HOTLINE - week of October 16, 2006

On October 16, World Food Day focuses attention on the problem of world hunger and possible solutions. Church World Service is working year-round to help people find solutions to their own food insecurity and improve the quality of their lives.

For example, in Senegal, 120 women in three garden groups are improving their agricultural production and learning how to better manage natural resources, with the help of CWS and partner the Senegalese Association for Research, Study and Aid for Development.

The women are using technical and material support (fencing and drip irrigation systems) to establish three five-acre drip-irrigated garden plots for year-round cultivation of vegetables and fruit trees for household use and sale. They are also gaining skills in literacy, organizational and small business management, and bookkeeping.

Through CWS-supported micro-credit initiatives in places as diverse as Haiti, Pakistan, and Kenya, women and men are starting their own businesses and earning much-needed income for their families.

In Kenya, some 300 women are forming micro-credit loan groups that also include a savings program. They are developing businesses that provide for themselves and their families, enabling them to pay their children’s school fees.

In Haiti, more than 6,500 people are taking part in two cooperative projects that include micro-credit opportunities, literacy, food and livestock production, water resource development, and vocational training.

In Pakistan, 175 borrowers from 35 savings and credit groups are starting small businesses, with the help of CWS partner Lower Sindh Rural Development Association. Through the program, participants are also learning record-keeping and marketing.

Millions of Afghans--still struggling with war, conflict, and political instability--are facing food shortages due to harvest failure caused by too little rain last winter and spring. Some 2.5 million people are at risk--mainly in the northern, western, and central regions of the country. These are some of the 6.5 million people--out of a total Afghan population of 30 million--who are chronically or “seasonally food insecure.”

Water sources are drying up, and because of lack of fodder, livestock are dying. Families with no food reserves are migrating to other places for work.

CWS and partners are developing plans to provide water, cash-for-work projects, and fodder for livestock, as well as livelihood and psychosocial support, in seven provinces. Plans are also underway to create community assets, such as water reservoirs and dams, to minimize the impact of future drought in these areas.

CWS has provided 5,000 lightweight blankets for families living in trailers because their homes are not yet rebuilt or repaired following the 2005 Gulf hurricanes. The blankets are being distributed by the Mississippi Presbytery, which includes the lower two-thirds of the state.

CWS met this month with agencies in New Orleans regarding environmental recovery issues. The groups are doing soil testing for lead and arsenic in family yards, establishing a law clinic, and helping focus activity on toxicity and landfill issues that affect the rebuilding of Louisiana communities.

For more on CWS’s continuing response to Hurricane Katrina, visit www.churchworldservice.org/news/katrina.

CWS is providing 7,750 blankets and 1,035 CWS Health Kits to Zimbabwean partner Christian Care, to assist in responding to Zimbabwe's ongoing humanitarian needs.

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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