Posts by worldrelief
Frontline Report: South Sudan
This year, we will be launching a new Perspectives series called Frontline Reports. This series is intended to provide updates on the countries, contexts, and situations in which we work as they continue to evolve. The reports will be written entirely by program experts and local staff on the ground.
So, how is South Sudan? It’s a question that I get a lot these days. From other humanitarians in different countries, from friends who caught a rare headline, from family members who just want to know what is it that I do all day when I say I am going back. It’s a question that is so much more complicated than it seems. I usually say something about security; well, there are roadblocks in Juba, but they seem to be leaving NGO cars alone, or the weather, rains are coming so we are enjoying some seasonal cool, and maybe a few lines about the peace process or a funding proposal I’ve been working on.
But, how is South Sudan, really? Let me start with a brief recent history. When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005, allowing the southern Sudan to vote for independence, the referendum was overwhelmingly supported. South Sudan was born on July 9, 2011 with much celebration and high hopes for the world’s newest nation. Sadly, the celebration was short-lived. On December 15, 2013, gunfire rang across Juba when the former Vice President was accused of a plot to overthrow the President. Since then, violence has been ongoing in many parts of the country, with atrocities against civilians perpetrated by all parties. The war is far more complicated than an ethnic conflict or simply a struggle for power or resources. It is one with countless actors and proxies and continuously shifting alliances.
The conflict in South Sudan has devastated a country which was already severely underdeveloped after decades of war. More than 2.45 million South Sudanese have fled the country, 65% of whom are children younger than 18. Another 1.75 million are displaced internally. 6 to 7 million South Sudanese are projected to be food insecure.
World Relief’s story in South Sudan began in 1998, and some of the areas where we have worked since then are now on the front lines of the fighting in Unity State. We are working among communities who have been forced to flee into the bush countless time when fighting erupts. They have watched their towns change hands only to be retaken by the other side the next week. They have seen their farms and their livelihoods destroyed and survived on only water lilies and other native plants for weeks at a time. They have seen their health facilities and their children’s schools destroyed.
In these communities, World Relief is responding with lifesaving health and nutrition services, as well as working to restore education and livelihoods. We are also responding to the needs of those who have had to flee these communities to the internally displaced persons’ camp in Bentiu, which currently hosts over 110,000 men, women, and children.
In Bentiu camp, we are responding with the following services:
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A primary health care facility that provides treatment for malaria, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases and other life-threatening ailments. In the last nine months, we have provided over 45,000 consultations. The facility also includes a 24-hour maternity ward, serving vulnerable mothers and their infants.
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A school which enrolled over 7,000 children this school year, over 40% of whom were girls. Our back-to-learning campaigns were so successful that we even had to enroll some children in partner schools because our registers filled so quickly!
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Two nutrition feeding sites that have treated nearly 4,000 young children and mothers for malnutrition and reached over 20,000 caretakers of young children with nutrition and feeding education in the last nine months.
Indeed these immediate interventions in Bentiu and the surrounding counties are vital in responding to the basic needs of the South Sudanese people and the needs abound.
Yet, we believe we can do more. Stability must be achieved to end the suffering, and to begin to address the underdevelopment in South Sudan. In addition to responding on the frontlines of crisis, World Relief is working to preserve peace in Ibba and Maridi Counties in Western Equatoria, where strong church leaders are standing up and say NO to conflict within their borders. There, we are working with churches of all different denominations to unite them with one another and call them back to their mandate to serve their communities not just spiritually, but also physically, economically, and socially. And they are doing it together. Congregations are caring for their sick, planting gardens for their elderly and sending their orphans to school. They are coming together to pray and host peace dialogues between armed groups before tensions escalate into violence. At World Relief, we have seen that churches have the power to sustain peace and to revitalize their communities. They will be the leaders and influencers when stability comes. And our brothers and sisters in Ibba and Maridi will be ready to teach others.
Though this work is slow and complex, we believe the impact will be transformative for thousands of vulnerable men, women and children in South Sudan.
As my team and I pray for peace, we ask you to join us in our vision for peace in South Sudan. We cannot do this without you.
