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Costa Rica

Central American Churches rally to help hurricane victims

AKRON, Pa. -- Nicaraguan, Costa Rican and Guatemalan churches are rallying to help victims of Hurricane César, which slammed into parts of Central America July 27 to 28. Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has so far provided $13,700 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to assist the churches in their outreach.
Nicaragua and Costa Rica bore the brunt of the storm.

In Nicaragua, the hurricane raged through the Caribbean lowlands, home to 70 to 80 Anabaptist churches. The timing couldn't have been worse, reports Bob Buxman, MCC Nicaragua co-director. The area's residents, mostly subsistence farmers, were harvesting the season's first rice, corn and beans. Nearly 28,000 hectares/70,000 acres of crops -- valued at $33 million Cdn./$24 million U.S. -- were destroyed.

Additionally, 20,000 people had to flee their homes; property damages are estimated at $20 million Cdn./$15 million U.S. Some 10,000 Nicaraguans are still stranded in 39 relief camps across the country. The camps are low on supplies -- food, drinking water and medicines.

The Anabaptist Emergency Commission -- consisting of representatives from various Mennonite and Brethren in Christ groups in Nicaragua -- will distribute $4,100 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. worth of food and supplies to meet immediate needs in the hardest-hit communities.

In Costa Rica, Hurricane César killed at least 40 people and damaged some 3,000 houses, as well as roads, bridges, aqueducts, hospitals and schools.

MCC's partner in Costa Rica -- the interdenominational Council of Churches for Emergency and Reconstruction -- has requested and will receive $4,100 Cdn./$3,000 U.S. to help transport food and supplies gathered by Costa Rican Christians to the affected areas. The Costa Rican Mennonite Church is also planning a response to the hurricane, with food and material aid purchased with MCC's help.

Hurricane Cesar brought on mudslides in Guatemala, in the Ixil Triangle area where MCC workers Richard and Ruth Anne Friesen are located. The Guatemalan Primitive Methodist Church will receive $5,500 Cdn./$4,000 U.S. to assist in rebuilding destroyed homes and to purchase food for affected families.

"These Central American churches are an inspiring example of what it means to be salt of the earth by reaching out to others in times of trouble," says Ed Stamm Miller, MCC assistant secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean.

MCC anticipates providing another $13,000 Cdn./$10,000 U.S. to help the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican Mennonite churches purchase seed for farmers who have lost their harvests, in the hope that the farmers will be able to plant a late winter crop.

MCC is requesting donations for this emergency relief effort. Please send contributions, marked "Hurricane César relief" to MCC, PO Box 500, Akron, PA 17501, or to MCC Canada, 134 Plaza Drive, Winnipeg, MB R3T 5K9.