On May 31, UMCOR West Office and Depot celebrated its second anniversary. During these two years, groups from all over the United States have come to the depot to volunteer for a week at a time to build disaster relief kits. The kits are then sent all over the world to the most vulnerable populations. This spring and summer, UMCOR West has welcomed record numbers of volunteers, our facility will be filled to capacity until the middle of November. In short, this new ministry here, in the Western Jurisdiction of the UMC, is booming beyond expectation.
With this increase in volunteerism comes a unique problem; namely, our supplies for building UMCOR disaster relief kits are quickly disappearing. It should be noted that all of our supplies come from the generosity of ordinary United Methodists in churches across the country. These supplies are collected at local churches and sent to us at UMCOR West. Congregation members may also give to Advance # 901440, which allows both UMCOR West Office and Depot and UMCOR Sager Brown to buy in bulk.
Please consider helping UMCOR West further our efforts by sending completed kits and partial kits to us at UMCOR WEST, 1479 South 700 West, Salt Lake City, UT, 84104 or, by supporting our purchasing of supplies by using the Advance #901440 at advancinghope.org. Currently, we are in need of School Kits, Health Kits, and Layette Kits. Thanks in advance for your generosity!
Note: If you are interested in scheduling an UMVIM (United Methodist Volunteers In Mission Team) to serve at UMCOR Depot West, contact your UMVIM Annual Conference Coordinator.
Kamina Project, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa
The Kamina ministry in the Democratic Republic of Congo uses an integrated development model. This approach strategically links UMCOR health, agriculture and nutrition, and water and sanitation programs with NGO programs.
Thirty community health workers were identified through the Kamina Health Center community volunteer initiative. They were organized and given orientation on the benefits of agriculture and water and sanitation programs, as well as basic hygiene programs.
Community health workers are learning integrated crop and pest management practices. They have organized themselves to develop a group farm and plan to expand it each year. The community health workers will be further trained in household water filtration units that can be locally manufactured to provide income generation in addition to clean water. Cisterns or borehole wells will also be dug in communities in the future.
The overall, multi-year integrated program is expected to include improved food security and nutrition through sustainable agricultural techniques, livelihood opportunities through increased food production and water
filtration production, and better health through appropriate water and sanitation systems.
Latin America/Caribbean:
Honduras, Mariposa Project in Talanga
This relatively new initiative will expand and integrate existing local ministries. A partnership with the United Methodist Mission in Honduras, this project has a goal to empower single mothers through education, vocational and trade training, health services, and cultural, community, and economic development. The project will be implemented by the local community with support from mission staff and with assistance from existing governmental institutions. Church members will be heavily involved, along with missionary oversight.
About 100 miles northeast of the capital city of Harare is Nyadire, where Nyadire United Methodist Hospital (NUMH) is located. It is a part of the larger Nyadire United Methodist Mission complex, which includes a primary and a secondary school, a teachers college, a United Methodist church, and a cooperative farm.
NUMH staff members strive to deliver quality health care services and improve the quality of life of people in the community. At Nyadire, the most common patient ailments include tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, malnutrition, and hypertension. HIV/AIDS is also commonly seen at the hospital, especially in pregnant mothers.
NUMH has many services to offer its patients and the Nyadire community, but there is still a great need. The primary challenge currently facing Nyadire United Methodist Hospital is the retention and adequate training of its staff.
Salary and taxation issues that discourage doctors, nurses, and aides to work in a mission or other private hospitals compound the lack of housing. At times UMCOR has provided additional salary support for hospital staff to ensure that the people of Nyadire continue to have the medical care they so desperately need.
Supply shortages are a serious issue for Nyadire and hospitals and clinics throughout Zimbabwe. Basic supplies such as gauze and gloves are in high demand. All of the doctors and nurses speak of the need for pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, painkillers, anti-retroviral drugs for HIV patients and test kits for HIV.
UMCOR helps to supply these through Medicine Box shipments and facilitating the delivery of additional medicines and supplies, particularly during hard times.
Nyadire Hospital receives support from UMCOR through the Hospital Revitalization program. You can support Hospital Revitalization by giving to UMCOR Advance #982168.
You can watch the upcoming Senegal Mission Initiative Consultation on the internet tonight, November 12th from 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM Central Standard Time. I hope you will watch and listen as we celebrate the mission through wonderful music from Senegal and partner churches telling their stories. We will hear from our Mission Superintendent, Rev. Joe Bleck, and GBGM missionary, Rev. Paul Messer. You can also participate in the conversation. Please feel free to type in your questions or comments live on the webcast page.
Thanks for your participation! This is an exciting new way for the Senegal Mission Initiative to communicate with our partners around the world. See you on the webcast!
The attached message comes via Our Family Adoptions, which is the UMC-affiliated adoption agency with Jamaa Letu orphanage in Congo. (the one we have worked with for years in PNW conference). It highlights efforts to raise awareness for peace with justice in the DRC. If you can share any of it with your UMVIM network, that would be awesome.
We just returned from there in September, looking at a new site for medical teams in partnership with the UMCOR Hospital Revitalization program. We'll be leading a medical team back in spring 2010.Our goal is to take folks who will commit to returning with a team from their region at a later date. But we are limited to 10 participants. If you have one (medical) person from your jurisdiction that might be interested in joining us (with the full intent of returning with a team in the future) please let us know. This person must have international experience, as the conditions are harsh. We currently have one or two spaces remaining. Thanks
Kurt and Jan Kaiser Retired UMVIM,WJ coordinators 208-263-4094 love2trvl@imbris.com
RE: Breaking the Silence -- Congo Week 2009 October 18th-25th The second annual Congo Week was started in 2008 to raise awareness of the chain of relationships causing the longstanding violent conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Wars in DRC have killed over 5.4 million people in the last decade, making it the deadliest conflict since WWII. It is a global embarrassment that most of these deaths were not caused by direct violence, but result from a lack of access to clean water and simple sanitation. Throughout eastern DRC, a confusing list of armed rebel groups vie for control of portions the landscape. Each commit horrific atrocities against civilians in campaigns of terror. They gang-rape women, children and men. They burn villages. They force children to kill their own parents, then enslave the children, using girls for sex, and boys as soldiers and slave laborers. Control of the region is the goal for these groups simply because it is profitable.
