Posts Tagged ‘World Relief’
United As One Body: The Evangelical Day of Prayer and Action
Gabriel and Vanesa DĂĄvila-Luciano, a dynamic brother-sister music duo called Dexios, joined World Relief and other organizations on April 17 for the Evangelical Day of Prayer and Action. Here, Vanesa shares her reflections on the day:
On April 17th, our music ministry, DĂšxios was part of the Evangelical Day of Prayer and Action in Washington, DC. As part of the Advocacy Week, this event called all those who were willing and able to join G92, World Relief and other organizations.
After participating in worship sessions, visits to the representatives in the Capitol, prayer walks and dialogue with fellow participants that went there to share their personal struggles with immigration, Gabriel and I (Vanesa) are both convinced that being part of this event has been a transforming experience in our spiritual journey and our personal lives.
That day was an inspiration to see the Christian community, in all its diversity, unite as one body to worship together and raise one prophetic voice in solidarity with those who have suffered rejection, the injustice and lack of compassion for being immigrants. That same voice resonated in the halls and offices of representatives and senators with over 80 meetings. We were part of the meetings with representatives of the states of Florida and Virginia (where we each reside).
Having listened and dialogued with people that live with the uncertainty of deportation, even after going through all the proper legal process, made us reaffirm the spiritual and moral obligation we have as Christians and human beings to put ourselves in the place of those in need of justice, to speak and fight for those who cannot or dare not.
As DĂšxios, we recognize that there’s much to do to reach the goal of a comprehensive reform that is just and compassionate. However, our ministry harbors the same hope as Jenny Yang, vice-president of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief: “… a bill that reflects the many principles that World Relief has supported⊔ is the commitment towards freedom and human dignity.
From “We lost” to “We arrived” – Refugees share their journeys
Every year, World Relief staff and volunteers help thousands of refugees – victims of war and persecution – replant their lives in the United States. With 24 offices across the U.S., World Relief is the biggest evangelical refugee resettlement agency in America. Our staff and volunteers come alongside America’s newcomers, helping them adjust to the culture, find employment, learn English, take steps towards citizenship and build a future for themselves and their children.
World Relief has resettled more than 9,000 refugees in Minnesota since 1989. Here are a few of their stories:
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Interested in volunteering with an office near you? Visit our website: www.worldrelief.org/US.
“This should not happen to people”
In honor of International Women’s Day, our Country Director of Indonesia, Jo Ann de Belen reflects on those close to her heart and why she wants to be part of changing the world.
I once knew a leper. He was close to me. Apart from his leprosy, he was just like any one of us. A creation made in the image of God. Without touching me, he taught me music, math, and how to laugh at myself. He contracted this dreaded illness when he was a child, at a time when there was no definite cure for it.
The stigma of the illness was so great, that his own family was ashamed to tell others. And so his parents kept this dark secret to themselves while they can. The teenage boy did not enjoy what others enjoyed. He was kept inside the house, not brought to big family gatherings or to be âdisplayedâ publicly. He wore clothes that would conceal his open lesions.
Even when he was in a crowd, he felt alone. He suffered all this by himself, not understanding what it was. His parents, perhaps not knowing what to do, just pretended to the world that he did not exist. He grew up to be an adult and married and had children and tried to live a normal life. But the world wouldnât let him. He died a lonely man, alone in a room, visited by only a handful.
As I remember this friend with leprosy and feel his isolation and pain, I remember the people we serve in the highlands of Papua. The ones infected with AIDS. What could they be feeling? Whatever it is, it couldnât be much different from what the leper felt. Alone, isolated, shunned.
The stigma against AIDS is so strong, the oppression against people with AIDS so overpowering, that I askâŠ. What can we do? How can we change all this?
This should not happen to people, Godâs own creatures made after His image and likeness.
This is why I feel so strongly about Godâs children learning to love those that the world has shunned, ridiculed, thrown away, isolated.
I long to see the church in Papua embrace back those who are afflicted with AIDS, to care for the children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS, and to make sure that this disease is wiped out of Papua.
I pray that God makes this happen soon. So that no one will have to suffer, and suffer alone.
Fingerprints.
by Maggie Utsey
fingerprints.They tell a story all by themselves.