Heidi Dessecker joined World Relief in 2010 and has served in both the US and International Programs. She currently serves as the Program Officer for Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Sudan. Heidi is passionate about gender issues and reaching women in some of today’s most complex crises.
Volunteer Appreciation Block Party
We hosted a volunteer appreciation block party, transforming the nondescript alley behind our office into a festive space decked out with string lights, gold confetti, balloons and colorful table settings. In addition to his official Director title, Kerry Ham was also the event’s unofficial grill master. He spent most of the day preparing chicken and steak for the 100+ staff and volunteers in attendance. In case you have not seen our office map, our staff hails from all over the world. So naturally, the menu was a potluck style international feast. Afghan musicians entertained our guests, children played corn hole and other outdoor games, and most importantly, staff were able to express their appreciation for and connect with volunteers.
Volunteering at World Relief is a unique experience. Good Neighbor Team volunteers, for example, commit to walking alongside and supporting refugee families for six months. During the block party, we had an open mic session where volunteers shared stories about working with refugee families, and most of these stories were less about the ways they helped our clients and more about the ways our new refugee neighbors changed their lives.
Thank you, volunteers! For the countless miles you have logged taking our clients to appointments, for the late night airport pickups to welcome our families, for your donations that help us furnish apartments, for opening up your homes, for your time, energy and support. We could not do our work without you!
Thanking God for A Mother’s Love
During a recent children’s sermon, our pastor asked a dozen elementary students: “What do you like best about your mom?” Their comments brought down the house! We heard how their mom, “put the head back on my Ninjago;” “scared away the monster under my bed;” “put my brother in timeout for hitting me;” “made my favorite cake for my birthday.” Jumping in, our pastor then said, “That is how God loves each of you. God is near when you’re frightened, or ill or afraid. God is always ready to listen to you and help you.”
Our children seemed convinced that God loves us like a mother, but the rest of us hesitated. How often do we consciously remind ourselves of God’s nearness and intimate attentiveness to our hopes and fears? Or that God is above gender yet inclusive of all gender—the source of what is true and good in humankind? That God created both male and female in God’s image, and that God’s fullness can only be expressed and fully appreciated in the fullness of genders, which God declared, is very good (Genesis 1:27, 31). While Mother’s Day can be painful for the childless and motherless alike, as well as the socially isolated, everyone can be comforted by God’s love.
Like a mother, God patiently suffers beside us in our fears and failures, nurtures our hopes and sustains us through every trial. That is why Mother’s Day is not only a time to give thanks for our earthly mothers, but also to remember that our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, like a cheek-to-cheek mother, knows us intimately and willingly suffers any cost to comfort, strengthen and guide us.
While Scripture teaches that God is Spirit (John 4:25) and warns against creating earthly images of God (Exodus 20:4), it also teaches that “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15-21). Christ cooked for the disciples (John 21:9); washed their feet (John 13:8); healed the ill (Luke 8:40-48); and wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41). Despite the disapproval of his disciples, Christ also honored mothers and women by welcoming them as disciples, inviting them to sit at his feet and learn from Him—a privilege that was previously reserved for men only (Luke 10:38-42). Christ prepared women as evangelists and proclaimers of the Good News (John 20:17). And when a woman was caught in adultery, Jesus invited those without sin to cast the first stone (John 8:1-11). Women’s dignity and leadership was implicit in Christ’s teachings, practices and in his challenges to the marginalization of women.
Elevating mothers and women, Christ used motherly metaphors to illustrate and amplify God’s nearness, providence and tenacious protection. In warning against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, Jesus displayed a mother’s heart that longingly protects her children, but wisely allows them free choices despite the pain God suffers when they choose unwisely. Like a mother, God cried out: “‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing,” (Matt. 23:37b).
Just as the father waited for his prodigal son, God also searches for us, God’s lost sheep, like the woman who lost a priceless coin. Unwilling to rest, she lights her lamp and furiously sweeps the house, searching in every corner until she finds her lost treasure. And, just like the father who celebrates when his prodigal son returns home, the woman also delights when she finds her priceless coin. She “calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” (Matthew 23: 9-10).
