HOTLINE - week of December 03, 2007

Observing World AIDS Day on December 1, Church World Service is helping to raise awareness and take action against the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Where AIDS is widespread, families have been devastated, with children left to care for their younger siblings. CWS's "Giving Hope" project in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania is helping to provide children in some 8,500 youth-caregiver households affected by AIDS the skills to manage their own and their families' well-being, and to participate in the economic development of their communities.

In Tanzania, for example, 14-year-old Christa Byakuyunga lives with her twin sisters, Maria and Martha, age 17, and her 79-year-old aunt, Costanzia, in Kangabusharo village. The sisters' parents died of AIDS more than ten years ago. Martha is in form 4 at secondary school, and Maria works at home.

The girls' parents left them a very small plot of land, or shamba, which doesn't provide them with enough food or income. Through participation in the CWS-supported Giving Hope program and encouragement from her Giving Hope working group, Christa has started to sell dagaa (small sardine-like fish). She started this small business with the financial help of her working group members and CWS’s partner HUYAWA (Huduma ya Watoto, or Service for Children).

In East Jakarta, Indonesia, children living in a CWS-supported boarding home are producing clay pins featuring girls and boys with AIDS awareness ribbons. Funds from sales of the pins are being used to support HIV and AIDS education, vocational training, and counseling for vulnerable children. These handmade pins call out for action against AIDS and are a symbol of CWS efforts to halt this deadly pandemic. Visit http://www.churchworldservice.org/Educ_Advo/hiv/AIDSday07.html to donate, to learn more about CWS AIDS programs, and become a leader in the fight against AIDS.

With the help of CWS and partner Church's Auxiliary for Social Action, some 1,380 Dalit families living in Tamil Nadu state along the Indian coast will soon have permanent cyclone and earthquake-resistant homes to replace thatched huts that were damaged due to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

India--“We’re now living safely,” says R. Ramanujam--here with his wife--of the new home that replaced a rickety post-tsunami shelter that was destroyed by fire. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS

The majority of those affected by the tsunami are fisher-folk who lived close to the sea. Though the homes of the Dalits are farther from the sea and were not completely washed away, the Dalits do not own any land and have lost livelihoods working for daily wages in agriculture or fishing. And, the Dalits still have to pay landlords.

An entrenched social discrimination on the basis of gender, caste, and class has enabled property, land, and boat owners to receive more disaster compensation than the Dalits. Many have been left out of relief programs.

CWS is supporting CASA efforts to build new disaster-resistant homes for 1,380 Dalit families; three multi-purpose community centers that can be used as shelters during emergencies; three recreational parks; and to repair and reconstruct roads and gates. CASA is also purchasing land for those families who have no plot on which to place their new houses.

Contributions are needed to assist the tsunami-affected Dalit community in India.

An estimated 143,000 people have been affected by Tropical Storm Guba, which brought torrential rains, high tides, and severe flooding to Oro and Milne Bay provinces in the eastern part of the country. CWS is in contact with the Lutheran Church in the region to determine if a response is needed.

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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