HOTLINE - week of January 14, 2008

In the Darfur region, violence and atrocities have uprooted 2.2 million people in a crisis that is entering its sixth year. A joint United Nations/African Union force for Darfur begins work this year in an attempt to quell the violence and establish the conditions for a return to peace.

Since the outbreak of the violence, the CWS-supported coalition has assisted hundreds of thousands of uprooted people: water and sanitation (233,886 direct beneficiaries); health and nutrition (272,520); emergency preparedness and response (150,000); protection, psychosocial, and peacebuilding (82,295); agriculture (8,250); and school support (27,240).

High priorities for 2008: Train staff in local strategies for peacebuilding; further develop the capacity of Sudanese partners to manage the program; increase awareness and prevention of HIV/AIDS; increase the role of women; empower local communities, which is essential for sustainable development, operation, and maintenance of all program activities; and increase awareness of local environmental concerns. Due to deforestation, one of the agricultural activities involves planting 80,000 trees in and around the camps.

Church World Service is supporting a joint emergency operation of the Action by Churches Together International alliance and the Caritas Internationalis Confederation, which has become one of the largest humanitarian programs in South and West Darfur.

Make a donation to this appeal.

Since Jan. 2, Church World Service has been helping to provide emergency assistance to families severely affected by the post-election violence in Kenya.

"People are... traumatized, people are displaced," says Dan Tyler, CWS East Africa Representative based in Nairobi. 'I believe that, to a large extent, people's anger and rage have tempered some, [though] underlying problems have yet to be resolved."

Overall, CWS is working in partnership to meet the urgent needs of some 42,400 people--with food assistance; some also with blankets, mattresses, and clothing; and some also with psychosocial care. The food assistance includes maize grains, flour, cooking oil, salt, beans, corn, potatoes, sugar, tea, powdered milk, vegetables, and rice.

More than 250,000 people have been displaced and some 500 people have died in the violence. Support for humanitarian efforts is urgently needed. To find out more, visit www.churchworldservice.org/news/Kenya/.

"I want to become a pediatrician when I grow up, so that I can help orphan children in my country," says 13-year-old Mariam. A studious 6th grader, she attends the CWS-supported Child Rehabilitation Center of Kabul in the afternoon shift. Mariam lost her father when she was quite young and now lives with her family of eight. Only one of her brothers is working and supporting the family.

Mariam says she gets to learn about useful and important things at the Child Rehabilitation Center, like land mine awareness, peace, children's rights, health and hygiene, etc. She is also learning to use a computer.

"The children's rehabilitation centers provide education and life skills programs, lunches, and health and hygiene training to the children," says CWS Emergency Response Director Donna Derr. "A goodly portion of the students are there because their families can't afford school uniforms and fees, so this is the only education they really have. For most of the children, the time spent at the center creates a place of comfort and safety in otherwise extremely difficult living situations."

Currently CWS Pakistan/Afghanistan, in collaboration with local partner Cooperation Center for Afghanistan, is running Child Rehabilitation Center programs in Kabul and Bamyan, each serving 200 students, ages seven to 14. The program was established in 2002 to assist traumatized and war-affected children.

For more on this story, read CWS children's rehabilitation centers in Afghanistan fan embers of hope

Storms brought severe flooding and incapacitating snows to parts of California and Nevada this past week. Unseasonable tornadoes and storm-caused flooding in parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin resulted in at least three deaths and some 392 damaged or destroyed homes. CWS is in contact with faith groups and state disaster agencies, and is ready to respond to any denominational or partner requests for material assistance.

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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