Church World Service is rooted in the Christian traditions of our member communions. But we are also proudly part of an ecumenical and interfaith tradition that works across lines of religious difference. In our midst are colleagues, supporters and friends of different Christian traditions (mainline and evangelical Protestant, Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, predominately black church, the so-called “peace church”) as well …

Just getting to the CWS Therapeutic Feeding Center in West Timor is a challenge for many. When I visited our programs in Indonesia a couple of weeks ago with a group of CWS supporters (including CWS board member, Patricia de Jong) from the U.S., it took around 20 hours of air travel, followed by several bumpy car rides across the …

I am surrounded by “palo borrachos” in the heart of the Argentinean Chaco. Known in English as Cieba Chodatii, their name in Spanish translates as “drunken stick,” humorously describing their swollen pot belly trunks. They are characteristic of dry regions due to their ability to retain water and are an endearing feature of the world´s largest dry forest – the …

A friend and colleague of mine recently painted the following scenario: “Your neighbor’s house is on fire. The fire department is there. All the hydrants are pumping water. Would you run across the street with another fire truck and more water?” Of course you wouldn’t. But if you saw images on television of a huge disaster, like the one right …

Thankfully, the United States didn’t suffer a Katrina- or Sandy-scale disaster in 2013. Or did it? An incessant string of regional disasters has affected thousands of households. There was not a neat “spring storms” or “fall tornadoes” season this year. Instead, since the spring, the disasters have just kept on coming and the toll has mounted in deaths, injuries and …

Kigali, Rwanda, is a city with no street signs.  There are no addresses, no way to pinpoint a place.  The only way to explain a location is by describing it in relation to something else.  The result is that, in order to find your way around, you must already know where you are going. Other than street signs, Kigali has …