God’s work is inseparable from the hands and feet of mothers, and of the women who proactively proclaim the gospel in word and deed. Because Scripture speaks of God in both fatherly and motherly terms, we recognize that both qualities are necessary to strengthen our lives and nurture our souls. In remembering our mothers, we celebrate God who created women and mothers, and loves us like a mother. God’s motherly love is always ready to fight to the end, rather than be separated from her own flesh, just as a mother bear protects her cubs (Hosea 13:8).
On Mother’s Day we take comfort in knowing that, whatever our failures, hopes or fears, like a mother, God will move heaven and earth to reach us, heal us, lead us and comfort us.
God, thank you for loving me, and all of us, also as a mother.
Dr. Mimi Haddad is president of CBE International. She is a graduate of the University of Colorado and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (Summa Cum Laude). She holds a PhD in historical theology from the University of Durham, England.
Frontline Report: Jordan
This year, we will be launching a new Perspectives series called Frontline Reports. This series is intended to provide updates on the countries, contexts, and situations in which we work as they continue to evolve. The reports will be written entirely by program experts and local staff on the ground.
This past March marked the 7-year anniversary of the war in Syria. It is a grim anniversary, marking seven years of loss, suffering and displacement for millions of people across the Middle East. Each month, the world’s attention to the war in Syria ebbs and flows, usually dictated by a surge of media coverage in response to a specific event. But between the intermittent spikes of media attention, millions of people continually endure the consequences of violence and displacement across the Middle East
Seven years into the crisis, the massive needs of displaced populations continue to grow. Families have now mostly depleted whatever resources they managed to flee with at the start of the crisis. They face increased debt, financial pressure, shrinking resources and limited opportunities for generating income. Many are struggling to survive and meet basic needs, which sadly results in an increased reliance on negative coping mechanisms, like early or forced marriage, child labor, domestic violence and exploitative labor. Facing similarly dire circumstances, countries hosting refugees are experiencing increased pressure on already overburdened social, economic and political systems, resulting in a scarcity of resources and growing tensions between the diverse communities residing within Jordan and other countries in the Middle East.
The consequences of displacement are long-term and generational. Recognizing this complexity, World Relief come alongside these communities to build their capacity to find practical and sustainable solutions to their needs; solutions which address the root causes of the issues affecting their communities, not just the consequences.
The foundation of all of World Relief’s work in the Middle East is the belief that affected communities are in the best position to strategize and implement effective and relevant solutions that will endure for generations. Together with the community, World Relief has developed a unique framework that seeks to engage and strengthen the whole family, both as individuals and as a family unit. By targeting entire families through both individual and joint programs, World Relief desires to see vulnerable refugee families and receiving communities healed, safe and thriving, despite the incredible pressures they face.
World Relief’s programs target women, men, boys and girls in a diversity of programs, designed to help promote safe, healthy and thriving families. This has proven an effective strategy in meeting the diverse needs of vulnerable families, but also in protecting women and children, who are disproportionately endangered by violence and displacement.
World Relief’s family strengthening approach in Jordan, for example, includes the following programs, which all use uniquely designed curricula developed together with the affected community:
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Child Friendly Spaces: World Relief provides designated safe spaces where displaced children can come to play, learn and recover some of the essential developmental activities of childhood, with the support of trained facilitators. Sessions include exercise, health, school skills and life-skills.
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Literacy Support: The diverse and significant barriers that children and adults face when they flee their homes as refugees contribute to significant literacy gaps, poor motivation, and an increased risk of negative coping mechanisms. Recognizing this threat, World Relief provides Arabic and English literacy support to illiterate adults and children who are struggling to keep up in school.
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Girls’ Empowerment through Sports: In partnership with the Ministry of Education, this program provides vulnerable Jordanian and Syrian girls with access to sports. Teachers in local schools are equipped to be coaches and provide practical soccer skills as well as life-skills training to girls in the program.
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Caregiver Support Groups: Psychosocial counseling and support groups are made available to displaced women, particularly focused on mothers or caregivers.
