Humanitarian Aid Archives - Page 27 of 30 - Humanitarian Aid & Relief

Help Wanted: Darfur Refugees Find Work

Chad refugee — Mohammed, a 21-year-old refugee from Darfur, works in World Concern's Cash for Work program.

Stone by stone, 21-year-old Mohammed builds back a bit of his dignity. The tall, lean young man works with several hundred other refugees in 100 degree heat in Eastern Chad, picking up rocks, and dropping them into rows.

He joins other men, and many women wearing bright traditional dresses, to build these low rock walls on hillsides to reduce erosion.

The task: simple and exhausting. The outcome: dignity and freedom.

What I saw today was amazing. Darfur war refugees had an opportunity to work.

“This I like,” Mohammed tells me in English. “I buy clothes. I eat. It’s for my family.”

Mohammed left his home in Darfur, Sudan, seven years ago. He says Janjaweed rebels killed his father and many other family members, shooting rocket propelled grenades into his village.

Since he fled, he’s been living near Goz Beida, Chad. He’s in one of several camps here. In spite of his current life, he does not want to return to Sudan. All told, more than 400,000 people are refugees or internally displaced in Chad.

Because Mohammed and thousands of others are not at home, they have seen that finding work is an incredible challenge. Because they can’t work, they can’t provide for their families beyond what they are given.

World Concern’s program, called Cash For Work, allows them to earn an income, giving them some financial freedom again, while also improving their environment.

The low walls, called bunds, slow the rain runoff down hillsides. This encourages water to soak into the ground, raising the water table. Within a year, it will be a good place for farming and a better place to drill a well.

The influx of refugees has exacted a toll on the local environment, as they have torn down trees to burn for firewood. The rock walls – and tree replanting – are helping to heal the land.

For Mohammed, he treasures each opportunity to earn money. He enjoys learning, and says he likes America. His future remains uncertain, but he now has more of a chance to direct it on his own terms.

Learn more and take action: www.worldconcern.org/darfurcrisis

Repairing broken walls—healing broken lives

Carle in Haiti — Carle in front of his home of 29 years, which was recently repaired by World Concern.

At first glance, this photo could be looked over quickly as one of the many that come through my inbox or are stored in our overflowing archives of photos from Haiti taken since January 12. But this one came with a story, and it really puts a face and a name on the long term effects of this disaster.

Carle is just one man among the millions who have had their lives rocked by trauma. He and his wife have lived in this house for 29 years. They raised all seven of their children here. Their home was recently repaired by World Concern through our donors’ contributions. It turns out, this essential act provided the foundation for stability he desperately needed.

Carle was working down the road when the earthquake hit. As buildings crumbled around him, he started running towards home. His house was severely damaged, but still standing. His neighbors’ home had collapsed, trapping its occupants inside. Carle worked frantically to rescue his neighbors, but by the time he was able to reach them, most of them had died. The memory of their corpses led to post traumatic stress, which Carle attempted to quell by drinking.

Having his roof replaced and cracked walls repaired not only provided practical help, it helped soothe his emotional wounds and was the starting point for his healing.

Carle told our staff members in Haiti that he hopes God would bless his children with work and that God would continue to move in his country. He also wanted to thank everyone, from the donors to the laborers who helped him remove the rubble from this home and brought, “help from above.”

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” Psalm 147:3

Like Doublemint Gum, Except Bad

Humanitarian-Chad-Ndjamena-Child-Labor — It is too common for children to see child labor in Chad. The country has an overall literacy rate of 26%.

You know the old commercials for Doublemint gum? Two unusually beautiful twin sisters or brothers pop out from behind a cabana, or do a spread-eagle on a ski slope, grinning with their white teeth and minty fresh breath? Double your pleasure, double your fun? I had a realization like that today, except less minty.

So I’m in Chad right now. Some have called it the “Dead Heart of Africa.” Don’t read into it, other than it’s in the middle of Africa. I’m in Ndjamena, the capitol, and will catch a UN flight in the morning to World Concern’s project area in refugee camps on the far eastern part of the country, near Sudan. That’s where the Darfur war has been going on.

I’ve been researching some basic data on the country to prepare for this trip, and I found:

One in 10 children die before the age of five here.
62% of people are in extreme poverty, making less than $1.25 a day
Only one in four people can read and write

Pretty mind-boggling stuff, right? And then I realized that where we’re working, these figures are generous.

