HOTLINE - week of April 10, 2006

"If nothing comes, we can do nothing. We will just wait and sit and die," says Suku Deda, mother of ten children, who lives in Sabant Village, southern Ethiopia. Most of her cattle have died in the drought that grips the region. Without cattle, the family has no food and no source of income.

Deda and the other women in the community had established a successful cooperative, which allowed them to support small businesses (selling milk and cheese) and access credit. Now that all of their cattle have died, these businesses have collapsed, and the cooperative is in ruin. Suku Deda and the community are now forced to wait for help.

More than 2.5 million people like Deda and her family are in need of emergency food aid and agricultural assistance in Ethiopia because of a protracted drought, made worse by erratic rainfall during the 2005 growing season, and exacerbated by soil erosion, lack of infrastructure, and years of economic decline. The worst drought conditions exist in the southern part of the country that borders Kenya and Somalia. Food shortages and loss of livestock are expected to become increasingly more critical in the coming months.

CWS is seeking funds to support partner efforts to provide food relief, seeds and tools, water, livestock feed, and capacity building in 16 districts, in Afar, Amhara, Oromiya, and SNNP (Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples) regions.

A super-cell of storms, packing tornadoes and softball-sized hail, roared through eight states on the night of April 2, leaving 28 dead--24 in northwestern Tennessee and four in Missouri. More than 80 people were injured. Ten people were killed by an earlier band of tornadoes that struck Missouri and other states in March.

In this recent wave of storms, western Tennessee was hardest hit, with more than 1,000 homes destroyed.

Missouri counties, including St. Louis, Stoddard, and Pemiscot, were hard hit. Some 42 homes were reported destroyed in Caruthersville. Tornadoes destroyed nearly 400 homes in the southwestern part of the state earlier in March, and caused further damage in northwestern counties on March 30. Communities in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas, Ohio, and Kentucky were also affected by the April 2 storms.

CWS is providing 2,000 CWS Blankets to assist families affected by the April 2 tornadoes in the Caruthersville, MO, and Dyersburg, TN, areas.

CWS continues to assist recovery efforts in the southwestern counties of Missouri in response to the mid-March tornadoes.

CWS is also gathering information from faith-community disaster response contacts and other voluntary organization officials in most recently affected areas, and will assist with long-term recovery as appropriate.

On March 18, CWS representatives met with Louisiana environmentalists to discuss solutions to some of the environmental, health, and safety issues facing residents, volunteers, and day laborers in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Educational materials will be distributed to long-term recovery organizations and volunteers later this month, and an environmental summit will be held on May 2 for local Louisiana leadership and others.

Support for recovery efforts is needed.

Some 570 Mayan indigenous families--about 2,850 people--in 20 rural communities in Totonicapan, western Guatemala, are taking part in a CWS-supported project to improve their food security--and their lives.

The families are increasing and diversifying the foods that they grow using innovative patio garden techniques, including the use of greenhouses. They also are learning to better manage soil, water, and the environment in general. For example, they are managing water use via catchment and drip irrigation systems. By being part of an organization, the families are able to market their surplus produce more efficiently, and they are participating more actively in their communities’ struggle for just and equitable development.

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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