The UMCOR Hotline

August 2, 2005

In Today's Hotline:
Sudan: Calls for Prayers and Peace
Health: End Malaria
Bosnia: 100 Families Return to Srebrenica
Niger: Emergency Food Appeal
Zimbabwe: A Coordinated Response

SUDAN: CALLS FOR PRAYERS AND PEACE
UMCOR and Churche's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) will partner in the Mumbai region of India to deliver emergency aid to 15,000 flood stricken-families. Local churches, such as the Methodist Church of India, will assist with distribution of food, fresh water, kitchen utensils, sleeping mats, and educational materials around the financial capital. The heaviest rains in recorded Indian history-37 inches in one day--halted road, rail and air traffic in Mumbai, forced schools to close, and displaced thousands of people. Hundreds more have died of electrocution by downed wires in the flooded streets.

Your prayers and gifts to UMCOR Advance #982450, International Disaster Response, India Floods, will assist in a meaningful way.

HEALTH: END MALARIA
A new United Methodist ministry of malaria control will mobilize existing church-related medical facilities and their personnel to strike out against malaria. The community-based initiative will launch its pilot program in Sierra Leone - a West African nation with a strong United Methodist network and a big malaria problem.

Malaria is spread by the anopheles mosquito which can transfer the malaria-causing parasite through its bites. Controlling the mosquito population is the biggest obstacle in malaria prevention. "Malaria control can be as simple as using a treated mosquito net," said Paul Dirdak, UMCOR director. The agency is also experimenting with other solutions.

You can help! Support United Methodist efforts to help end Malaria through UMCOR Advance #982009, Malaria Control.

Learn more about this new program
A new print-friendly bulletin insert on the United Methodist response to malaria is ready for your use on the UMCOR website. Share it in a worship service, church school class, or other setting at your church. Also, see the special section on malaria control in this week's issue of the United Methodist Reporter. Follow this link to view the latest edition. Available Wednesday, August 3, 2005.

BOSNIA: 100 FAMILIES RETURN TO SREBRENICA
UMCOR in Bosnia and Herzegovina reconstructed 100 homes in Srebrenica. They helped 100 families (325 people) who had been living as refugees return to the new houses in the place they had once called home.

The UMCOR field office opened in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993 to provide relief supplies to the war affected population. Since that time UMCOR's work has expanded to assist the local population to rebuild their lives and go back to their homes.

Donations to UMCOR Advance #982353, Global Peace Building and Reconciliation, will help people all over the world return to their homes and heal from war.

NIGER: EMERGENCY FOOD APPEAL
The desperate struggle for sustenance continues in Niger. The current food crisis is the result of a combination of factors: drought, poverty, and locusts. In normal years, August is a month where many go hungry as they await September's harvest. This year is much worse as some villages are seeing as many as half of their children suffer from malnutrition.

UMCOR is responding by sending food assistance to 55 villages in southern Niger where starvation and malnourishment have become epidemic. UMCOR is partnering with Swiss Interchurch AID, known as HEKS, which has long-term commitments in Niger. HEKS will use an UMCOR grant to provide seeds, cattle fodder, and staple foods in the southern region of the country.

"Due to faithful year-round giving to the All Africa Drought and Famine Advance, we're able to make this rapid response," said Kristin Sachen, who heads UMCOR's emergency services office. Your gifts will support UMCOR's continuing response. Please give to UMCOR Advance #101250, All Africa Drought and Famine, Niger.

ZIMBABWE: A COORDINATED RESPONSE
UMCOR is participating in a coordinated response through faith-based agencies in Zimbabwe to care for the thousands of people displaced by the urban clean-up campaign, Operation Restore Order. Those whose homes were bulldozed in the campaign are living in transit camps that are poorly equipped to meet basic needs.

Your gifts can make a big difference. For example:

•	$6.00	Supplemental porridge for 90 days to a malnourished child
•	$16.50	Maize, vegetable oil, and beans for one person for 90 days
•	$35.00	A warm winter blanket
•	$454.00	A temporary toilet
•	$1,000.00	Community psychologist for one month

Your gifts do make a difference! Please give to UMCOR Advance #199456, Zimbabwe Emergency to support this important work.

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.