HOTLINE - week of September 24, 2007

In the aftermath of recent quakes affecting part of the island of Sumatra this past week, Church World Service Indonesia conducted rapid assessment of home damages in five quake-affected subdistricts. Survivors are constructing temporary shelters near their homes or what is left of them, using debris and wood from rubble.

From supplies pre-positioned on Sumatra, Church World Service Indonesia has provided more than 1,000 tarps, ground mats, and ropes to help meet emergency shelter needs. CWS Indonesia is now preparing a wider, coordinated response with partners in the region.

Earlier this month, Church World Service distributed 1,675 roll-up mattresses to families still recovering from the severe February 2007 flooding that struck Jakarta, the Indonesian capital, located on the island of Java.

"With these mattresses …I can share a comfortable sleep with my baby," says Lilis, a pregnant woman with a toddler.

When storms struck Pakistan in late June 2007, Church World Service was among the first humanitarian organizations to respond to the flood situation. In the first week of July, CWS provided packages containing wheat, rice, cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, powdered milk, and salt, as well as matches, bath soap, and plastic sheets for temporary shelter to 250 households.

One woman, Marryam, who lives in the village of Pattani Kahoor, has been a widow for the last 18 years and lost her entire house to the floods. She is responsible for supporting her son, daughter, and five grandchildren, and had been earning a living by selling snacks and peanuts throughout her village.

Since the floods, her small business is struggling to provide for her family's day-to-day needs. "Due to the shortage, food items are very expensive. Now I am in debt to the broker from whom I purchase goods, and the profit is not as good as it was before the flood," she explains. "But as a result of this food package (provided by CWS), my family can eat for a month at least."

Church World Service is working in partnership to provide a larger post-crisis response for over 20,000 of the most severely-affected households in Gadap Town and Thatta district, in Sindh Province, and the Turbat district, in Balochistan Province.

Assistance includes water and sanitation, primary healthcare and hygiene promotion, shelter, and psychosocial support. Special focus is on particularly vulnerable families, widows, children, and the elderly who are without food and need assistance.

Plagued by inadequate water for agricultural and domestic use, the community of Bagaria--some 10,500 people in about 1,750 households--is constructing water kiosks (attendant-staffed water distribution points) and laying water distribution lines from two deep borehole wells, with the help of the Church World Service "Water for All" program and local partner Farming Systems Kenya.

Bagaria is located in Kenya's Rift Valley. Families from several other neighboring communities are also expected to avail themselves of the new water resource, meaning that some 20,000 people may benefit from the project overall.

The main sources for water for Bagaria are boreholes that are more than four miles away. The water kiosks and distribution lines are reducing the distance women and children will have to travel to fetch water, leaving more time for the women to perform household and income-generating tasks and for the children to do their studies.

Through the project, community members are also learning about project management, leadership, sanitation and hygiene, environmental conservation, and watershed protection. And, they are undertaking a community-wide reforestation project.

On Sept. 20, more than 10,000 demonstrators from across the U.S. traveled to Jena, Louisiana, to protest the unjust treatment of six young African-American men--high school students, arrested and initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white schoolmate. White classmates also involved in the incidents that led to the charges have not been prosecuted.

"We stand with the Jena 6 and with a call for a just and appropriate legal decision in this matter," says Church World Service Executive Director John L. McCullough, "because we cannot stand racism, bigotry or injustice. We call on people across the nation and around the world to stand with us as we raise our voices as one in a mighty chorus of protest over injustice wherever it exists."

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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