Posts by worldrelief
Voices From the Field: DR Congo
Yesterday was International Day to End Obstetric Fistula, a serious injury that can occur from complications in childbirth. The World Health Organization used this day to call on the international community to significantly raise awareness and intensify actions towards ending obstetric fistula.
An estimated 2 million women in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, the Arab region, and Latin America and the Caribbean are living with this injury, and some 50,000 to 100,000 new cases develop each year. Yet fistula is almost entirely preventable. 1 Its persistence is a sign that more can be done.
We took a moment to talk with Dr. Esperance Ngondo*, staff in DR Congo, about this injury and our work in DR Congo to treat and prevent fistula.
What is fistula?
Obstetric and traumatic fistula presents as a hole between the tissues of the vaginal canal and bladder, vaginal canal and rectum or all three.
What causes Fistula?
We see fistula caused by a number of circumstances. Obstetric fistula occurs when girls whose bodies aren’t yet fully developed try to give birth. Young girls under the age of 16 are at greatest risk of developing obstetric fistula. Traumatic fistula, however, is typically the result of a violent rape. In the Congo, where rape is frequently used as a weapon of war, we focus most of our work on this type of traumatic fistula.
How did World Relief DRC begin working with women with this injury?
For more than ten years, the World Relief DR Congo office has been active in humanitarian programs and in projects promoting health, agriculture, microfinance, peace & conflict resolution, savings and institution building among churches and communities, 82% of our beneficiaries are women and children – the most vulnerable demographic across the board, but especially in Congo. As World Relief DR Congo implemented its numerous programs in the rural areas, it has been increasingly clear that sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against women and young girls (ages 2 to 60) must be addressed.
What are the effects of fistula for a women in DR Congo?
When fistula occurs and is not treated, many women become incontinent and are often cast out by their families as shameful and dirty. Not only do women experience horrible physical effects of fistula, but there are painful social and emotional effects as well. In Congo, women who are raped face terrible rejection and stigmatization. If a woman is married, not only her own family, but her husband and husband’s family cast her out of the home leaving her feeling rejected and humiliated. Oftentimes these women become homeless. In fact, many of our volunteers find these women living hopeless and alone in the forest.
What programs does World Relief DRC offer to support women suffering from fistula?
World Relief has implemented a number of programs to provide medical, psychosocial and economic support to women who are survivors of sexual violence as well as women who have developed obstetric fistula. In partnership with a local hospital women receive treatment, often surgery, for fistula. After the initial surgery, programs are in place to support women; Income generating programs are offered to women to restore their dignity, as well as provide them with the opportunity for economic independence.
How successful are the programs?
In general, fistula repair surgery has an average 80% success, but for World Relief and our partner hospital, we see a 95% success rate. We see God blessing our work again and again. Desperate and hopeless women are finding hope and experiencing a renewed sense of self-worth and dignity.
1. World Health Organization. Retrieved May 23, 2019 from https://www.who.int/life-course/news/events/intl-day-to-end-obstetric-fistula/en/.
*Dr. Esperance Ngondo is a World Relief DRC’s Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) & HIV/AIDS Health Officer. After completing her degree in medicine from the University of Goma, DRC in 2013 she worked at Bethesda Baptist Hospital in Goma in a program supported by Doctors without Borders, specializing in diagnosing and treating cases of SGBV. She began working as WR’s SGBV-HIV/AIDS Health Officer in 2015. Dr. Ngondo and her husband, Innocent, have three young daughters.
Dana North serves as the Marketing Manager at World Relief. With a background in graphic design and advertising and experiences in community development and transformation, Dana seeks to use the power of words and action to help create a better world. Dana is especially passionate about seeking justice for women and girls around the world.
Home Is Where Your Heart Is
In celebration of International Day of Families, we honor and recognize the hundreds of church leaders, volunteers and staff that sacrificially give their time and energy to our Families for Life program and, more importantly, to the men, women and children whose lives have been changed through the volunteers’, leaders’ and staff’s love in action.
Home
A place to go. People who love you. Somewhere you belong. A place to settle down. Home defines place, family, belonging. Identity and compassion.
Regardless of country—Papua, Indonesia, India, Malawi or Democratic Republic of Congo, home is often defined in these similar ways. In fact, it’s likely how you define it as well.
And yet, for many, the ideals associated with ‘home’, and their dreams for family, are a far cry from the reality. Instead, they grapple with broken marriages and relationships, gender injustice, arguments over resources and decision making, difficulty communicating with their children—the list is long and weighty.