Jane Gunningham, who helped start our humanitarian relief work in eastern Chad, tells me illiteracy there is more than double the country average. She said:

“Literacy in the eastern zone is about 10%. Virtually no women are literate in the east.”

And as for incomes, also worse than the country average. But perhaps the most startling, is that instead of one in 10 children dying before the age of five, it’s one in five kids. Double the number of child deaths.

Really? I wish it was not true. It’s tough enough here. It’s no wonder, though. Introduce a war that impacts families already living on the edge, sending 400,000 refugees or displaced people to camp within Chad, and it should be no surprise these figures are far worse.

There is a ray of hope, though, as I prepare to fly out in the morning to see the camps. Jane says the work we’re doing, is making a real and noticeable difference. Whether it is help with farming, with temporary employment doing community service, or it is in small savings and loan groups – these small interventions bring big results.

“The whole economy across the board is struggling to get by,” Jane told me. “It takes only a small input to increase a family’s survivability.”

I’m looking forward to seeing first-hand how this is working.

Learn more and take action: www.worldconcern.org/darfurcrisis

Documenting Darfur War Refugees

Humanitarian-World-Concern-Chad — World Concern's Derek Sciba is traveling to Chad to visit refugee camps.

Ever since I have worked at World Concern, I have seen the photos and heard the stories about Goz Beida. It’s a small town in Eastern Chad that grew from about 5,000 people to 70,000 people as the Darfur War and associated conflicts. It’s dirty, overcrowded – and the only safe haven thousands of families have experienced since they were chased from their homes by crazy gun-wielding maniacs. They’ve left their farms, they’ve seen their homes and communities burned, they’ve lost loved ones in the violence. Now – they are camping. Camping from now until who-knows-when. Their lives have become upended, and they are trying to see a future in chaos.

World Concern supports these refugees and displaced people with humanitarian aid in a variety of ways. In general, we help ensure thousands of them don’t die from health epidemics and empower them to make money so that they can buy food and provide for their families with dignity.

So that’s why I have the privilege in traveling there right now. Over the next couple of weeks, I will be meeting those who we serve, and seeing the ways their lives have changed since they left their homes. My job is to document what we do in photos and video.

Please let me know what questions you would like answered, as I would love to be your eyes and ears there in the camps.

– Derek Sciba

Comfort in a box arrives in Uganda

Seattle-based Swaddle Designs donated cozy baby blankets now being distributed in Uganda.

It must feel a little like Christmas morning in Uganda right now as people there unpack a shipping container filled with some of the highest quality clothing and custom flannel baby blankets-stuff that anyone here in the U.S. would love to own. The gifts made the voyage all the way from Seattle, bringing comfort to moms and babies at rural maternity clinics and meeting the needs of children and adults living in refugee camps.

Ten thousand articles of clothing — shirts, pants and more — donated by ExOfficio and worth a quarter million dollars, are being handed out by World Concern through partner agency Pilgrim Uganda to those with the greatest need. Among them are traumatized former child soldiers. Now young adults, these victims are struggling to erase the memories of being forced to kill against their will. With the basic need of new clothes met, they can focus on the healing work at hand.

The baby blankets, made by Seattle-based Swaddle Designs, are coveted by even celebrity moms. These same soft, organic cotton blankets will soon be wrapped around infants in remote bush areas during outreach visits, thanks to this global baby shower. Imagine the looks on the Ugandan moms’ faces when they receive their plush gifts. These blankets are not just about luxury, they’re actually good for babies. Swaddling reminds newborns of being in the womb, prevents over-stimulation and helps them sleep better.

Giving stuff like this feels good, but we only do it if it will not adversely affect local economies. That is the case here, as those we are helping are extremely poor, living in slums after being displaced by war. They simply don’t have money for clothes — and a clean baby blanket is an answer to countless mothers’ prayers.

Don’t you love thinking about donations here making their way from here to the far corners of the world? Such practical ways to spread a little warmth to those in dire need.

Moms and babies will receive blankets at rural clinics in Uganda.

Kenyan Villagers Start New Community Bank

These women are saving for their future at a World Concern-sponsored credit union in Kenya.

I just received an amazing email from the president of World Concern, David Eller. He’s in Africa. You know the idea of giving a man a fish versus teaching him to fish? Well, we’ve trained fishermen in Kenya. Actually – bankers and businesspeople.

