HOTLINE - week of October 31, 2005

CWS reports it is expanding the tent village in Bisyan, North West Frontier Province, Pakistan, to provide shelter and medical services for 2,450 of the quake's most vulnerable survivors. The Church of Pakistan will provide medical services within the camp.

The emergency shelter village is part of accelerated efforts by CWS and others are now racing against time to rescue and bring aid to some 800,000 people still homeless before winter's killing onslaught descends in the next couple of weeks in the remote Himalayan area.

In the tent village, Church World Service is noticing a sad trend: Many children are showing up with no elders to support them.

Evidence of children orphaned by the disaster or separated from their families is evoking concerns for a traumatized generation. And lack of skilled emergency medical and surgical expertise is causing another layer of trauma.

"Everywhere, the children's eyes are breaking our hearts," says Marvin Parvez, CWS/Pakistan-Afghanistan director. Most have lost at least a father or a mother. There is no clear figure as to how many children are displaced."

In addition to emergency relief, CWS is beginning to put pieces in place to provide psychosocial services for quake survivors, especially the children.

Church World Service is airdropping aid to Allai-Battagram, an area inaccessible by road and devastated by the October 8 South Asia earthquake, with the help of Pakistan Army helicopters.

"Even though we have very little food and the water is dirty, we do manage," said Fazi Akbar, from North West Frontier Province, to CWS aid teams. "What we need are tents. Without tents and blankets, we will freeze to death." Akbar is headmaster of a small school completely destroyed in the earthquake.

CWS is expected to assist in quake recovery in Pakistan for five to eight years.

Hurricane-battered parts of Florida are beginning to clean up from Hurricane Wilma, which killed 10, caused extensive property damage and left millions of people without electricity. Wilma also brought intense rains and winds to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula and Cuba, and killed several people in Haiti and Jamaica. CWS is working with the faith community in Florida to assess needs of the most vulnerable families affected by Hurricane Wilma.

CWS continues to assist people recovering from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Most communities in Malawi lack access to clean, drinkable water. CWS is helping to address the problem through our partner, the Christian Service Committee (CSC), by providing water for about 2,500 people in ten villages.

Lack of access to clean water within a reasonable distance, compounded by poor sanitation and hygiene practices in Malawi’s rural villages, causes frequent disease outbreaks, poor school attendance by girls, food insecurity, poor nutrition among children and HIV/AIDS-affected persons, and decreased productivity.

Women and girls benefit most by having wells close at hand, because it is generally their responsibility to fetch water for home use. And often they have to walk long distances to do it, or they have to dig deep into river beds during the dry season to collect whatever water they can from a sinking water table.

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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