HOTLINE - week of December 10, 2007

"Since the cyclone struck… I have been working day and night to help the people in my village," says Jahanra Aktar. Cyclone Sidr devastated the southern coast of Bangladesh last month and Church World Service is supporting partner efforts to provide assistance to the most vulnerable families. As a member of the Sadar Union Council, Aktar is helping distribute emergency items provided by long-time CWS partner Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB).

Aktar says that the greatest needs include clean water, new houses, and blankets, adding that people in her district have lost their agricultural and fishing jobs.

"Trees fell down on our home so now we are living without a roof," adds Aktar. "I hope we will be able to build a new roof soon, because there are many mosquitoes at night and it is also getting colder."

CWS is supporting the efforts of CCDB to provide food for the most vulnerable families, and Aktar's family is among those who have received a food package and other emergency assistance from CCDB.

Contributions for cyclone-related needs in Bangladesh are urgently needed.

Conflict has displaced millions within Afghanistan and to nearby Pakistan. Among the uprooted, infant and mother mortality rates have risen dramatically.

"The high maternal and infant mortality rates," says Jennifer Wilson, CWS Program Officer, Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons Program, "are widely attributed… to the lack of access to health care and, more specifically, to a shortage of culturally appropriate female medical professionals who can provide services viewed as acceptable."

Thanks in part to a CWS health project, in certain provinces infant and maternal mortality rates have dropped recently. The CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan Community Health Project deploys female doctors to health clinics in culturally sensitive regions, delivering health care training for community health workers, and engaging the community in health care awareness and support. The health program also assists Afghans displaced by the 2005 earthquake.

More than 250,000 Afghans are benefiting from the CWS health project, part of the Church World Service Durable Solutions for Displaced Persons program offering services to long-term forcibly displaced people around the world. The CWS health program has operated in Afghanistan since 1997 and in Pakistan since 1979.

As part of its commitment to assisting children and promoting children's rights and welfare, CWS provided core support for a delegation from partner the Washington Office on Latin America to attend a meeting in Honduras and El Salvador, where they discussed youth development and innovative ways to prevent youth gang violence in Central America. The delegation shared examples of successful U.S.-based programs to assist young people, and worked to forge ties among U.S.-based and Central American groups.

CWS is observing Human Rights Day, December 10, and year-round through programs and partner initiatives.

Tens of thousands of families have been affected by flooding from a massive rainstorm off the Pacific Ocean that hit Washington and Oregon. Church World Service is in contact with Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) organizations in both states, and stands ready to provide material resources for vulnerable communities, as well as training for leaders of emerging recovery organizations.

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.

Back to top