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Positive Parenting: Our parenting group uses a curriculum that promotes positive parenting skills to promote healthy and supportive family environments. This curriculum is designed for use with both men and women, emphasizing the need for men to also engage in positive parenting.
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Marriage Strengthening: Refugee couples often face significant marital challenges catalyzed by the extreme pressure and trauma of displacement. Early marriages as well as sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) still exists in many places. World Relief has therefore developed a curricula for men and women on important marriage topics, and is piloting this with both men and women. This is often the first time men are learning and listening to the women’s perspective on important family related topics.
We are so encouraged to see how our staff and volunteers are leading these programs and seeing transformation take place in individuals, within families, and in entire communities. While the needs are many, we have great hope when we see the resolve and commitment of the communities we serve. Healthy families create healthy communities, which in turn form nations. We continue to believe in restoration, healing and thriving futures for families and communities across the Middle East!
Maggie Konstanski has been a part of the World Relief team for over 4 years, and currently serves at the Middle East Programs Technical and Operations Coordinator. With a passion for international human rights, Maggie often uses work-related travel as a platform to tell the powerful stories of the vulnerable families and communities we serve.
He is Still Good
It’s been over a full year since the first Executive Order that began a time of chaos and reductions in the refugee program – and kicked off a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. We have talked a lot over this last year about the struggles, and we know they continue. But I don’t want to just focus on loss, because as we’ve been taught, that is not the whole story.
Like many of you, I have prayed intensely in this last year for God to use His power in changing our circumstances, and I continue in those prayers. Some of the things for which I’ve cried to God have not been granted yet, and sometimes my heart hurts because of it. In those times I have reminded myself of a simple phrase: And if not, he is still good.
He is good. And I am learning to go to Him in true gratitude for His goodness. But while things don’t always go as I wish, He has provided every staff member of World Relief, and through all of you, ample evidence that He is still good and that He is blessing and affirming the work he has called us to do:
- 3 new office directors joined World Relief last January – Chitra in Seattle, Mark in Spokane and Kerry in Upstate SC – showing amazing faith in spite of circumstances.
- God allowed us to welcome 7,565 refugees and SIVs, who have fled some of the most violent conflicts in our world, to a place of safety and opportunity
- We were able to serve 7,955 participants in other refugee programs
- 10,723 immigrants got quality, low-cost legal services and were able to receive the rights of law
- 4,948 other immigrants, beyond our work with refugees, were served throughout offices to find stability and to be helped on the journey toward integration
- We were instrumental in filing 2,565 citizenship applications that will give a permanent belonging to immigrants, many of whom have no other home
- We educated 731 people about human trafficking and how they can help stop slavery
- 23 former slaves were directly served in our programs to enter a new life free of their oppression
- We processed some 6,500 new volunteer applications, a record number, and prepared this army of volunteers to love our immigrant neighbors
- We provided education or training in 523 churches, calling God’s people to welcome the stranger
- 314 church teams were formed and launched to deeply love and care for immigrant families
- As we invest in the future, we had 189 individuals attended 40-hour immigration training to prepare to represent immigrants and advocate for their rights
- In addition to our network of U.S. offices, we supported 52 church-based ILS programs as we empower the church to serve more deeply
In preparing these numbers for our upcoming annual report, we can say that despite all of the negative we have seen this year, God has worked through World Relief’s U.S. Ministries in the lives of:
- 31,900 Direct Beneficiaries
- 48,900 Indirect Beneficiaries (family members, congregants, community members, etc.)
Numbers are impressive, but we should not see these as numbers but lives – people with hopes and dreams, people made in the image of God and people God loved enough to leave the glories of heaven and come to this broken world to show how much He loves them.
And, His love is such that as the Good Shepherd, He reminds us that He would do it all for just one of us.
He is still good!
Prior to becoming the SVP of U.S. Ministries, Emily Gray served for six years as the Executive Director of World Relief’s offices in DuPage County and Aurora, Illinois. She is a former full-time missionary to Central America and is a founding member of Mission Lazarus, also serving on Mission Lazarus’ board for 15 years. Emily is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, earning a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Abilene Christian University, a Master of Social Work from Boston University, and has completed doctoral hours at the University of Texas at Arlington. She has been married for 30 years to Cary, a Computer Scientist, teacher and scholar of Christian hymns.
