Reflections on a trip to Vietnam

News & Updates | Posted Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Paul Chan is a member of the CWS board of Directors. He led a trip for high school students to visit CWS programs in Vietnam this month. Below are some excerpts from the trip updates that he sent to the students’ parents.   Tuesday, January 8 Today was a whirlwind tour. We started with a traditional pho breakfast.  Soon thereafter, we …

Ending hunger together in Nicaragua

News & Updates | Posted Thursday, December 20, 2018

“The biggest obstacle to getting my rice to market is the distance,” Joanes Salgado says. It’s a two-hour walk from Joanes’ farm to the nearest road in this remote part of Nicaragua. Joanes grows rice, beans and plantains, which are the three staple crops for the indigenous Miskito and Mayangna people in the area. Joanes, a 49-year-old father of six, …

Peacebuilding amid crisis in Nicaragua

News & Updates | Posted Thursday, November 8, 2018

What began as protests in Nicaragua in April turned into civil unrest and violence that has claimed more than 300 lives and led to widespread fear. Iván Aburto lives in the community of Santa Elena, about 20 miles south of the capital of Managua. “These past few months have been traumatic for us in the municipality of La Conquista,” Iván …

The Double D: Displacement and Disability

News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Across the globe, climate change-related displacement has become a norm rather than an exception. Weather and climate hazards that are becoming increasingly common are displacing millions of people.  In Kenya’s far flung county of Tana River, 2018 will go down as another year of catastrophic weather. Mid this year, just when the area was recuperating from the 2017 devastating drought, …

Left Behind: Addressing the Systemic Problems Keeping Children out of School

News & Updates | Posted Monday, October 15, 2018

By Caleb Wafula You’ve probably seen the headlines about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a development agenda focused on ensuring that “no one is left behind.” Goal 4 of this agenda seeks to ensure inclusive and quality education for all, calling attention to the fact that 263 million children around the world are not attending school. Two Kenyan …

Supporting young global citizens in New Hampshire this summer

News & Updates | Posted Tuesday, September 25, 2018

While many students were traveling abroad or hanging out at the pool or beach this summer, a group of students was in the White Mountains of New Hampshire developing a closer relationship to God and supporting neighbors they will never meet through the work Church World Service does. Groups of 30 students from across New England gather at the Horton …

Learning more about each other

News & Updates | Posted Thursday, August 30, 2018

Travel anywhere exciting this summer? Maybe California? Or New Jersey? …Ohio? How about Michigan? A handful of the CWS overseas team took a detour this summer to travel to each of those states. And for them – and those they had the opportunity to meet – it certainly was exciting! Here’s why: Columbus, Ohio keeps kids safe and warm in …

“Nothing is left. We were poor already, and now we are poor again.”

News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, August 22, 2018

It was about three weeks after flash flooding and landslides in the area that our team arrived in Lai Chau. I was part of the CWS Emergency Response team who was visiting this remote part of northern Vietnam to see how CWS could support the relief effort. Our team wasn’t new to emergency response – we have years of experience …

CWS Blankets help Kansas City residents brave the cold

News & Updates | Posted Saturday, February 24, 2018

Huddled by a small fire under an overpass, Dawn ate her warm meal and confessed, “I’d never camped a day in my life before being out here.” She is new to homelessness and credits her friend Matthew for helping her acclimate to her new situation. She told us that she once served in Operation Desert Storm, raised a family and …

Climate change: reflecting on 2017

News & Updates | Posted Friday, December 15, 2017

As we approach end of year celebrations, this is a good time to take stock, reflect and see what lies ahead in terms of climate change.  Here is my own 2017 review – the good, the bad and the hopeful. The good news is that, even if 2017 was marked by shock and dismay at the dismantling of once-bold U.S. …