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October 19, 2004
Get Involved: Study Guide Promotes Hunger Actions
On Sunday, October 24, ABC television affiliates will begin to air "Hunger No More," a documentary that shows how United Methodists and other faith groups participate in resolving the social and moral issues of hunger. UMCOR is one of the program's underwriters. Please urge your local ABC affiliate to broadcast it. Then watch and discuss this special program together as a congregation. A study guide is available online. The documentary is one initiative UMCOR is highlighting for United Methodist congregations. Another is a printable bulletin insert, "Multiplication: The Arithmetic of Sustainable Agriculture." See how a harvest of honey, the humble soybean, and a fast-growing tree contribute to UMCOR's sustainable agriculture program in impoverished areas of Africa. Finally, gifts of money assist with long-term solutions. Give generously to UMCOR Advance #982188, Sustainable Agriculture and Development, and UMCOR Advance #982920, World Hunger and Poverty.
Haiti: Storm Devastation Only One Issue in a Litany of Disasters
Last week, UMCOR workers assessed Haiti's storm-wracked northern region in preparation for potential aid initiatives there. David Sadoo, international field staff for the agency, described roads that have been "sheared off" by mudslides and covered with boulders. To reach the countryside north of Gonaïves, where 3,000 are dead or missing and feared dead, the UMCOR team passed damaged or flattened homes, forded rivers where bridges had collapsed, and observed destruction of the garden plots that, in better times, had provided a livelihood for Haitian families. In Gonaïves, once a thriving cotton-production center, Sadoo said that political violence combined with the desperation of hunger creates a volatile climate. The team spoke with representatives of the United Nations' World Food Program, who reported that ships with containers full of emergency food are waiting to be unloaded, but dock workers, fearing violence, are avoiding the ports. Focusing on the Gonaïves region, UMCOR is assisting ecumenical partners to clear debris, rehab schools, and provide fresh water. Any new UMCOR aid interventions are likely to target the underserved areas north and east of the city. Your prayers for the people of Haiti and your generous contributions to UMCOR Advance #982410, Hurricanes 2004, will assist in a meaningful way.
USA: UMCOR Continues Call for Flood Buckets as Cleanup Continues
Cleanup efforts continue in Florida and other regions thrashed by multiple hurricanes earlier this fall. UMCOR plans to conduct case management training in Florida at five sites in five days from November 8-12. Urgent: UMCOR needs more flood buckets, the supplies volunteers use to clean up post-hurricane debris and water. Specifications are online. Flood bucket assembly is a great hands-on mission project for your congregation or church school class. Also your gifts of money enable specially trained disaster workers to minister in hard-hit areas; provide direct assistance such as rent payments; and underwrite purchase of building supplies. UMCOR anticipates that recovery from these severe storms will take several years. Please give generously to UMCOR Advance #982410, Hurricanes 2004.
Sudan: Darfur "Unsafe" for Food Aid
Deteriorating security will affect 50,000 people as food aid programs suspend operations in parts of North Darfur, according to a BBC News report. Fresh violence has driven another 200,000 people from their homes, adding to the 1.4 million already homeless. Along with the international alliance of faith-based aid agencies, Action by Churches Together, UMCOR is at work in Chad where displaced Sudanese have fled. This week an UMCOR team will begin an assessment of additional initiatives in the Darfur region. Gifts to UMCOR Advance #184385, Sudan Emergency, will help in delivery of emergency food, seeds, agricultural tools, and other aid to people living in the Chad camps.
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out
more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.
And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.
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Featured Photos
United Methodist Committee on Relief
BEEKEEPING IN GHANA: Dambai, Ghana is home to 8,000 people who were displaced when the Akosombo Dam was built in 1962. As the waters of the lake rose and people lost their homes and farms they were resettled as tenant farmers. In a project that received support from UMCOR, local farmers decided to focus on three activities: rabbit rearing, bee keeping, and snail farming. These sustainable agriculture projects will provide income and increase the amount of protein that is available locally.
VIOLENCE IN SUDAN: Internally displaced people in the Ta'asha area in Southern Sudan gather what little they have left, load their donkeys and leave for safety. An attack last week on Bashum Camp in the Ta'asha area cost ten people their lives, according to UMCOR's partner Action by Churches to Together. Credit: Hege Opseth, ACT/Caritas, October 13, 2004
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