It is early in the morning and Jacob and Patricia Magarire and their ten-month-old baby still have five miles to go. They are heading toward Basera in order to get some food.
Hundreds of people have gathered in this village in Zimbabwe's Gutu province because a local aid organization, Christian Care of Zimbabwe, is registering villagers for food distribution. (Christian Care is a member of ACT, the global alliance of churches and agencies including Lutheran World Relief that work in the field of humanitarian relief.)
The distribution serves 40,000 people plus supplementary feeding for 13,500 children under five years old. People are registered according to their needs. "The level of poverty is the main criteria we use," says Courage Chirobe of Christian Care. "Also female or child-headed households are considered first." [Click here for photos from this story.]
First village leaders and then everyone is told that anyone who qualifies according to the needs assessment is entitled to food, regardless of political affiliation, gender or religion.
For the Magarire family and the hundreds of other villagers here, the hope of food now lies with Christian Care. The drought that has gripped this part of the country for months has wiped out jobs and harvests. "Nobody needs my services at the moment," says Jacob Magarire, a 29-year-old blacksmith. His family harvested nothing last year and all the maize, groundnuts and sorghum that he and his wife had planted on their piece of land was lost, he explains.
Anna Zindonga, who is also standing in the registration queue, did some dry planting the previous day. "I am just trying anything," says Anna, who has four children. Her husband works in the city of Bulawayo. During a good rainy seasons, she usually harvests two bags of maize, enough to see her through to the next season. Now she has to beg food from her neighbors.
Another couple, Sokai and Janet Shoko, say they have no more food. Until recently they could buy from the shops, "if there was anything", says Sokai. But now they have run out of money and have had nothing to eat for the last two days.
Christian Care's area manager, Joseph Goko, says that it has now become difficult to define the needy ones. "Almost every family here is in need of food," he says. "The only solution is food aid." Without rain, the food crisis in Zimbabwe will deteriorate rapidly, he says. Although the crisis is not as visible here as in countries like Ethiopia, he worries that it will be too late for many people when the world finally realizes the extent of the emergency.
"More funding," says Christian Care's Courage Chisobe, "would allow us to extend the number of people who will benefit from food relief." Food distribution started here in early November.
OHIO SEMINARY STUDENT WHO KNOWS WHAT AIDS MEANS WINS LWR STUDY VISIT SCHOLARSHIP
Baltimore, November 21, 2002 -- Sabine Schulz Lamar, a student at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, is the winner of a Lutheran World Relief Study Visit Scholarship for seminary students. She will join a LWR study visit to Kenya and Uganda early next year.
The 19-member group will visit communities in urban slums and rural areas. They will learn from people working to prevent H.I.V./AIDS and providing care for people living with the epidemic. They will also meet innovative and successful local farmers whom LWR supports.
In her application Lamar wrote: "I did not know where the journey was taking me beyond 'doing the right thing' for someone in need - until the day my sister cried in gratitude, for holding her, touching her like a 'normal' person (even) though she had just disclosed her diagnosis of AIDS to me."
"Jesus compels us to do justice because God is just. Jesus brought justice not for the sake of the law, but out of compassion for humankind."
The trip will be Lamar's first trip to Africa. The seminary scholarships, made available by an anonymous LWR donor, provide $2,300 per recipient. Lamar will cover the balance of her travel costs. Her home congregation is Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.
A web diary of the trip will appear on LWR's website, starting January 26, 2003, or shortly thereafter.
