HOTLINE - week of June 05, 2006

Church World Service is working to respond to the needs of more than 16,000 households in the wake of the May 27 quake that hit central Java.

Some 80 to 98 percent of houses are damaged and hundreds of people injured in each affected village visited, reports the mobile medical teams of CWS partner Yakkum Emergency Unit. Shelter and latrines or other sanitation facilities, and food and essential non-food items are badly needed.

CWS, with local Indonesian partners, is distributing bottled water, food items, Health and Baby Kits, family tents, and CWS Blankets. On day one, CWS helped provide water and blankets for Bethesda Hospital, where many quake survivors are being treated.

"Indonesia is still recovering from tsunami devastation," says Donna Derr, Director of CWS Emergency Response. "Our hearts are with those affected by the latest earthquake in Java and those who may have lost loved ones."

A CWS Indonesia psychosocial support team will be working with affected people who are afraid to live in their homes (if undamaged), shocked by loud noises, and having trouble sleeping.

Your contributions to assist Indonesia Earthquake Recovery (Acct. # 6980) are urgently needed. Please give through your local church or directly to Church World Service, POB 968, Elkhart, IN 46515, 800-297-1516, or make a donation online.

With support from CWS, more than 300 Burundian youth living in refugee camps in Tanzania, East Africa, are learning a trade--tailoring, motor vehicle mechanics, carpentry and joinery, masonry and bricklaying, electrical installation and wiring, secretarial skills, and computer/internet training.

CWS also supports secondary school education in the camps. Some 360 refugee girls and boys are enrolled this year at Kibogora Secondary School, the first of its kind in Tanzania’s Kibondo Region, where Burundian refugee children study alongside their Tanzanian hosts. Post-primary education is rarely available to refugees.

In Renmu, Guizhou province, south central China, some 1,054 ethnic minority villagers and 228 head of livestock are gaining access to clean water, with the help of CWS and its partner, the Amity Foundation.

The area is mountainous and dry, and suffers frequent droughts. This project is part of an overall Amity water program to bring clean, safe water, and sustainable integrated water resource management systems to communities.

The project will save the Renmu village women from walking long distances to fetch water, and help to increase garden yields--and incomes--through irrigation.

The villagers are providing labor for the project, which includes constructing 100 individual water cellars, a 33-square-meter rain catchment facility, four cisterns (large water cellars), and 100 filter ponds.

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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