Eastern Congo contains huge quantities of ores of precious metals: cassiterite (tin), columbite-tantalite (coltan),and others. In particular, coltan is used to make the tiny tantalum capacitors that go into electronic devices such as cellphones, laptop computers, video games and DVD players.“Artisanal miners”, enslaved by the rebel forces, dig raw ore from the earth by hand, and 150-lb. loads are smuggled by porters across poorly-guarded borders into the neighboring countries of Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda. From there, materials are shipped to other countries for refinement, production and final assembly. Western and European mining companies claim they do not source coltan from Congo, but the ore changes hands so many times throughout the manufacturing process that it is impossible to identify the metal’s true origin. Final manufacturers have plausible deniability, but one statistical analysis concluded it was impossible for Sony to have manufactured all its Playstation units without using Congolese coltan. Ex-British Parliament Member Oona King observed, "Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms.” Every time you upgrade your cellphone, every time you buy a new laptop, you are contributing to the crisis in Congo. Congo Week (www.congoweek.com) is an effort to raise global awareness of the African War, and to bring daylight to its true causes. On Wednesday, October 21st 2009, from 12 to 1PM worldwide, the organization is promoting a “Cell-Out”; a voluntary boycott of cellphone use. Our Family Adoptions www.ourfamilyadoptions.org Here are some simple actions that can turn the power of these electronics to good: Educate yourself: - War, Murder, Rape… All For Your Cellphone. http://www.alternet.org/story/41477/ - Coltan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan - The War the World Ignores http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3245293 Raise Awareness. - Put links to Congo Week on your blogs - Write blog entries about coltan and mining in DRC Action.- Don’t buy that new cellphone. Use the old one until it breaks. - Recycle your old cellphone. Where? At your Zoo! - Recycle all your old electronic devices. - Write your senator to support SB 891: the Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009; http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-891 - Participate in Congo Week events in your community. - Turn your cellphone off, but change your voicemail message to explain why
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe is in a “serious humanitarian crisis” with villagers surviving on wild berries and appealing for food aid that is not coming, the head of Christian Care in the southern African country has charged. The Rev. Forbes Matonga, national director of Christian Care, which distributes food for UNICEF in Zimbabwe, said in a March 5 statement that food security “remains particularly precarious” for Zimbabweans. “Faced with these challenges, it is not enough, ...to look east or west or to the hills for answers but to look up to the Lord and stand still and know that he is God," said Matonga, a United Methodist whose aid group is a member of the church-backed Action by Churches Together International alliance. Containers of medicine and other supplies from United Methodists arrived in Zimbabwe the last week of February. The shipment was part of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) ongoing work to provide assistance to Zimbabwe in response to ever-widening cholera and financial crises. In addition to medical supplies, UMCOR is delivering 400 metric tons of milled maize throughout 12 United Methodist districts in Zimbabwe during the month of March. The most vulnerable families, receive 55-pound bags of grain to supplement their meager diets. Approximately 16,000 families will receive this important food staple. The situation in Zimbabwe remains dire. More than 3,000 people have died in the cholera epidemic that has swept the country for months. Hyperinflation has led to economic collapse. UMCOR and the United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe are working together to provide health care and food and water in the most difficult situations. UMCOR delivered 35 Medicine Boxes, medical books and a microscope in its shipment. Each Medicine Box contains basic medical supplies to provide for a community of 1,000 people for three months. The sterile bandages, vitamins, antibiotics and more in these boxes will assist 35,000 people over the next three months. Health care and supplies are precious commodities in Zimbabwe today. This shipment brings one million tablets of Fluconazole, a drug used to treat fungal infections in AIDS patients and others to United Methodist hospitals. Muslim Aid is also sending 100 Aquaboxes and 300 personal Lifestraw filters to be distributed to local communities to help stem the cholera outbreak that has so far sickened 83,000 people in the country. Each Aquabox contains 30 filters. One filter provides nearly 300 gallons of clean drinking water. Altogether, the 100 Aquaboxes will deliver some 900,000 gallons of safe water for Zimbabwe communities—a precious commodity in cholera-ridden times. In addition to the filters, the Aquaboxes contain chlorine to treat other water sources. The 300 Lifestraws will provide an additional 200 gallons of clean water for each personal drinking straw.
More than 14,000 school kits will give children basic supplies as schools prepare to reopen after being shuttered for months. Zimbabwe Annual Conference is working with UMCOR, Muslim Aid, an UMCOR partner and United Kingdom-based relief agency. You can support UMCOR's efforts to give relief to the people of Zimbabwe by giving to Advance #199456, Zimbabwe Emergency. The Advance Special supports humanitarian efforts, emergency relief, and long-term development. On the bottom of the form you can give your local church credit for your online gift during the checkout process. If you are unable to make a donation online, call (800) 554-8583. You can also give a check, marked for Zimbabwe Emergency with Advance #199456, to your local church. Excerpt from General Board of Church and Society website at http://www.umc-gbcs.org/
UMCOR Sager Brown is a supply depot that ships needed supplies to areas of devastation in the world. If you cannot go on a mission trip, but would like to help, consider making health kits as seen in the movie, above.