But thanks to your support, couples around the world are experiencing renewed hope in their marriages and families through a program we call Families for Life (FFL) program.
Biblical Marriage
Partners like you have helped couples to grow and flourish together as God’s Word describes through FFL programs that restore relationships between husbands and wives to their fullest potential and recalibrate thinking around family and marriage.
In FFL, couples are invited to a workshop to explore biblical and cultural components of marriage. There, they learn that one entire book of the Bible is devoted to the theme of love and marriage—the Song of Songs—a book that is marked with metaphors of love and filled with messages of friendship, attraction, fulfillment and commitment.
After studying Song of Songs, husbands and wives discuss together what it means to be forever friends and intimate companions. They discuss what husbands and wives bring to their homes, and more importantly, to each other, and come to recognize the critical importance of nurturing and loving one another as a couple. Your generosity is radically shifting mindsets for many couples as they discover that a spouse can and should be someone you trust, spend time with, enjoy, confide in, talk to about anything and for whom you willingly sacrifice.
Behavioral Change Curriculum
Layered atop of this biblical study, Families for Life integrates a culturally relevant, story-based curriculum that addresses misbeliefs about women, the importance of valuing and respecting one another, gender equality and biblical sex in marriage. The curriculum is designed to address critical issues among couples and raise questions for reflection and opportunities for change.
As couples’ beliefs around marriage and family shift, so too, do behaviors. Reductions in gender-based violence, alcohol abuse, poverty and unfaithfulness become apparent. Husbands begin to include their wives in decision making processes, wives learn they, too, can contribute to their families resources through income-generating activitIes, parents come to realize the value of educating their children, both girls and boys, and families begin to diligently and intentionally plan for their futures. As perspectives change and mindset shifts occur, deep-seated conflicts are tackled, harmful traditions are questioned and children and generations to come are impacted.
Sustainable Impact
Beyond the powerful restoration of relationships and the resulting behavior-changes that occur, FFL lays the groundwork inside the home for our other programs to have a truly sustainable impact. When we acknowledge the centrality of the family unit in dictating and defining identity, beliefs and behaviors, we tap into the most effective way of impacting sustainable change across a multitude of areas—physical, social, emotional and spiritual. By ensuring both man and woman, boy and girl, are equally valued, given equal opportunity and are equally empowered, the impact of our programming is magnified tenfold.
A Beautiful Vision
God has illustrated to us what He intends for marriage—unity and harmony in diversity and oneness. Marriage should be a sacred reflection of this fullness of life as God designed. Yet, every culture and every marriage fails to reach this standard. The goal of Families for Life is to reach homes and churches with critical lessons that reveal God’s beautiful vision for marriage, and leave behind tools, training and structures for churches to extend these messages for multiplied impact.
Thanks to your support, we’ve completed six country-specific curriculums and trained over 25,000 couples through churches, savings groups and community gatherings in Indonesia, India, Burundi, DRC, Malawi and Haiti. The program is rapidly growing, with plans to expand in the next year to Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Cambodia and eventually Sudan.
Home is, indeed, where our hearts are. It is where mutual honor and support, care and commitment and physical attraction between wives and husbands should grow in every corner of our world.
“I used to drink and spend all our money when I was paid after work. Now, after being in an FFL workshop, I come straight home to my wife and give it to her to spend for the needs of our family. We decide what to do together.” – Husband, Burundi
“In our village, we are seeing less and less violence. People are not coming to me to intervene in cases of violence against women because of this program.” Village chief, Malawi
“I want to tell you, my wife, that I have not honored you as I should. I am sorry. Will you forgive me?” – Pastor Semiti, Democratic Republic of Congo
Deborah Dortzbach is the Senior Program Advisor for World Relief. She has been involved in church-based HIV/AIDS prevention and care since the early 1990s. Prior to joining World Relief she directed MAP International’s HIV/AIDS programs from 1990-1997. Doborah is the author, with W. Meredith Long, of The AIDS Crisis: What We Can Do (2006), as well as Kidnapped (1975), which chronicles her 1973 abduction with her husband by the Eritrean Liberation Front while they were working as missionaries.
How ‘savings circles’ empower women in rural Africa
In a rural community in the small African country of Burundi, 16 women squeeze on to narrow wooden benches, arranged in a rugged circle under the shadow of banana trees. One woman’s toddler squirms in her lap. Another has tied her sleeping baby to her back with a wrap.