Anointed and blessed are my days. His fingerprints are all over them.
This week began in a 15-passenger van packed with 8 languages and 7 eager faces ready to put their best foot forward. Hours and interviews later, Iâd picked up new words in each language and forgot for a moment that people actually get paid to do this. I love teaching our clients and learning from them; the city is our classroom and it always feels like recess.
I love racing a child on his tricycle in the rickety WR van; rearranging car seats and buckling kids; making faces when words are few, lost in translation and teaching me to value the quiet. I love feeling like a mom as we adopt every person in love, as Christ adopted me. I love realizing that weâve moved from strangers to family.
Looking through pictures of the refugee camp, Sâs whole family, and his best friendâs wedding, my heart does not pity but rather swells as I see in his eyes that these are good memories, and this new season is good too. Itâs amazing what our eyes can communicate without a word from our lips.
I love how much Iâm learning and how much I still donât know – about people, God, the world and its stories -and the hunger for more.
I love authentic Ethiopian food, eaten only with your hands, and the way I speak refugee on accident these days.
I love the story that unfolds over three glasses of peach punch around the dining table. The one that Iâm so careful not to ask about. I love that the laughter is more powerful than the pain and loss – which are being redeemed. He is already made new, restored; heâs just figuring it out one day at a time.
Today I helped one of my favorite people apply for jobs, spent time looking at a map, meandered the international farmers market, wrote a letter in spanrwali (a delightful language that fits me perfectly – Spanish, Kinyarwanda, & Swahili), and tucked away a few smiles. I love those moments – when you donât want the other person to know how much they make you smile so you wait until theyâre not looking to let it light up your face. Itâs a special kind of secret with God, and He smiles with me.
These are good days. He is in the details.
Maggie Utsey is a volunteer with World Relief in Atlanta. You can follow her blog here.
Changing the Reality in Haiti
By Jean-Baptiste Francois, Agriculture Manager, World Relief Haiti
When I was a child, I had the opportunity to live in the rural area of Haiti with my uncle for two months every year during school vacations. For two decades, I saw my uncle always laboring the soil with a rake, pickaxe, hoe, and a cow when necessary. During that time, he was never able to buy a much-needed motorcycle to help him and his family because the income produced was not enough.
He always talked about losses. Many were the factors for the low income and the losses: lack of rain (because there wasnât any irrigation system), pests and disease invading the plantation, among others.
Today, at World Reliefâs Demonstration Farm in Christianville, we are producing vegetable seedlings (pepper and tomatoes) in one of the high-tunnels – similar to greenhouses, but made for warm climate, such as Haitiâs. With this high-tunnel, the impact of pests and disease can be reduced and controlled.
Agriculturally speaking, plants are similar to human beings, as they are most vulnerable during their first 30 days of life, a period called the ânursing stageâ, which includes seed germination and the emergence of a new plant. It is important to provide maximum care in order have healthy plants ready to be transplanted. Often, crop deficiencies and diseases noted in the field initiate during this nursing stage.
As agriculture specialists, it is easy for us to understand the importance of producing seedlings in a controlled area. Plants are easier to manage, transport and transplant, develop a healthier and fuller root system to sustain the plant and provide ample nutrition for a better harvest.
However, small-holder farmers in Haiti, accustomed to using traditional methods, do not adopt these practices and technologies quickly. They require a much greater investment in the short-term than farmers are able to afford. We continue in our work even if more time is needed for the farmers to both understand the importance and have the ability to adopt appropriate technology in the rural areas. We know it will be more beneficial and profitable for them in the long-term.
We want the farmers to experience what can be accomplished by adopting appropriate technologies, so they can be as successful in agricultural production as farmers from other countries.
As Agriculture Manager for World Relief, I can now help small-holder farmers in Haiti, like my uncle, to change that reality of loss.
Following the Flood – Part 2
Paul Erickson continues his account of his journey through Gaza Province, Mozambique. To see more pictures, click here.It will take months and months for everyone to establish their normal lives again, if at all. But this will be unlikely if they donât receive food and potable water and electricity soon. Those who stayed behind or returned to Chokwe after the waters began to recede, are far from the relocation centers where at least some basic provisions are being distributed.