Responding to the AIDS Epidemic in Rwanda
April 7th is World Health Day. A significant day for the international community and the global population. Indeed, we have made great progress in the last few decades, yet today at least half of the world’s population still lack access to essential health services. As the international community is reminded today of its commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030 (as part of the Sustainable Development Goals), we too reflect on our responsibility to this global health agenda, and the potential of our innovative grassroots programming to transform the lives of many more men, women and children across the globe.
HIV/AIDS in Rwanda
The history of World Relief in Rwanda is an inspirational case study which we often seek to learn from as we develop our health programming around the world.
In 1994, World Relief began working in Rwanda. Though initially providing immediate aid and relief after the genocide, our role in the nation quickly transitioned into sustainable development work.
As the nation of Rwanda began the slow process of rebuilding, healing and reconciliation, there were many issues that relief and development agencies needed to address. Following the genocide against the Tutsi, hundreds of thousands of survivors, mostly widows, were infected with HIV as a result of the systematic rape that took place. Estimates were that between 250,000 and 500,000 surviving women and girls were raped, and in 1994, the HIV prevalence rate was estimated at 13%. As HIV/AIDS became more prevalent across Rwanda, and more broadly, Africa, World Relief Rwanda (WRR) saw a critical need to raise awareness of the disease and work to reduce stigma towards those affected.
The Role of the Church
During the 1990s, the world was only just beginning to understand the causes and scope of the global AIDS pandemic. Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs were not yet developed for distribution and stigma was widespread in Rwanda. So, in 1998, WRR launched the beginnings of a program specifically to address the perspective of the church in Rwanda toward the AIDS pandemic, and to mobilize churches to serve persons living with AIDS. WRR began HIV/AIDS engagement through first conducting surveys, where they discovered the great need for awareness about the disease. Out of 40 church leaders surveyed, WRR found that only 4 were willing to respond to the crisis, and only one was actually serving those suffering with AIDS.
“Out of 40 church leaders surveyed, WRR found that only 4 were willing to respond to the crisis, and only one was actually serving those suffering with AIDS.”
So, WRR sponsored the first gathering of over 50 denominational legal representatives, church leaders, ministry of health officials, relief organization leaders and members of the press to discuss the problem and the church’s response. At the close, church leaders made a joint commitment to fight AIDS.
They stated, “we the church leaders…together make a commitment to join hands with the government in the fight against HIV/AIDS. We acknowledge that we have the belief systems, moral authority and local presence necessary for effectiveness in HIV/AIDS prevention and care. We need training, guidance and advocacy to change belief to action and apathy to compassion…”
This statement is what paved the way for WRR’s work to train church leaders across the country. Three to five-day training sessions were instituted across the country, where pastors could be educated about HIV/AIDS, and trained to counsel people living with AIDS. Pastoral counseling manuals were also translated into Kinyarwandan, and a curriculum was developed on the Biblical call to serve those affected by the disease.
Mobilizing for Life
Working with churches overtime turned into one of the best networks for raising both support and awareness. Demands began to quickly grow, but funding was often a barrier. Through this time, WRR began to work with larger grants, such as USAID, and also work locally with smaller NGOs. The relationship between church and government leaders was strengthened, leading to close collaboration during the years that would follow. As the context changed due to reduced stigma, increased church engagement, and the accessibility of ARV drugs, WRR moved toward a greater focus on mobilization of youth and abstinence training.
Mobilizing for Life (MFL) was launched in Rwanda in July, 1999. The MFL program provided general training to pastors and volunteers, and selected volunteers were trained in counseling and home-based care. By the fall of 1999, there were 7 staff working full-time with the MFL program, and by 2003, 1256 total church members had been trained in some capacity of the MFL program.
Then came PEPFAR.