We started community credit unions several years ago … and the people who we’ve helped have taken the concepts they’ve learned and started their own new credit union. The idea of saving and getting loans has been a new concept for many of the people we serve. But when they “get it,” they can save to pay for school fees, have money to last them through a drought, and also get loans to start and expand businesses.

They are able to better provide for themselves and take control of their own destiny. Sustainable development. This is cool stuff.

Anyway, here is what Dave wrote:

One of the Village Credit Unions (Financial Service Associations) that World Concern launched in rural Kiritiri, Kenya is reproducing itself. World Concern has set up seven village credit unions in rural parts of Kenya with the goal of each of them becoming self sustaining. It is a program that is working with six of the seven making a profit for their community shareholders last year.

In an exciting development one of the more remote and successful credit unions decided to open a branch office in the neighboring district. They are using the profits from their first location to expand into the new district.

They realized that 250 of their 770 share holders were coming a great distance from the neighboring district Kivaa just to access financial services the credit union provided. The shareholder board of directors decided that they should open a branch in Kivaa to provide the financial services that are not available.

On their own they have found and remodeled a location for the credit union Kivaa office. Then they started selling additional shares in the credit union with 40 new members joining the first day. From our experience with credit unions that is an amazing one day of share selling. The new community is very excited and the home credit union is affirmed in the need for this branch. As part of setting up the new location have requested that World Concern provide a safe and training for the branch manager and cashier.

This example of community ownership and reaching out for new opportunities shows that there is a complete grasp of the concepts of meeting their own needs from resources within the community.

This information came from our Kenya Economic Development Manager Winnie Ghachuri. We were talking in her office here in Nairobi, Kenya on the first day of my Africa visit. Winnie has many years of experience with humanitarian aid and economic development programs. She is very excited to see this community driven developmental step taking place.

World Concern started planting Financial Service Associations in 2004. This savings based community model of economic development has brought beneficial financial services to remote areas of Kenya. The program has also been launched in our program areas in South Sudan. Two more locations have been identified and will be started in the second half of this year.

Give A Goat – A Goat Donation Works!

This is Thermogene, a widow in Haiti. Give A Goat and help someone like her. Because someone decided to donate a goat, she has reason to smile.

Hope for many people has four legs and goes “Maaa!” It is time again to Give A Goat!

I bring this up because it is time once again to consider goats, and to invite them into our lives. I will buy several this year, even though I live in a city, and have nowhere for them to roam. I will buy several as Christmas presents for family, and turn them over to people who desperately need them. Give A Goat! It is truly Humanitarian Aid.

I recently took a trip with World Concern to visit Haiti, a country filled with wonderful people who struggle to eat, learn and find work. Then, last summer, three hurricanes and a tropical storm further ravaged the country.

I met families in Haiti who live on resources that would baffle most people. It is not unusual for someone to stake their livelihoods on a couple of goats, but that is exactly what people I met are forced to do.

I met a sweet grandmother in Haiti named Thermogene who lost everything – EVERYTHING – she owns in the hurricanes, including goats, and she was left without an income. For Thermogene, an income comes from raising a few animals, including goats. And the storm killed every animal.

When I met Thermogene, it was about 100 degrees. I was hot. It was dusty. She was dressed in her best clothes. She was ecstatic. What in the world would make this woman smile so much?

Someone decided to give a goat to her through World Concern’s Global Gift Guide.

Thermogene received two goats from World Concern, and with it she will be able to sell milk and sell the kids, when her goats have babies. People who donated through World Concern also gave her fruit trees.

These are such simple gifts. It is easy to donate – to Give A Goat. To Thermogene and so many others, goats provide life.

Check out goats and the rest of the Global Gift Guide at www.worldconcern.org/ggg

Humanitarian Aid In Asia – All Mapped Out

World Concern’s humanitarian aid programs in Asia run the gamut, from disaster response, to job training, to education. I had the chance recently to document our programs in Asia over the course of 40 days. Today I mapped it out on Google. Follow along and learn about what World Concern does in the lives of the poor.

Click on the image to explore a map and get a tour of World Concern's humanitarian projects in Asia. — Click on the link below to explore a map and get a tour of World Concern's humanitarian projects in Asia.

View World Concern Journey Across Asia in a larger map

Radio Personality Brings Spirit to Kenya

Seattle radio personality Matt Case is visiting World Concern's humanitarian projects in Kenya.