As we leave Chokwe late in the afternoon, I notice with great sadness that the horrific sight that greeted me this morning while driving into town is still there â a precious life lost, the body still uncollected. I canât make sense of it. All Iâm clear about is that the residents of Chokwe and those thousands who fled the floodwaters and who have little or nothing to return to need our help. In times like these, which seem ever more frequent, Christ calls us still to reach out with compassion to a world in need.
The latest figures reported by AFP are that at least 36 Mozambicans have been killed and nearly 70,000 have been displaced.
Later in the afternoon, as we make the return drive to Macia, we stop to drop off Maposse at his makeshift, under-a-tree shelter. Maposse is a local World Relief staff person and now also a displaced former resident of Chokwe who, together with his family, is himself sheltering in the temporary resettlement camp in Chihaquelane.
The vast increase in the number of relocated victims here now compared to when we passed by only several hours earlier is astonishing. Initially set up to âhouseâ perhaps 20-30,000 people, the makeshift camps have been burgeoning with people fleeing with their families and belongings. In the hours between morning and afternoon, the numbers increased visibly, and as the waters recede further, relief agencies are predicting that more people will arrive from across the Limpopo River. As the camps are just being set up today, systems for food and water distribution are still being prepared. Key problems are latrines as well as shelter, as more and more people arrive to the site. Without adequate sanitation, disease will spread quickly; and if cholera strikes, a new disaster may begin.
Both in the camps and in the town, food is a serious issue. Food stores in Chokwe and other affected towns were destroyed, and people â mainly women and children â are waiting desperately for distributions to reach them.
Aid is arriving. While we were there, helicopters and trucks were passing through the area, leaving supplies, and seeking out still stranded people. Those in the camp, however, must simply wait. They will not be able to return to what is left of their homes for weeks or even months. They will eventually receive temporary shelter â tents or supplies to build a makeshift roof â and they will receive stipends of food or water. Children will learn to play between the tents and under the trees, and some lucky ones may even get to go to school, but life will never be the same for any of them.
Paul Erickson Maputo, Mozambique
Click here for World Reliefâs response to the flood.
Transformation through Savings for Lifeâą
In June, Second Presbyterian Church of Memphis, TN took a Vision Trip with World Relief to Mozambique and Malawi. One team member, Cory Brown, an attorney at Rainey, Kizer Reviere & Bell, PLC reflects on his trip:
Our small team traveled to Malawi to explore a potential partnership with World Relief. On our second day in Malawi, our World Relief hosts led us to a small village in the Ntchisi district to meet with staff members, local leaders, ministry personnel and volunteers. We were introduced to numerous village program participants, dined with a local pastor and toured a small livestock operation.
However, the initiative that made the greatest impact on me was a small group of village women engaged in micro-finance.
Gathered around the edges of a large blanket sat about a dozen women of varying ages. The groupâs leader opened a wooden box with multiple locks. Inside the box were account books belonging to each member that recorded the respective memberâs investment. With the account books was a small stack of cash representing the collective investment from which the group gave out individual loans.
As we watched, the members engaged in a myriad of transactions: applying for loans, granting loans, rejecting loans, inquiring on the status of existing loans, detailing foreclosure rules and discussing interest rates.
It was not only encouragement or hope that struck me – customary emotions for an outsider witnessing such an event – but humility.
As a transactional attorney, I often spend days drafting complicated agreements between sophisticated parties memorializing complex arrangements, purchases and sales. The ensuing legal fees incurred by those parties are often substantial. But here were a dozen parties, unrepresented by counsel, buying and selling shares in a business entity of their own imagination, borrowing funds, and paying back principal and interest all without lengthy contracts or corporate authority.
Fortunately, once back at home I was able to convince myself that business attorneys perform an indispensable service for the companies they represent, but I could not help but think that maybe the ladies of that particular village were better off without âadvice of counsel.â
Savings for Lifeâą works by educating trainers to mobilize and train groups of community members in how to build and manage their own savings fund. As the savings fund accumulates, group members access small loans from the fund to finance business or consumption needs. Loans have fixed terms and are repaid with a service fee, which is retained within the group in order to grow the groupâs savings fund and provide a return on their savings. Groups are self-managed and set their own policies for their operations.
