HOTLINE - week of July 10, 2006

Six weeks after the May 27 earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java, CWS relief and recovery efforts are helping families to regain a sense of normalcy.

Since the quake hit, CWS has helped provide assistance to thousands of households by distributing food, water, family tents, hygiene kits, CWS Health and Baby Kits, and CWS Blankets.

CWS and partners continue to provide medical care through mobile clinics, treating patients until local hospitals are operating normally. Milk for both pregnant mothers and the elderly is being provided as well.

The CWS psychosocial team is working in 26 hamlets in the Bantul and Sleman districts, areas hard hit by the quake, providing counseling and conducting assessments to determine the need for more intensive psychosocial assistance among survivors.

In areas of Indonesia still recovering from the December 2004 tsunami, CWS continues to help families regain their livelihoods. Sudiman, 40, and his wife, Ida, 27, lost their two children to the destruction of the waves. With CWS help, both are working to regain their independence and return to work.

"We are working for our future now," says Sudiman. "I got my job back as a fish vendor, and my wife returned to work as an embroiderer." Continues Ida, "I can finish one embroidery product, like an umbrella, in one week... Besides getting some money, selling also helps me not to linger too long on the loss of my two children."

Sudiman and Ida, who is now pregnant, are members of a CWS-supported group of fish vendors which Sudiman leads. The group calls itself Bacut-bacut, which means "little by little." The 14 members work together to save their earnings and ensure they don't compete with each other for market share. With the funds they have been able to save, Sudiman and Ida look forward to moving back to their home village after the birth of their baby, and settling into a new house now under construction.

Your support is needed.

"Ecumenical bodies have a right to determine their partners and to relate internationally," states CWS Executive Director and CEO John L. McCullough, decrying proposed U.S. governmental recommendations that threaten CWS's ability to provide basic relief aid to the people of Cuba.

McCullough continues, "CWS would view any resulting regulations as unwarranted incursions into religious freedom." You can join in the Speak Out Against the Curtailment of Humanitarian Aid to Cuba, by contacting President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Urge them to respect religious freedom by not putting an embargo on aid to vulnerable Cuban children, women, and men through the Cuban Council of Churches. Use the Speak Out online advocacy tools.

Delegates from more than 20 African nations will come together with U.S. faith leaders, advocates, and policymakers on July 19-21 for the first-ever Interfaith Summit on Africa. The event, coordinated by CWS, will take place in Washington, D.C. African and U.S. leaders will address key issues including small arms trafficking; malaria and HIV/AIDS; durable solutions for the continent's thousands of displaced people; sustainable economic development; interfaith alliances; and the impact of faith voices in government policymaking.

For more information on the Summit, including an agenda and participants, please the Africa Summit webpage.

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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