My friend Matt Case has temporarily left his job behind a microphone to see what life is like in African villages. Matt is the mid-day radio host on Christian radio station Spirit 105.3 in Seattle and has joined World Concern to visit some of our humanitarian aid projects in Kenya. He just arrived on Sunday and has completed his first full day in the field. The goal of this trip is to equip Matt with the truth: Compelled by Christ’s love, we can transform the lives of the poor and offer them hope.

In this first day, Matt has seen World Concern’s Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) program. He’s met widows and boys and girls who have lost their parents because of AIDS. World Concern is helping equip orphans and their new guardians to live healthy and productive lives.

Here’s a cool note I just received from Matt, with explanatiory notations from me:

Here in Narok (small town near a wildlife refuge) at the Chambi Hotel right now sitting with Sakuda (a World Concern staff member) … finished dinner after a long long hot and dusty day in the field! Did an OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) in-home visit…WOW!!! Local church pastor took us there with WC and it was amazing.

Then off to two sites……Empura and then Endoinyio Narasha welcomed by the kids and teachers singing. Kids are amazing and the love that we see there is fantastic! God is at work big time here. Saw clean water well, a bank, and I bought in and became a member of the bank with 3 shares!!! It was a long hot day and seeing the two widows on the OVC was a hard one on the heart. Took some toys to the kids and then we were all invited to join in in a traditional Massai dance…Yeah Dave Eller (World Concern’s president) was getting down!!! (Right on!) I have video to prove it!!!

Big day tomorrow so I must get going…I think its time for a tea (every day, several times a day) and Sakuda is telling the Mizungo (white person) is on the internet!!! Great times and we’ll try to email if we can. Internet has been down in Narok for 2 weeks I guess??? Not like home with wi fi EVERYWHERE…T.I.A (Truth in Action?) …this is Africa!

The internet connection kind of stinks where Matt is right now, but whenever he gets a chance, he’s posting to his Facebook page and shooting me a more detailed message as well. So check in a little later to this blog and get an update on his adventure in Africa!

Join Matt and support the work of World Concern in serving HIV and AIDS orphans.

World Concern provides support for those orphaned or vulnerable because of HIV and AIDS.

Success with Humanitarian Aid in Kenya

World Concern President Dave Eller spends time reading to Maasai boys in Kenya. World Concern works with the Maasai to provide many aspects of sustainable humanitarian aid.

Here’s a handy tip for keeping elephants from eating your garden: You should install several low-voltage electric lines close together along your fence. If they are spaced wide, the elephant will rip one out, reach between, and eat your vegetables.

That gardening trip is from World Concern President Dave Eller, who has returned to Kenya to get an update on our projects. Dave and his family lived in Kenya for several years, as Dave served as the country director. It was refreshing for Dave to arrive and see many successes in a variety of areas of Humanitarian Aid. As an executive, he often deals with problems and doesn’t get to relish the victories.

Here is some of what he’s seen:

Maasai herders are learning how to farm. This year they built a one acre farm behind a solar electric fence and the first crop has been harvested. With dwindling availability for open rangeland, it is important for the Maasai to think beyond what they’ve done in the past (herding) and look to new opportunities (agriculture, small business). It was at this pilot project farm that Dave saw the low-voltage electric fence to keep out elephants.
Stigma against AIDS orphans is way down. The children are being accepted by the community after World Concern’s educational and support services began five years ago. World Concern has reached 5,000 children and is preparing to turn over this particular orphans project to churches to run indefinitely on their own. Many of the volunteers providing the Humanitarian Aid are from Christian churches, and the outlook from the orphans has grown much more hopeful.
We now have seven Financial Service Associations, also known as village banks. The first five are making a profit and adding services. Three are doing phone money transfers, all are cashing third party checks and offering over night safe storage. One of them is a post office and they are setting up direct deposit with government agencies. These are in addition to the basic services of savings and loans.
World Concern Kenya’s newest Humanitarian Aid project focuses on water and sanitation, including in a community called Lamu, which is on the Somalia border. After water surveys, five hand-dug wells have begun. Three of them have struck water and are complete. The other two should be done soon. Water committees are in training and sanitation training has started. This is a large scale project meant to provide clean and consistent water to 98,000 people over the next three years.

Dave will soon be joined by Matt Case, a radio host on Spirit 105.3 in Seattle. We want people to know of this fantastic Humanitarian Aid, so we can grow our resources and help more people reach their full God-given potential.

A Maasai herdsman provides water for his goats at a World Concern water pan, a pond dug to retain water even in the dry season.