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 …
News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, September 13, 2017
In rural Vietnam, schools often have satellite schools – especially with the youngest grades – so young children can go to school close to their remote villages. For example, the satellite school in Thung village, where CWS supports educational development activities, is about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the larger town of Lang Chanh. The road between the town and …
News & Updates | Posted Friday, April 7, 2017
Twice the size of California, the South American Gran Chaco is the second largest forest reserve in South America. It is an immense and scarcely populated region, many parts of which are dry and arid. The residents of the Chaco include campesino, or farmer, families and indigenous communities. The small and dispersed communities often face deep poverty. CWS has worked in …
News & Updates | Posted Saturday, March 4, 2017
The Rio Coco runs west to east and divides Honduras and Nicaragua. The longest river in Central America, it runs through a beautiful, vast, hard to reach and scarcely populated area. Poverty is deep in this area, which is made up of 70% indigenous peoples and has only a minimal presence of government services. The Rio Coco region of Nicaragua is …
News & Updates | Posted Thursday, February 16, 2017
In early February, there was a water main break in Chapel Hill / Carrboro, North Carolina, that created an emergency water shortage. For 24 hours, families couldn’t use clean water. This is a reflection from Jo Wyrick, the coordinator of the Chapel Hill / Carrboro CROP Hunger Walk, from that day. This morning I made my older daughter pancakes in …
News & Updates | Posted Friday, January 27, 2017
For many of us, the world today looks drastically different today than it did a year ago. The past year has brought a tremendous amount of change in our nation and in our world. No matter what your political affiliations are, last weekend’s marches showed that millions of Americans aren’t satisfied with standing still. Each of us has a voice, …
News & Updates | Posted Thursday, October 20, 2016
When Sherry Beard, coordinator of the Reno-Sparks CROP Hunger Walk in Nevada, left church in the pouring rain last Sunday morning, she wasn’t sure whether anyone would show up for the Walk that afternoon. On Saturday Sherry had sent me an email asking for prayers for the Reno-Sparks community. She wrote, “Please pray for us in the next few days; …
News & Updates | Posted Monday, August 15, 2016
Day 1 I am in Tana Toraja on South Sulawesi island in central Indonesia this week to meet with community and government partners. Together, we will be building on the Indonesian government’s Resilient Village initiative in a new program called SOLIDARITAS. SOLIDARITAS will address the issues that communities face as they begin to adapt to climate change. We will focus …
News & Updates | Posted Thursday, May 19, 2016
by Linda Bloom, United Methodist News Service. Excerpted from http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/ecumenical-day-marks-new-relationships The Rev. D. Earl Trent Jr., chairman of the Church World Service board of directors presented the CWS 2016 Ecumenical Award to the United Methodist Council of Bishops on behalf of Church World Service. Joining the presentation were two United Methodist staff leaders with CWS — the Rev. John McCullough, President …
News & Updates | Posted Monday, March 21, 2016
Water is life. It is the first necessity for all human beings on a daily basis. It is also essential for the success of agriculture. In the communities of Ganthier and Boen, Haiti, people mostly depend on rain to water their crops. CWS and Dominican partner SSID started programs in these communities after the earthquake of January 12, 2010, a …