To support a Savings Group, click here.
A quiet, yet brave mother
At her upstairs apartment, Fardowsa greeted us at the door â a young Somali lady, tall, dressed in a flowery hijab. She invited us into the living room of the apartment she shares with her mother, Rukiya, who was seated on the carpet and covered with a pile of blankets in the chill of February. Their home is simple, only a small couch along the wall in the living room, a few rugs and mats to provide more seating on the carpet, but they smiled at our arrival and welcomed us in from the cold.
While Fardowsa busied herself in the adjoining kitchen, Rukiya began to talk to me through the Somali translator. As a volunteer for World Relief and a freelance writer, I had expressed a willingness to write the story of any refugee who wanted to share, and Rukiya had stepped forward. She had taken my beginning English class the previous year, was always one of the quieter, more hesitant students, and I was surprised to discover she was the one I would be interviewing this day. My perception of her hesitancy proved to be incorrect, however. With the translator relaying her words to me and Fardowsa making interjections in Somali and English, Rukiya conveyed the details of how she and her daughter came to this part of the U.S.
Rukiya lived with her husband and four sons in Kismaayo, Somalia, where he was a teacher in a madrasah. In 1991, though Rukiya was eight months pregnant with their fifth child, the family was forced with many others to flee during civil war. They made their way on foot toward the border of Ethiopia, Rukiya carrying their infant son on her back, her husband carrying the 2-year-old on his shoulders, the 3-year-old walking hand-in-hand with his father, and the 4-year-old boy walking separately with a group of relatives. The trek would be difficult for Rukiya at this stage of her pregnancy, but they had no choice but to leave their home.
As they walked toward Ethiopia, their group was hit by a round from a mortar. Life changed in an instant for Rukiya. She saw that her husband and the two boys with him were killed by the blast, and she herself was injured in the left leg. It wasnât until later that someone nearby told her the baby on her back had been killed as well. When she was reunited with the relatives caring for her older son, she found out that he had survived the blast, but he had later been bitten by a snake and died. Her entire family was gone.
Rukiya continued walking with other refugees toward Ethiopia for another month. Shortly before they reached the border, she gave birth to Fardowsa with the help of the ladies in her group. They arrived in Ethiopia while Fardowsa was a newborn, and for the next 19 years their refugee camp was the only life the girl or her mother knew. During that time, they never had enough food rations to keep them from being hungry. Rukiya collected and sold firewood to buy more for them to eat, but it never seemed like enough.
In late 2010, World Relief helped resettle Rukiya and Fardowsa in Eastern Washington, where Fardowsa now attends ESL classes at the local college. Because of a disability in her hands, Rukiya canât easily perform many basic tasks, such as holding a pencil or cooking meals, and Fardowsa is her care-giver. World Relief helped them find low-income housing and get the assistance they need from the government, and both ladies are grateful that they are able to live here in this apartment together.
When she finished telling me the details of her story, Rukiya shifted the blankets on her lap. The sound of pots and dishes came from the kitchen. Rukiya continued to speak.
She said people often tell her that she must be a very strong lady to endure the circumstances of her life â many people would go crazy if the same things had happened to them. But, she says, the events in Somalia and Ethiopia did change her. She is a different person now from who she was before. The trauma damaged her ability to remember things, making learning English even more difficult for her, and she isnât able to speak as well as she once could in her native language.
Without my having to ask her the question, Rukiya explained that the reason she wanted to share her story with me and with others is so that she can find justice for what happened to her and her family. She said she doesnât know who killed her husband and children, doesnât know who launched the mortar round â but telling people what happened to them is her way of declaring this is not right, and it needs to be made right. Rukiya hopes her story will help other people, not just Somalis, get the help they need in unjust situations. Over the course of an hour on the floor of her living room, Rukiya transformed from the quiet, hesitant student I knew in class into a brave woman who isnât afraid to share her story to benefit others.
Written by Rebecca Henderson, World Relief Volunteer
Desperate People â We Go Fix It?
Tina O’Kelley, World Relief Communications, serving in Haiti
Christians help people, right? It is our privilege to step in when there is a need and respond with compassion and our abundant resources. Desperate people â we go fix it.
