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, …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Like many other villagers in the area, the 30 families in Eonfetnai hamlet in West Timor, Indonesia live in a drought-prone area. Before 2013, the hamlet had only one water source – an unprotected spring that, when it filled up, was contaminated by dirt, falling leaves and animal droppings. In the dry season, there was little or no water at …