NEW YORK – “You have reached 65 years, but please don’t retire!” With those words, Vincent Cochetel, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regional representative for the United States and the Caribbean, joined those wishing Church World Service a fond birthday as the global humanitarian agency marked its 65th anniversary and its long service and dedication to refugee protection. …
Preliminary emergency appeal: East Africa drought
July 21, 2011
Appeal # 642-L Amount: $1.2 million Situation: This year marks the driest period in the Eastern Horn of Africa region since 1995, with the lowest level of rainfall in more than 50 years. As a result, food security — the access and availability to food — has deteriorated for most households in all arid and semi-arid regions in Kenya, Somalia …
Even after 65 years, resettling refugees still critical to CWS work
July 20, 2011
With famine now declared in parts of Somalia and more than 11.3 million people in need of aid in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti, Church World Service is providing emergency food relief, water tankering and long-term disaster risk reduction programs, beginning in northern and eastern Kenya. As thousands of those affected by this crisis flee daily across borders to …
Situation report: Indonesia (Sulawesi) volcanic eruptions
July 18, 2011
Situation: Three volcanoes have sent plumes of ash into the sky and forced thousands from their homes in the northern part of Indonesia’s Sulawesi province. In all, some 6,000 people have been evacuated to six different government-appointed evacuation sites in Tomohon District, including schools, mosques and emergency shelters. The villages of Kinilow, Kakakasen and Kotomohon are most vulnerable to the …
Child’s play, on the streets of Belgrade
Jovana Savic and Matt Hackworth/CWS | July 14, 2011
“These children didn’t choose to live on the street. They are left there. They survive on empty stomachs, without love. They don’t go to school and have never been to the doctor. They are growing up before they become children. All it takes is just a little goodwill so their lives can change for the better.” – The Centre for …
CWS-trained safety experts spread message, reduce risk across Asia
Damon Perry | July 7, 2011
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – On a hotel rooftop, overlooking the ocean waves crashing on to the beach along the coastline a group of young men and women, mostly Tamils, is in good spirits considering the gravity of the conversation’s subject matter: security issues, from landmines to traffic accidents. The local aid group Organization for Elangai Refugees Rehabilitation leads the workshop …
Congressional Briefing on the Right to Food
June 24, 2011
On June 2, 2011 the Interfaith Working Group on Global Hunger and Food Security and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy sponsored a Congressional briefing on the right to food and sustainable approaches to food security. Hosted by Congressman Jim McGovern (MA), the participants and attendees included staff from congressional offices, development and faith-based agencies and family farm organizations. …
Fighting hunger, even after a direct hit
June 17, 2011
A tornado destroyed a third of their town. But the people of the Central States CROP Hunger Walk, in Joplin, Missouri are forging ahead with their annual walk for this fall. “Two weeks after the tornado, our church held a pie and ice cream social for a local literacy organization,” Edna Lassman says. “If we can do that, we can …
A policy to help save lives
June 16, 2011
BANGKOK – As a leader in humanitarian accountability and standards, Church World Service Asia-Pacific hosted around 50 representatives of humanitarian aid organizations in the region to share views on the increasingly insecure operating environments in which they work, and the importance of accountability towards local partners. The conference, Responsibilities and Response: a Discussion on Policy and Standards, was organized by …
Water is life in Nicaragua
June 8, 2011
With more than a billion people worldwide lacking clean water and more than 2.1 million people most of them children dying each year from waterborne disease, water cannot be taken for granted. In a recent visit to eastern Nicaragua, Church World Service Michigan staff Antoinette Lloyd-Evans and several colleagues met with partner CIEETS (Interchurch Center of Theological and Social Studies). …