Brethren funds team up to respond to Sudanese refugees, West Timor drought.

Two General Board funds--the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) and the Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF)--are both contributing aid to Sudanese refugees returning to their homes after years of displacement due to war, and to West Timor, Indonesia, following a severe drought. The EDF gave $50,000 and the GFCF $20,000 to the needs of the Sudanese refugees. Responding to West Timor, the EDF gave $20,000 and the GFCF $10,000. Two other recent grants from the EDF support relief work in India and China.

The Sudan emergency appeal comes from the Church World Service (CWS) Emergency Response Program and the ACT Alliance. The EDF grant will help provide basic needs for refugees including fresh water, sanitation, household supplies, tools, and seeds. The GFCF grant will help provide seeds and tools, develop vegetable plots for training subsistence farmers, introduce new crops, train farmers and extension workers in appropriate technology, and create income-generating activities to spur employment, the grant request said. "A strong component of the effort is to reduce the dependency of hosts and returnees on food aid, building longterm food security," said Howard Royer, GFCF manager.

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of Sudan and the rebels in southern Sudan has created the opportunity for refugees to return home, reported Roy Winter, director of the board's Emergency Response, in the grant request. "Many have been displaced for years because of the civil war that started in 1955. They are currently living in Internally Displaced People camps in northern Sudan and as refugees in surrounding countries," the grant request stated. "While organized resettlement of these people has not occurred, as many as 1,500 Sudanese are spontaneously returning to their home areas each day."

CWS also is the recipient of the Brethren grants for relief work in West Timor. The assistance from the EDF will be implemented through feeding centers and used to help prevent famine among the poor and most vulnerable. The GFCF grant will contribute to sustainable livelihood development programs and community-based health organization training. Royer said that as many as one third of the area's children under five suffer from malnutrition and nearly seven percent from severe malnutrition. "One of the priorities of CWS is to ensure basic levels of nutrition for pregnant women and for children under five," he said.

In other grants, the EDF gave $15,000 for a CWS appeal in the wake of severe flooding in the Gujarat and Madhay Pradesh States of India, where funds will help provide food, drinking water, relief kits, dry rations, and materials for shelters. Gujarat State is home to many of the Brethren in India, and long-time partner the Church of North India is also active there.

EDF also gave $5,000 to a CWS appeal for severe flooding in southern China that has affected 17 million people. Funds will help provide medicine, food, quilts, mosquito netting, and construction materials for homes and irrigation canals.

Source: 7/20/2005 Newsline
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