Launched in 2004 as America’s commitment to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, US President George W. Bush’s program opened up significant programmatic funds for World Relief’s work in Rwanda. With the beginning of the PEPFAR grant, WRR’s HIV/AIDS programs expanded from three provinces into all 12 provinces of Rwanda with 17 full-time staff members. The program goal of reaching 181,950 people in FY 2005 was far exceeded, reaching at least 403,560 people. By 2006, the Mobilizing for Life program was also launched in Kenya, Mozambique, and Haiti.
A Hopeful Future
For over a decade, World Relief Rwanda has now been mobilizing churches of all denominations to participate in a national multi-sector fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic. WRR’s work with HIV/AIDS has had a tremendous impact in reducing stigma across the country, caring for persons living with AIDS, mobilizing youth to practice abstinence, encouraging faithfulness among couples, and training parents and church leaders to engage the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities.
The situation in Rwanda has changed dramatically during the thirteen years that WRR has been engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The HIV infection rate has decreased significantly as a result of the combined efforts of the government, health care, churches and organizations including WRR. According to 2009 statistics, the updated estimated adult prevalence rate in Rwanda is 2.9%, with an estimated 170,000 persons living with HIV/AIDS. And the rates are continuing to decrease.
Today, World Relief Rwanda is continuing to replace stigmatization with love, care and a message of prevention and eternal hope through its programming across the nation.
*(Parts of this piece have been adapted from a 1999 article by Laura White)
Emmanuel Ngoga is the Director of Church Empowerment at World Relief Rwanda. Ngoga has been with World Relief Rwanda for over 20 years, serving in different capacities. He is a Medical Laboratory Technologist (Microbiology) and MBA with long-term experience in HIV/AIDS project management. Ngoga has been instrumental in establishing and developing the church’s role in combating HIV/AIDS by implementing programs in partnership with churches across denominations, networking and participating in government forums on the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. He has actively disseminated lessons learned to churches, PVOs, government officials and donors through presentations at national and international meetings. He is now charged with building, improving and maintaining relationships with churches in Rwanda, and mobilizing and empowering the local churches to serve the most vulnerable. Ngoga is married to Mary and they have a son named Barnabas.
As DACA Deadline Passes, World Relief Presses Congress to Pass Legislative Solution for Dreamers
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
March 9, 2018
CONTACTS:
Jenny Yang 443.527.8363
Matthew Soerens 920.428.9534
As DACA Deadline Passes, World Relief Presses Congress to Pass Legislative Solution for Dreamers
BALTIMORE — As the March 5th deadline by which thousands of recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) were to lose their temporary legal status in the United States has passed, World Relief urges Congress to take action to protect Dreamers on a permanent basis.
There are approximately 1.8 million individuals in the United States, otherwise known as Dreamers, who do not have any legal status because they were brought into the United States by their parents illegally or overstayed their visa. Their status has been a point of debate in our country, with Congress failing to enact legislation that would allow these individuals a pathway for earned legalization to stay in the country they’ve called home.
The creation of the DACA program allowed Dreamers to be de-prioritized for deportation and obtain temporary work authorization for a period of two years, subject to renewal. They had to meet certain criteria and not have a criminal record. Since the start of the program, nearly 800,000 individuals received DACA status.
“The burden is on Congress to pass a permanent legislative fix to help Dreamers in this country. But yet, Congress has repeatedly failed to act,” said Scott Arbeiter, President of World Relief. In the last effort, during the week of February 12th, the Senate voted multiple proposals to legalize the status of DACA recipients and other Dreamers, with a combination of border security, cuts to family-based immigration, and more stringent immigration enforcement in general. However, all these bills failed to pass.
“The level of fear and insecurity in our country felt by vulnerable immigrant communities is real and palpable and has increased significantly over the past year,” continued Arbeiter. “Congress must put aside politics and not kick the can further down the road.”
On February 7, World Relief published a full-page ad in the Washington Post that asked the President and Congress to work together to pass a legislative solution for Dreamers in the country. In just a few weeks, the letter garnered over 3,000 signatures with church leaders from every state supporting immigrants in the United States.