Each week, they come together in a World Relief Savings for Life group to learn about basic money management and to save money for emergencies, basic needs or small business investments. Read story
World Relief Grieves Church Bombings in Sri Lanka
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
April 22, 2019
CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
carl@pinkstongroup.com
703-388-6734
World Relief Grieves Church Bombings in Sri Lanka
Baltimore, Md. – World Relief issued the following statement in response to the series of bombings that devastated churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter morning, killing 290 and wounding over 500:
Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, and Tim Breene, CEO of World Relief: “We grieve with our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka following these terrible attacks in places of worship. The senselessness of these deaths, particularly on what should be a day of celebration, breaks our hearts. We condemn the hatred and bigotry that prompted these crimes, and we lift up in prayer those who are affected or mourning.
“In this time of waiting and suffering, we offer our support to those affected this weekend. As we continue to advocate for persecuted Christians throughout the world as well as for other persecuted peoples, we take comfort in the promise of the resurrection that Christians throughout the world celebrated yesterday.”
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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About World Relief:
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.
Learn more at worldrelief.org.
World Relief Responds to Humanitarian Aid Cut to Central America
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
April 10, 2019
CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
carl@pinkstongroup.com
703-388-6734
World Relief Responds to Humanitarian Aid Cut to Central America
Baltimore, Md. – Over the last week, President Trump announced that his administration would cut aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador because they had failed to prevent migrants from journeying to the U.S. World Relief responds as the House Foreign Affairs Committee holds a hearing on the importance of U.S. aid to Central America.
“Humanitarian aid is essential to easing the causes of migration and to giving leaders the space to begin to address symptoms of deeper problems,” said Scott Arbeiter, World Relief President. “Such aid helps alleviate poverty and staves off violence in many communities around the world. By cutting aid, we are exacerbating the root causes that make people flee in the first place, and we may be withholding the funds that those countries were using to secure their own borders.”
The administration indicated that it had already moved to divert $450 million and had notified embassies accordingly, though the particulars of the policy change are still unfolding. World Relief believes that this money, used wisely, could be an important tool to mitigate the crises driving individuals and families from their homes.
“We have seen a large number of families arriving at the southern border, but the solution is not to punish them for seeking relief from violence and oppression at home or remove potentially life-saving interventions,” commented World Relief CEO Tim Breene. “Humanitarian assistance takes up less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget, and it’s consistent with our nation’s tradition of compassionate leadership where good can be done. We urge the president to reconsider the decision to withhold aid.”
World Relief recommends investing in measures to alleviate the burden on government officials and local community leaders at the border trying to process the flow of people. We strongly support measures to address and alleviate the root causes that are motivating families to flee Central America. Further, facilitating legal migration options that can be accessed from Central America – or anywhere in the world where someone is seeking refuge in the U.S. – will disincentivize many from making the uncertain trek to the border. Churches and other community groups are willing and able to step into gaps, and World Relief urges the administration to partner more closely with these and other sources of aid at the border.
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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About World Relief:
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.
Learn more at worldrelief.org.
World Relief Warns Against Extremely Low FY 2019 Midyear Refugee Resettlement Numbers (Infographic)
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
April 1, 2019
CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
carl@pinkstongroup.com
703-388-6734
World Relief Warns Against Extremely Low FY 2019 Midyear Refugee Resettlement Numbers (Infographic)
Baltimore, Md. – Halfway through fiscal year 2019, World Relief estimates that the U.S. is on track to resettle incredibly low numbers of refugees, lower even than the historically low refugee ceiling set for the year. Compared to the 84,944 total refugees the U.S. welcomed in FY 2016, the U.S. is currently only projected to welcome 24,369 in FY 2019, indicating a drop of 71.3% overall. This estimate is roughly 19% – 5,631 refugees – below the Presidential Determination of 30,000 set by the Trump Administration last fall. As a nation in which most people are descended from immigrants and are committed to faith traditions that instruct concern for the vulnerable, World Relief believes America has a responsibility to resettle as many refugees as possible to reach the Presidential Determination of 30,000.
The shift from a refugee ceiling of 85,000 in FY 2016 to 30,000 comes in the midst of the worst refugee crisis in history. Right now, over 68 million people are forcibly displaced throughout the world, and over 25 million are refugees.
World Relief President Scott Arbeiter commented: “The number of refugees the U.S. is projected to resettle in FY 2019 does not reflect the capacity or willingness of Americans to receive and resettle refugees. We are gravely concerned that the U.S. has abdicated its role in exemplifying the moral leadership needed to meet the needs of the most vulnerable displaced around the world. Furthermore, the dramatic decrease in the numbers of persecuted Christian and other religious minority refugees resettled in the U.S. to escape religious persecution contradicts the administration’s previously stated willingness to help these populations.”
