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SYRIA: HELPING DISPLACED PEOPLE

The ongoing conflict in Syria has displaced thousands who are fleeing violence to seek security in towns and cities. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is in contact with partners in Syria and the region to assess the needs of those individuals and families.

Initial assistance may include clothing, health kits, and household goods, such as a small stove or heater. UMCOR is preparing to respond in the most appropriate way.

HAITI: BUILDING HOMES

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Eglise Methodiste d’Hait (EMH) are working together to build 40 homes in two communities that were heavily affected by the 2010 Haitian earthquake. World Hands Alliance and Homes for Haitians are also partners in the project.

Each home has 40 square meters of interior space, a toilet, shower facility, kitchen facility, and water storage capacity. Twenty will be built in each of the communities of Mellier and Carrefour.

By Kathryn Paik*

December 22, 2011—Water and sanitation are key to good hygiene practices, and good hygiene practices promote good health. The Nyadire Connection and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) are working together to ensure both at Nyadire United Methodist Mission in remote and neglected Mutoko District in Zimbabwe.

By Judith Santiago*

In 1974, Guy Kasanka experienced a major turning point in his life when he was hospitalized for malaria near his hometown of Bukama in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). That was when he decided to become a doctor. After receiving special medical care from hospital staff and witnessing firsthand the nurses’ attentiveness, Kasanka felt compelled to help others recover from malaria just as he had. The hospitality he received as a young man was a defining moment that seemed to lift the burden of malaria that had afflicted him time and time again.

By Muzaffer Baca*

Mogadishu, December 5, 2011—Somali families living in camps for the internally displaced (IDP) in Mogadishu and elsewhere include, on average, seven children. All of these children lack education, food, and adequate shelter, and tens of thousands carry adult responsibilities on their small shoulders.

Foreign relief workers who visit Somali IDP camps encounter children who bridge the language gap by putting fingers to their throats to show they are hungry and to ask for food for themselves and their families.

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THAILAND: FLOOD RELIEF

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is supporting the efforts of Church World Service, who is working closely with the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) to provide relief in the wake of record-breaking floods in the country. The grant will provide immediate relief and recovery support to 22,400 flood affected by providing food, non-food items and shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, and livelihood recovery.

By Linda Unger*

November 7, 2011—For the people of eastern Turkey, and especially the children, this year’s Eid-al-Adha feast, under way today, will be celebrated in tents and temporary shelters, after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake caused massive damage and casualties.

A prayerful and joyous occasion, the three-day Islamic feast marks the end of hajj and recalls the willingness of the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice his son, and Allah’s loving response.

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TURKEY: FOOD, BLANKETS FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS

Since a catastrophic 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked eastern Turkey on Sunday, October 23, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has been in conversation with partner International Blue Crescent (IBC), seeking to get emergency supplies to survivors.

At least 270 people were known to have died in the earthquake, whose epicenter was in the town of Ercis. Some 1,300 people were injured in the quake and the 200 aftershocks that rattled the area through Sunday night. Many people remain missing.

INDIA: RELIEF FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS

With the onset of winter this month in the Himalayan region of India, thousands of families left homeless and traumatized by the September 18 earthquake there are becoming increasingly vulnerable.

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is working with partner Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA-India), a member of ACT Alliance, to provide urgently needed relief supplies to 1,000 of those families in Sikkim state.