Isnât that what Jesus called us to do?
Here is a story that might end differently than you would think. Table du Seigneur (The Lordâs Table) is a little church in Bertain, a town just 15 miles outside of Port-au-Prince, up on a steep hillside perched over a river. Pastor Bertrand LynchĂ© has been leading the service here in a building too small to hold his congregation. Every Sunday, churchgoers stood outside, and Pastor Bertrand dreamed of a larger building that could accommodate everyone. Not being on the radar of any foreign aid organizations, Pastor Bertrand felt he would never see his dream come to pass. One day, he was invited to an UMOJA seminar by Romnal Colas of World Relief. It was explained to him that UMOJA is a new approach to development using the Bible as a tool to help communities identify their strengths and use their resources to help themselves and others.
Pastor Bertrand accepted and with two deacons in his church, joined about twenty other pastors and church leaders to hear about overcoming problems by using the resources at hand.
During the week long seminar, Pastor Bertrand got the point – If I can expand the vision of my church members with this new approach, WE can expand our church building. After months of encouragement on the part of their pastor, Table du Seigneur responded. Without waiting for outside aid, they gathered money, materials and community support for the addition. âWe are almost finished with the work. We did it ourselves and are very proud,â reports Pastor Bertrand.
Work in Haiti is often accomplished against a backdrop of thoughtful discussion: How can aid be given so that we promote community initiative and avoid fostering dependency? Are we taking over when we should stand at the sidelines and cheer on the Haitian church? How can we encourage local pastors to envision their own solutions and not wait on ours? These questions are not unique to work in Haiti, of course, but are especially important here where so many come, wanting to fix problems and help out.
World Relief Haiti did step in and give a gift to Pastor Bertrand, a way of moving forward that is not dependent and powerless but connects the church directly to the creative power of God. Now, if we visit, weâll fit inside, but soon, perhaps, Table du Seigneur will need a new addition. Any church with this kind of vision is likely to see God bring an increase, more than they could âask or imagine.â
*Thank you to Jeff Saintphard, World Relief Haiti Facilitator for the eyewitness account of Table du Seigneur.
Refugees in Indonesia: Ministry of Presence
By Mikey and Jeana Master, Church Engagement Coordinators for World Relief Indonesia
Stepping out the door of the detention center, into the courtyard shared by the asyleesâ rooms, we were greeted by twenty faces waiting to see ours. Twenty men: all with different stories, all from broken places, all carrying disappointment. Literally trapped between the land they are fleeing and the land that could give them freedom, they spend their days waiting. We did not exchange handshakes or words for long, but it was a moving moment. It was moving because we cannot give them the freedom they desire. It was moving because many of them come from countries that are broken, in part, because of ours. It was moving because as they unapologetically stared at us, their eyes spoke louder than their words.
The detention centers here in Indonesia are holding people who were caught attempting to flee their country for Australia. They come from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Nepal and more. Some left because they were being harassed by the Taliban, some are part of ethnic groups that leave them as refugees in their own country, and others fled the consequences of war. The majority tend to be young men, but there are also elderly men and families as well. Most commonly, fishermen promise these people a safe boat journey to Australia. The price for a spot is high, but for many, itâs worth the cost. However, these fishermen leave out an important detail: as soon as the boat nears Australia, the Australian Navy directs them to Indonesia where the asylum seekers will be held in legal limbo.
photo by Michael Masters
World Relief partners with IOM (International Organization for Migration) to serve these people as they wait for the appropriate paper work to begin a new life in Australia. Ours is a ministry of presence, teaching English, photography, arts and crafts.
For those we work with, the center in Bali is the first stop. This is a high security holding place from which they are transported to West Java, where they are given bigger living spaces and small freedoms. The length of time they spend there is uncertain; some people have been waiting for eight years. Currently, the center on Java has about 200 people, and 100 people stay here in Bali, although the numbers are always fluctuating.
For these refugees trapped in a place of waiting, disappointment and little hope, World Relief steps alongside to love, serve and listen to those made invisible behind walls – yet still remain incredibly close to Christâs heart for the homeless and displaced.
The Masters serve with World Relief as volunteers. To learn more about World Relief Indonesia and the work happening there, click here.