Historically, the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program has been a lifeline for persecuted religious minorities, who have enjoyed safety and religious freedom in the United States. Though the president has specifically promised to ensure these groups’ safety, they have been largely kept out of the U.S. by policies that have dramatically reduced the total number of refugee admissions.
Based on the number of arrivals through the first half of FY 2019, we project that the full year FY 2019 arrivals from countries where refugees have been persecuted as religious minorities will have declined by the following percentages, compared to FY 2016:
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58.8% among Christians from Pakistan
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62.2% among Muslims from Burma (primarily Rohingya)
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66.9% among Ahmadiyya Muslims from Pakistan
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67.9% among Christians from Burma
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95.7% among Yezidis from Iraq and Syria
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94.6% among Christians from Iraq
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96.3% among Christians from Iran
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97.8% among Sabeans-Mandean from Iraq
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98.0% among Bahai from Iran
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98.5% among Sabeans-Mandean from Iran
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100% among Jews from Iran
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100% among Zoroastrians from Iran
The decline in the refugee resettlement program also has dramatically impacted those persecuted for other reasons, such as their ethnicity or political opinion, affecting refugees of various religious traditions. Muslim refugees, whose overall arrivals in FY 2019 are projected to be just 3,718, are particularly impacted, down 90.4% from FY 2016. Christians – including those from countries where they represent the religious majority but may be persecuted for other reasons – are also significantly impacted, with total Christian arrivals projected to be 17,779 for FY 2019, down 47.4% from FY 2016.
World Relief CEO Tim Breene responded: “The pattern of reductions in the number of refugees our country welcomes is devastating to those we serve around the world. Our country is systematically dismantling a program that has proven effective at integrating refugees for decades. We urge our elected officials to reconsider, ensuring that the U.S. increases the pace of resettlement to welcome 30,000 refugees in FY 2019 as set by the White House last October and raises the refugee resettlement ceiling to 75,000 in FY 2020.”
World Relief encourages individuals to: reach out to their churches to learn about opportunities to serve in their communities; call their elected officials and urge them to increase the cap to 75,000 for FY 2020; pray for the 68 million displaced people around the world; and consider donating to World Relief’s work.
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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About World Relief:
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.
Learn more at worldrelief.org.
Midyear Refugee Resettlement Numbers
Halfway through Fiscal Year 2019, is the U.S. on track to meet the refugee resettlement cap the president set six months ago?
Based on refugee arrivals thus far, no. This infographic explains how recent changes to U.S. refugee policy are impacting refugees seeking safety and freedom in the U.S., including persecuted Christians and other religious minorities fleeing hardship around the world.
World Relief Akron
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
March 29, 2019
CONTACT:
Lauren Carl
carl@pinkstongroup.com
703-388-6734
World Relief Akron
World Relief announced its decision to close its office in Akron, OH. The unfortunate reality of the environment at this time makes it necessary to close the office. As the U.S. government decreases the number of refugees admitted into the U.S. and has also signaled an intent to reduce the longstanding public/private partnership with refugee resettlement agencies, World Relief unfortunately needs to reduce its footprint nationally in places like Akron where additional support for refugees already remains strong. World Relief’s deep commitment to serving the vulnerable and empowering the local church, however, still stands.
In context of this greater trend to diminish America’s role in welcoming refugees, World Relief’s local offices around the country have increasingly turned to other sources of income. However, as a new establishment, the Akron office had not had sufficient time necessary to compensate for a dramatic loss of federal funding, even with generous volunteers and private donations. World Relief is incredibly grateful for the support and partnership we have enjoyed in the Akron community, and we prayerfully entrust the families and individuals within our care to the community.
Because of World Relief’s commitments to established programs and the families they serve, the closure of the office will take place over the course of a month, concluding on April 30th, to allow time for proper transfer of care for existing clients to new support systems in Akron. Please direct any questions during this time to the contact above.
Though World Relief office in Akron will be closing, World Relief as a whole will continue to welcome refugees in the U.S. and to serve the most vulnerable people around our world. World Relief seeks continued support in its work in 19 other U.S. cities, in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. More information about these ongoing ministries is available at www.worldrelief.org.
Download the PDF version of this press release.
