News
CHURCH WORLD SERVICE VILLAGE SERVES EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS
Nov. 8, 2005 -- The Church World Service (CWS) tent village in earthquake-stricken Pakistan now has its own dependable supply of clean drinking water, latrines, an out-patient medical facility, and its own mosque. These operations continue even as CWS and other agencies wait and hope for desperately needed funding to continue assisting survivors of the devastating Oct. 8 earthquake, according to a Nov. 3 press release from CWS.
The Church of the Brethren is one of 36 Christian denominations and communions that support CWS, a humanitarian relief agency connected with the National Council of Churches. The Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund has given a grant of $50,000 toward CWS’s work in Pakistan, and another large grant is planned.
New relief parcels including Gift of the Heart Health Kits, kitchen sets, and utensils are being distributed in the tent village, located in the village of Bisyan in North West Frontier Province. CWS also is preparing to open a separate cooking area for the growing number of families--averaging eight children and adults--housed in the camp. Scores of patients already have been treated at the CWS clinic, which is supported by a larger hospital run by the Diocese of Peshawar. With eight latrines already in service, CWS plans to open 42 more over the next few days.
The CWS psycho-social team is using Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim celebration that ends the month of Ramadan, to help bring a sense of normality and festivity to still vulnerable families. Gifts and sweets are being distributed as part of the celebration. The psycho-social team also has produced a series of radio spots aimed at reassuring people who may be feeling vulnerable as a result of the disaster about their own inner resilience and their ability to cope.
So far, CWS has distributed shelter kits to serve 27,167 individuals. The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum reports that many people have asked for tin sheets so that they can construct family shelters based on their own needs. Some people still are reluctant to come down from the hills to tent villages for fear of having their livestock or the remains of their homes looted in their absence.
More than 20,685 individuals in the areas of Battagram, Shangla, and Balakot have been fed with CWS-provided food packages. Another 100 tents were airdropped into a village in Balakot on Oct. 30, but the combined total of tents expected to be delivered by the end of November still may fall some 100,000 to 200,000 short of the number needed. CWS staffers also are concerned that government helicopters may be grounded because of lack of funds.
Contributions to support earthquake survivors may be sent to the Church of the Brethren Emergency Disaster Fund care of your local Church of the Brethren or the Church of the Brethren General Board, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120; or make donations online at www.brethrendisasterresponse.org. For more about Church World Service see www.churchworldservice.org.
Source: 11/08/2005 Newsline
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BRETHREN BITS
Nov. 8, 2005 -- The Brethren Witness/Washington Office alerts Brethren to death penalty implications of legislation renewing the Patriot Act. The House bill of the USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act includes provisions that would expand the federal death penalty, and lawmakers are preparing to reconcile the two bills in conference committee over the next few weeks, the office said in an Action Alert. The House bill would permit crimes of attempt and conspiracy to be punished by a death sentence, triple the number of death penalty-eligible terrorism crimes, allow federal prosecutors to present their case to a new sentencing jury until they are able to convince a jury to impose the death penalty, and permit a judge to reduce the number of jurors below 12 with no minimum number. The office encourages Brethren to urge their representatives to oppose efforts to include HR 3199 Title II provisions in the final version of the Patriot Act Reauthorization. Go to the Brethren Witness/Washington Office website, www.brethren.org/genbd/WitnessWashOffice.html, click on “Contact Congress” for letter-writing tips and information about your representatives. The Church of the Brethren has consistently opposed the death penalty in Annual Conference statements of 1957, 1959, 1975, and 1987. The Brethren Witness/Washington Office is a ministry of the Church of the Brethren General Board.
Source: 11/08/2005 Newsline
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Credits
The Church of the Brethren Newsline is produced by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of news services for the Church of the Brethren General Board.
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