HOTLINE - week of July 11, 2005

CWS calls on all people of goodwill to join together in prayer for peace and healing in the wake of the terrorist attacks in London.

“We thank God for this opportunity to build a new Sudan free from the suffering which war has for so long inflicted on the Sudanese people,” say church leaders of the Church in Sudan. Meeting in early July in Mukono, Uganda, under the theme Building Peace in Sudan through United Church Leadership, Sudanese church leaders gave thanks for the January north-south peace agreement, but see “continued suffering in Darfur (western Sudan)” and other areas in south Sudan.

The church leaders, including representatives from CWS partners the Sudan Council of Churches and the New Sudan Council of Churches, are asking for a sustained peace, good governance for all Sudanese, unity within Sudanese society, and reconciliation between all peoples in Sudan.

In the meantime, CWS continues to assist partners responding to human need in Sudan.

In the past two weeks in Darfur, a region wracked by violence against villagers, CWS partners have delivered more than 139 tons of supplies, in an attempt to beat the rainy season. In this latest push, more than 40,000 families have received a plastic sheet, three plastic mats, one mosquito net, two blankets (including CWS Blankets), one cooking set, two jerry cans, and ten pieces of soap. Additional medical supplies, mosquito nets, and other items are expected shortly.

In south Sudan, CWS is helping to provide reconstruction assistance, seeds and agricultural tools, household items, mosquito nets, and health, education, water, and sanitation assistance for some 20,000 families (about 100,000 people) in parts of Southern Blue Nile, Western Equatoria, Bor County in Upper Nile, and northern Bahr el Ghazal.

In the government-controlled areas of Juba, Wau, Malakal, and Kostier south, partners plan to provide a sleeping mat, plastic sheet, two blankets, mosquito nets, pots, plates, washing and toilet soap for 1,500 internally displaced and refugee families (about 7,500 people), and will help strengthen livelihoods, with some receiving fishing equipment.

Continuous rain since the last week of June is causing serious flooding in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh states. Nearly 550,000 people have had to evacuate their homes.

In response, CWS is supporting the efforts of long-time partner Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action to assist some 15,000 families. Assistance includes cooked food and drinking water, as well as cooking oil and dry rations – rice, lentils, salt, sugar, and ground nuts – plastic sheeting for temporary shelters, clothing, utensils, blankets, candles, and matches.

CWS is urgently seeking funds to assist flood-affected families in India.

Heavy rains and melting snow have caused severe flooding in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, affecting thousands of families, destroying homes, killing livestock, and laying waste low-lying cropland. The floods are having a devastating effect on people who are already food insecure.

CWS is responding in the affected districts of Badakhshan province in Afghanistan and the North West Frontier province and Punjab and Sindh provinces in Pakistan. The goal is to provide shelter kits (one tent, one plastic tarp, and one ground sheet) to 5,500 families – some 38,500 persons. Most of these families will also receive food packages containing flour, cooking oil, beans, rice, sugar, tea, and iodized salt, as well as medicines.

CWS is seeking funds to provide emergency aid to families affected by flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Recovery efforts are under way in the aftermath of Hurricane Dennis, the weekend storm that affected Cuba, Haiti, other portions of the Caribbean, and the southeastern U.S. The storm caused extensive damage in Cuba, damaged homes and crops in Haiti, particularly in the southern coastal regions, and drenched U.S. Gulf coastal areas – the Florida Panhandle and Alabama in particular.

CWS is in contact with partners in Cuba and Haiti about potential responses. In the U.S., CWS is preparing to work with interfaith groups in their relief and recovery efforts.

CWS partner, the Foundation for Popular Health Education, is promoting the participation of low-income people in El Bosque and San Ramon communities, in Santiago, in improving their health and developing better health strategies. Adults and adolescents – particularly women – in these communities are learning how to recognize and prevent their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and other health problems, and how they can become empowered to improve their health and the health of others through education. As they learn more about the issues and their own resources, it is expected that they will begin to advocate politically for health as a human right.

Your prayers and support - and your participation in CROP WALKS and the TOOLS & BLANKETS Program - make possible these and other life sustaining programs. For information on how to get involved, please call your Church World Service/CROP Regional Office toll-free at 1-888-CWS-CROP, that's 1-888-297-2767.

For information about free loan videos, please call 1-800-297-1516, ext. 338, or e-mail us at: videos@churchworldservice.org.

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