“Every day that passes without a legislative fix for Dreamers is another day of uncertainty our immigrant brothers and sisters face living in a country they’ve called home,” said Arbeiter. “We had asked churches to continue to serve and assist their immigrant neighbors during this time, and we believe Congress has a role to play to ensure our immigrant neighbors can thrive.”
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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World Relief is a global humanitarian relief and development organization that stands with the vulnerable and partners with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transform lives and build sustainable communities. With over 70 years of experience, World Relief works in 20 countries worldwide through disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding and has offices in the United States that specialize in refugee and immigration services.
Website | worldrelief.org Twitter | @WorldRelief
How We Can Make Room for Women
In January, World Relief co-hosted a consultation on “Development, Gender, and Christianity” with Wheaton College and the Imago Dei Fund. Faith-based non-profit staff, church leaders, advocacy experts and academics gathered together to discern why—despite greater awareness that investing in women is good for global development*—things aren’t improving for so many women around the world.
The wise women and men present had decades of collective experience with human trafficking, sexual abuse, women’s and children’s health and developing women as individuals and leaders[DN1] . Before we rolled up our sleeves and got to our important work, we allowed ourselves a moment to lament: “How much longer before every woman, created in the image of God, is free to express the image God has placed in her?”
Realities speak to the shrinking spaces women occupy in countries and communities around the world, even in our churches. Violence against women occurs in countries and communities around the world, and even in our churches. The recent #churchtoo movement proved what statistics already show—the rate of sexual and physical assaults in church communities isn’t less than in the rest of society. Globally, 1 in 3 women—churched or not—have a story to tell. White women in the US earn an average 82 cents to men’s dollar. But in many countries, the pay gap is even wider; women earn an average of only 60-75% of men’s wages despite the benefits a woman’s paycheck has to her family and community. Researchers estimate that this year 12 million girls and young women will marry before their 18th birthday, some as young as 10 years old.
Clearly, much work remains to be done.
As a little girl, my dad, a filmmaker, taught me about the “blue hour.” He would pine for this moment when, on a cloudless sky, the red of day and blue of night make room for one another, intersecting to create an irresistible quality of light.
Light is not at its most beautiful at midday or midnight, but rather, at the moment when one is making room for the other. The “blue hour” echoes a lesson we find over and over in Scripture: we are to love and prefer one another; we are to make room for one another.
The woman with the issue of blood had no room among the crowd. Rejected by her community—unclean and unwanted—she had to work hard to get to Jesus, to reach out her hand and touch the hem of his garment. Without even turning, Jesus knew that this woman needed his help. He was her last and only hope. Jesus does not turn away from her need because of her status. Instead, Jesus makes room.
In Luke 22: 25 – 27, Jesus declared: “The kings of the Gentiles rule over their subjects… But I am among you as one who serves.” The King of kings did not come to recline at the table, but to kneel and wash the feet of his disciples. Likewise, Jesus did not come to uphold hierarchies but to break down centuries of injustice.
Jesus comes to us today too, to break down power structures in our communities, to elevate those society overlooks, and to make room for women.
All around us, women are defying the odds. Like the woman who longed to be healed, they’re pressing through crowds toward health and safety for themselves and their children, toward education and into board rooms and pulpits. Some are too tired to press through the crowds. Many don’t see a way through anymore and it is our responsibility to press toward them.
Men and women—working side by side—can transform the role and experience of women in our societies. The idea of elevating women may be threatening, but men actually benefit when women are empowered to lead. When women and men collaborate in decision-making, households, communities, and institutions become more productive and inclusive. Men’s relationships with their wives, children, and communities become more fulfilling. And, men are able to be who God is calling them to be instead of conforming to what society wants them to be.
We are not all called to become activists. But we can all co-labor toward this transformation in our own communities. It begins with responding to the invitation to think deeply about how we can create more room for women in the spaces we are already in.
At World Relief, we are committed to crafting new spaces for women to flourish. We are doing this in simple, tangible, daily ways—in our programming and throughout the organization.
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As the most vulnerable in most communities, women are impacted by our programming. We are working increasingly around metrics that measure maximum impact on women and girls to guide our program design.
