HOTLINE - week of July 18, 2005

Ten years after the massacre of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica – the worst atrocity of the conflict in Bosnia – many uprooted and traumatized Bosnian families are continuing their long struggle of recovery. CWS is providing assistance to some of these families.

For example, some 300 returnees in the towns of Gosansko Grahovo, Drvar, and Glamoc, are taking part in CWS-supported shelter reconstruction and income generation projects. Most recently, in Drvar, several multi-family housing units and single family prefabricated units were finished. Says Teo Jakic, CWS Project Manager, "These families have, with great excitement, moved into their completed homes." The project supports business development and job creation in the communities by providing credit to low-income people.

In rural southeast Bosnia, CWS has provided rototillers to ten minority returnee families to help them cultivate their gardens. The families are repaying the cost of the tillers through cash and in-kind donations from the produce they grow.

In Vukovsko and Ravno villages, in south-central Bosnia, CWS is helping 60 returnee families to re-establish their farming livelihoods by providing them with sheep or agricultural tools for food and income generation. The families receiving sheep will pay back their gift by passing along offspring to other families in need.

In Canton Sarajevo and Republica Srpska, 15 returnee families are developing small business projects. Each family is expected to employ one to two people, providing jobs for at least 15 people who are not family members. The small business owners repay loans to the local partners, making possible investment in new projects.

Since 1993, CWS has worked with vulnerable people -- displaced families, returnees, and the elderly -- throughout the Balkans, providing relief, reintegration assistance, and development programs. CWS continues to provide material resources, seeds, small tools, machinery, and fruit trees, micro-enterprise support, and income-generation loans to families in Bosnia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

"Dear Sudan," a community-based interfaith movement to help alleviate the suffering of people uprooted by violence in Darfur, western Sudan, is expanding nationwide. "It's an interfaith effort in each community, religious organizations lead the way," says TIm Nonn, founder of the grassroots campaign, which is channeling contributions to Church World Service.

This past weekend faith communities across the nation sponsored three days of prayer and reflection, marking one year since Congress declared violence against people in Darfur to be genocide. Church World Service is endorsing and supporting the “Dear Sudan” campaign to raise awareness and funds to end the suffering. Contributions may be sent to Church World Service, attention "Dear Sudan." A "Dear Sudan" website is expected to be launched Monday, July 18, says Nonn.

CWS is helping to provide reconstruction assistance, seeds, agricultural tools, household and other supplies for Sudanese families returning to their homes who have been affected by the north-south conflict, as well as shelter materials, cooking utensils, soap, medical supplies, and other items for those whose lives have been uprooted by violence in Darfur.

On July 10, Hurricane Dennis drenched U.S. Gulf coastal areas – the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama in particular. Dennis dumped heavy rains over parts of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. The hurricane also caused extensive damage in the Caribbean – particularly in parts of Haiti and Cuba.

In cooperation with emergency management groups, the faith community, and social service groups, CWS is working to identify families in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia who need temporary housing and other emergency assistance – as well as those who may also require long-term recovery assistance.

CWS is planning at least three Interfaith Trauma Response Training "Care for the Caregiver" resource seminars -- two in Florida and one in Alabama. CWS will also provide emergency seed grants to support long-term recovery efforts by local organizations, and is readying "Gift of the Heart" Kits and CWS Blankets for shipment, if requested by local partners.

CWS is seeking funds to assist with emergency needs in areas affected by Hurricane Dennis.

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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