###
About World Relief:
World Relief is a global Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to overcome violence, poverty and injustice. Through love in action, we bring hope, healing and restoration to millions of the world’s most vulnerable women, men and children through vital and sustainable programs in disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding, as well as refugee and immigration services in the U.S. For 75 years, we’ve partnered with churches and communities, currently across more than 20 countries, to provide relief from suffering and help people rebuild their lives.
Learn more at worldrelief.org.
Pedal to Resettle Rider Highlight: Meet Paul Sassenrath
Paul is a World Relief Sacramento volunteer, advisory council member and a Pedal to Resettle 2019 rider. We asked him to share his volunteer journey and why he has signed up to ride 180+ miles this September to fundraise for refugee families in the greater Sacramento area.
About three years ago, I attended a Christian leadership event and heard a World Relief staff member speak. I had been following the refugee crisis on the news and was feeling increasingly hopeless. What are we going to do? How are we going to solve this problem? I was debriefing the event with my wife that night, and I broke down. God was clearly at work in me.
My involvement with World Relief began in fits and starts. I attended a volunteer training, but I was slow to get connected. Then, I met (now) World Relief’s director, Kerry Ham. I felt an instant connection. We are both operations guys, we think and strategize in similar ways. I helped him start an advisory council or what you might call a board. We recruited members and established our purpose and vision as a council. I knew, however, I needed to do more than play a strategic role. I needed to work with refugees directly.
I signed up to be a Good Neighbor. I was a one-man team and was partnered with an Afghan family. We have grown to be good friends and my wife and I visited them in the hospital when they had their third child. While I have a passion for working with refugees, as a person of faith, I believe we are called to welcome the stranger. There are situations where I believe a person might pray about how or whether to engage. Helping those in need is not one of those situations. It is not a decision to pray about; it’s something you do.
I’m excited to participate in Pedal to Resettle. I have a passion for working with refugees, and cycling is always something I’ve enjoyed. Growing up in Davis, CA, riding a bike is second nature. It’s a city where everyone bikes. Granted, I have never ridden three days in a row, and this is something I’ll need to train for. I’m especially looking forward to day two as my wife will join me, and we’ll ride our tandem bike. There’s an energy that comes with being in a group, so I’m looking forward to joining others on this ride.
Paul along with other Pedal to Resettle riders fundraise to support newly arrived families with vital services such as housing, employment, education and immigration legal services. Learn more about joining Pedal to Resettle 2019 as a rider, donor or volunteer. It’s simple: you ride, refugees thrive.
World Relief Responds to Cyclone Idai
Photo Credit: FH
Nearly a week has passed since Cyclone Idai devastated three of the most vulnerable countries in Southern Africa, Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, and the full extent of the disaster and the needs are still growing. In Malawi alone, nearly one million people have been impacted by the flooding caused by Cyclone Idai.
The situation in Malawi is extremely challenging. A huge number of houses have collapsed, fields flooded, entire bridges washed away and roads made completely impassable, making access a challenge. There has also been significant destruction of crops and animals, which is likely to have a long-term impact on food availability in the affected areas.
Reflecting on the disaster, World Relief’s Country Director for Malawi, Gibson Nkanaunena, wrote:
“I am deeply touched and shocked by the devastation. The situation is extremely challenging, and people need our support. There’s been loss of lives, injuries, homes, food, household items, crops and livestock. Many have loved ones still missing. The trauma is great. The humanitarian need is great. People are in extreme need.
But I have also seen genuine compassion from neighbours, churches, government agencies, NGOs, companies, politicians and others. It seems most people want to offer help. And it has been encouraging to see the response of the local church to the needs of those in the affected regions.
Our local churches in Malawi are responding to serve the needs of the most vulnerable in the regions impacted by the floods and rain…”
Right now, World Relief Malawi is mobilizing to support communities affected by the severe flooding in two districts in the southern region of Malawi. In Machinga district, we are providing emergency assistance in the form of food support, bed-nets, blankets, water, sanitation and temporary shelter. And in Chikwawa district, one of the worst affected areas, we are working alongside local partner Evangelical Association of Malawi to address both immediate lifesaving needs, and reducing negative long-term impacts through enhancing livelihoods and building risk reduction capabilities to ensure resilience in the face of future disasters.
World Relief has had an operational presence in Malawi since 1989, with current programs spanning 10 districts in the central and northern regions of the country. World Relief’s core programs are focused on empowering local churches, maternal and child health, child and youth development, agriculture and livelihoods and disaster response. Our work has helped over 4 million people in the last 3 years.
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