HOTLINE - week of March 17, 2008

Two and a half months since the upheaval that followed Kenya's December 27 disputed presidential elections began, nearly half a million Kenyans are displaced.

Molo, Kenya, is now home to 25,000 people displaced by the continuing violence and instability, with new arrivals every day fleeing from the surrounding areas.

One woman, Rebecca Munyangi, left her home in the village of Mushorui when an armed gang showed up at her house in January. Eight months pregnant, she was forced to flee with her family to find refuge at the internally displaced person camp in Molo. On February 9, she was rushed from the camp to Molo General Hospital, where she gave birth to a daughter, Merren.

"The life for children here in the camps is very difficult," says Munyangi.

Camp inhabitants are uncertain of the future. "Parents in the camps have nowhere to go and nothing upon which to build dreams for their children," says Micah McCoy, of the CWS East Africa office. "Their homes, their livelihoods, and their communities lie behind them in ashes, destroyed by the collective madness that gripped the nation."

"How can I plan for the future?" asks Munyangi as she cradles her infant. "I can't even guess at what our future holds…."

Church World Service is working in coalition--particularly through partners the Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church and the National Council of churches of Kenya--to provide food, water, and sanitation supplies, tents and plastic sheeting, blankets and mattresses, supplementary feeding for children and elderly people, support for economic recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, and psychosocial care for some of the most traumatized among those uprooted in the violence.

As World Water Day approaches (March 22), Church World Service continues its commitment to helping communities gain and manage water resources.

In two parts of the West Bank, for example, some of the most vulnerable families are taking part in a Church World Service-supported water cistern construction program. With lines drawn between Israeli and Palestinian areas, some have lost access to water resources they used to depend on.

CWS partner Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches is helping families to overcome water shortages and unsafe water year-round by helping to build water cisterns that can store large amounts of water from seasonal rains for family use.

The project is also generating employment for skilled and unskilled laborers who help to construct the cisterns.

"Please make CWS Emergency Clean-up Buckets," says Bonnie Vollmering, Associate Director for Domestic Response of the CWS Emergency Response Program.

"After an active early winter (southern tornadoes and Midwest floods), we have very fiew CWS Emergency Clean-up Buckets on hand at our New Windsor warehouse," reports Vollmering. "What makes this even more dire is timing: After record snowfalls across the upper Midwest and northeast, March thawing will likely cause flooding soon. We ask you to spread the word of this need."

CWS Kits--Emergency Clean-up Buckets, School Kits, Hygiene Kits, and Baby Kits--make a great service project for church groups, Scout troops, anyone. For more information and Kit contents, visit www.churchworldservice.org/Kits, or call your regional office at 888-297-2767.

A weekend outbreak of severe storms has left at least two people dead and millions of dollars in damages across Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. Downtown Atlanta experienced significant damage. Church World Service is in contact with faith-based and other disaster response partners to assure assistance to vulnerable communities affected by the storms.

Only one out of 700 homes in Fernley, Nevada, damaged or destroyed by a Jan. 6 levee break and subsequent flood has insurance to pay for flood damage. A mix of city, state and federal officials has joined Fernley's faith community and local social service agencies to form a long-term recovery committee. Church World Service Emergency Response Specialist Heriberto Martinez will provide training to the Fernley Long-Term Recovery Team in early April--training designed for a community devastated by a rare flood in an arid climate.

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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