Chronicling the East African drought

News & Updates | Posted Tuesday, August 23, 2011

There are an endless number of stories to tell about this year’s devastating drought in East Africa.  Across much of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and beyond, 13.3 million people are struggling to survive the failure of seasonal rains, the scarcity of water and the skyrocketing price of food. “This time is the worst drought we ever faced,” an Anglican priest, Rev. …

Preliminary emergency appeal: East Africa drought

News & Updates | Posted Thursday, 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 …

Fighting hunger, even after a direct hit

News & Updates | Posted Friday, 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 …

Pillow fighting to end hunger

News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, April 6, 2011

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, students Olivia Brown and Courtney Patterson saw a unique way to fight hunger, an idea that – quite literally – smacked them in the face. ”A lot of people are doing walks and runs, so we wanted to do something that would stand out,” Patterson says.  They saw the need to do something that would grab …

Water: simple solutions, big changes

News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Access to clean, safe water doesn’t take massive investment in many communities where water is scarce.  One characteristic of CWS work around the world is small-scale solutions that are guided, developed and sustained in each community.  Here are a few examples of how we’re working around the world, where small projects make a big impact. Collecting water drained time and …

How can we tell them “no?”

News & Updates | Posted Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Half a world away from the budget battle in Washington, Aliansa do Rego lives in the country of Timor-Leste. Aliansa works alongside CWS staff to help her community learn new farming techniques. “This was the first assistance we received,” Aliansa says.  “Seeds for water spinach and tomatoes, and tools from CWS.  This is our livelihood.” CWS helps thousands of people …

Stories: Excerpts from an RSC/Nairobi caseworker’s journal

News & Updates | Posted Friday, October 1, 2010

A caseworker with the Nairobi-based CWS Resettlement Support Center, Rosalie Hughes helps compile the case files of refugees being considered for U.S. resettlement and get the files ready for presentation to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for refugees’ final interview. And she keeps a journal. Here are some excerpts. Dadaab, Kenya – Stories begin I observed my first interviews today …