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The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has raised $1 million for relief work in Mozambique since flooding in February and March devastated that African country. Wendy Whiteside, an UMCOR executive, said the agency had dispersed more than $300,000 of the funds by the end of May.
In addition, the United Methodist Missouri East and Missouri West annual (regional) conferences together recently raised more than $100,000 for well and water-related work in Mozambique. Total donations to Mozambique for the past year are about $400,000, according to Carol Kreamer, director of the Mozambique Initiative of the Missouri Area churches.
About 700 people died as a result of cyclones and floods that ravaged Mozambique and parts of several other African countries. The flooding was prompted by an early rainy season. UMCOR first responded in February by providing initial grants to the United Methodist Church in Mozambique, the Methodist Church in South Africa and the South African Council of Churches.
The flooding worsened after Cyclone Eline descended with its gale-force winds and torrential rains on Feb. 22. On March 10, United Methodists issued a churchwide appeal for donations to assist the estimated quarter of a million people displaced by the flooding.
By the end of May, the Mozambique government reported that 70 percent of those displaced by the floods had been resettled or returned home. But many homes, schools and other buildings need repair, and much of the country's farmland and water system was destroyed. Whiteside estimated that long-term recovery efforts would continue for three to four years.
United Methodist Bishop João Somane Machado of Mozambique has appointed the Rev. Morais Quissico to serve as his conference's disaster coordinator and plan developer. UMCOR allocated $209,940 to assist Quissico's work with supplies of food, seeds and hoes, mosquito nets, materials for native houses and transportation and labor. The agency also is underwriting a year's salary and office equipment.
Since February, UMCOR has sent several shipments of relief supplies to Mozambique, containing such items as health, home care and school kits, bedding packs, blankets, dehydrated potatoes, oral-rehydration salts, water treatment units, emergency ration bars and mosquito netting. Medical supplies were sent to the denomination's Chicuque Hospital
Quissico will help assess when and where Volunteer in Mission teams might be used for rebuilding efforts. Potential volunteers can indicate their interest by calling (800) 918-3100.
June 14, 2000
You can support UMCOR's response to this disaster through donations to the Churchwide Appeal for Flood Recovery in Mozambique and Neighboring Countries, Advance #156500. Checks may be dropped in United Methodist church collection plates or mailed directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donations can be made by calling 1-800-554-8583.
Source: United Methodist News Service.