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We recently signed the #SilenceIsNotSpiritual Statement in recognition that churches and Christian communities are not exempt from putting women at risk of sexual abuse. Our entire staff and leadership are participating in non-harassment training to ensure that male and female staff work side by side in an equitable, non-threatening way.
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We are intentionally creating opportunities for women leaders at World Relief. Along with others, we recognize the lack of women in top tiers of leadership in the entire faith-based NGO sector as a problem, and are taking practical steps to correct it within our own organization.
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We are continuing to partner with the Wheaton consultation and other collaborations. Much remains to be learned about the important roles women must play at all levels of communities and organizations, and we welcome the opportunity to learn and grow with other development organizations.
We can each do one thing today to elevate a girl or woman. Perhaps this means stepping aside and giving some of our space to her. The question is: are we willing to make room?
* “Aid programs that provide women opportunities to better their health, education, and well-being have effects far beyond a single individual. A woman multiplies the impact of an investment made in her future by extending benefits to the world around her, creating a better life for her family and building a strong community.” (USAID: https://www.usaid.gov/infographics/50th/why-invest-in-women )
Eeva Simard is the Project Director of Human Capital at World Relief. For the past ten years, she’s worked with multiple non-profits, where she has been committed to excellence in project management and communication, common sense leadership and the empowerment and training of colleagues, particularly helping women’s voices be heard at top levels of leadership.
For the Women (feat. Amena Brown)
It’s International Women’s Day!
This year, we say “Thank God for Women” not only with our words but with our commitment to create a better world for women—a world where every woman and girl has the dignity, opportunity and security she deserves.
We’re incredibly grateful to author and spoken word poet Amena Brown, who wrote an original piece entitled For The Women. We invite you to watch and share this video as widely as possible, inviting others to join the dance and fight for justice.
World Relief Issues Statement on supporting Refugees and the Vulnerable Immigrants in Brazil.
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
March 7, 2018
CONTACT:
lma@lmainternational.org
World Relief Issues Statement on supporting Refugees and the Vulnerable Immigrants in Brazil.
Our world is currently in the midst of the greatest refugee crisis in history. Of the world’s 22.5 million refugees, the UN estimates that 1.2 million are in critical need of resettlement in 2018 because they face extreme vulnerabilities or family reunification needs.
Desperate for protection and surrounded by unfamiliar, sometimes unwelcoming faces, refugees are truly some of the world’s most vulnerable people. World Relief is committed to helping refugees and immigrants from all countries resettle and rebuild their lives. Our expertise gained in over 70 years of aid and development gives us the ability to meet the immediate needs of the vulnerable, and implement programs which lead to sustainable growth and development – transforming vulnerable regions into thriving communities.
World Relief has begun preliminary discussions with UNHCR | UN – Brazil, Brazilian Authorities and other local non-governmental organizations to develop partnerships to serve refugees and vulnerable immigrants.
This week, two of our Senior Vice Presidents, Dr. Mark Reddy and Dr. Emily Gray along with Dra. Cintia Meirelles, Executive Director of LMA Consulting (our representatives for World Relief implementation studies in Brazil), were in meetings with His Eminence Cardinal Don Orani João Tempesta, President of CARITAS Dr. Cândido Feliciano together with Monsignor André Sampaio, other local representatives of that institution.
They were also meetings at the Municipal Secretariat for Human Rights and Citizenship of the City of São Paulo with the Honorable Secretary, Dra. Eloisa Arruda addressing possible partnerships and also in Brasilia with UNHCR – ACNUR Brazil addressing an extensive refugee resettlement project.
We are extremely pleased with the outcome of these meetings, and are hoping to establish partnerships in the short term.
Tim Breene,
CEO of World Relief
Download the PDF version of this press release.
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World Relief is a global humanitarian relief and development organization that stands with the vulnerable and partners with local churches to end the cycle of suffering, transform lives and build sustainable communities. With over 70 years of experience, World Relief works in 20 countries worldwide through disaster response, health and child development, economic development and peacebuilding and has offices in the United States that specialize in refugee and immigration services.
Website | worldrelief.org Twitter | @WorldRelief
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