Funds support Church World Service, programs in Angola, Sudan.

Grants totaling $68,000 have been made from the General Board's Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) for hurricane and flood relief efforts in the US, the Caribbean, and Bangladesh, and for programs in Angola and Sudan.

Church World Service (CWS) was the recipient of several EDF grants related to recent hurricanes and flooding: $20,000 for emergency aid in the wake of hurricanes in the US, to ship relief supplies and deploy CWS staff to develop longterm recovery groups; $10,000 for work in the wake of hurricanes in the Caribbean, to provide material aid for clean up and repairs in Grenada, Jamaica, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic; $7,000 to help recovery from flooding in the DR and Haiti; and $8,000 following devastating floods in Bangladesh, for food assistance, shelter, clothing, and temporary jobs for more than 22,000 families.

The EDF also supported a shipment to Angola of bicycles for transportation and sun ovens for cleaner, efficient cooking with a grant of $13,000. The grant supports the work of the SHAREcircle organization.

A GFCF grant of $10,000 supports the teaching faculty at St. Bakhita Primary Girls School in Narus, southern Sudan. "While providing support for the school is not addressing hunger action in quite the direct manner of most GFCF projects, one cannot overestimate the significance of educating girls in a society where they readily slip into the margins," explained a memo from fund manager Howard Royer. The memo cited the importance of girls' education for raising economic productivity, lowering infant and maternal mortality, improving nutrition, promoting health, and helping prevent HIV/AIDS.

Source: Newsline 10/01/2004
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