UMCOR opens mission in Sudan
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A UMNS photo by Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang A crowd of displaced people greet visitors outside the Sudanese Church of Christ near Khartoum.
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A
crowd of internally displaced people from the Nuba mountains area
greets visitors outside the Sudanese Church of Christ near Khartoum,
Sudan. A UMNS photo by Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang / Bread for the World.
Photo number 04-333, 8/10/04 |
Feb. 8, 2005 By Linda Beher* NEW
YORK (UMNS) — The United Methodist Committee on Relief is now providing
direct relief and rehabilitation in the embattled Darfur region of
Sudan. Opened
in early February, the mission’s priorities include providing emergency
aid and development services in water, sanitation, and agriculture. The
initial work will be concentrated in South Darfur, on the western side
of Sudan in northeastern Africa. A staff of three will oversee the operation. They are: - Sashi Chanda, formerly with Save the Children in Angola, who has degrees in theology and rural development;
- Michael
Tredway, a United Methodist layperson and retired military officer from
Raeford, N.C., who has extensive experience in humanitarian aid and
security issues; and
- Frederick
Opuni-Mensah, a liaison for UMCOR in Washington since 2004, and
formerly with the American Red Cross and the Adventist Development and
Relief Agency.
UMCOR
also will continue its work of many months with a coalition of other
humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to Sudanese refugees
fleeing from Darfur into the neighboring nation of Chad.
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A UMNS file photo by Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang Children walk through the Jaborona Internally Displaced Persons� Camp outside Khartoum, Sudan.
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Children
walk past a house with a shop in the Jaborona Internally Displaced
Persons' Camp outside Khartoum, Sudan. Many people were displaced
several times after fleeing from war in the South. A UMNS photo by
Kirsten Schwanke-Adiang / Bread for the World. Photo number 04-334,
8/10/04. |
The Rev. R. Randy
Day, chief executive of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries,
of which UMCOR is a part, said he was pleased the agency can now offer
direct services. "Working out the details of this new venture has been
slow and complex. The success of our efforts is testimony to the
diligence of UMCOR in all that it does in relief and rehabilitation."Day
noted that the 2004 United Methodist General Conference, the
denomination’s top legislative body, gave his agency a mandate to
provide assistance and work for peace in Sudan. A
major step toward peace in southern Sudan occurred in late January with
the signing of an accord between the government in Khartoum and the
Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement. United Methodist mission leaders
welcomed the accord as a positive sign of eventual peace in all of
Sudan. The southern area includes several United Methodist
congregations. Approved
as a registered service provider inside Darfur in January, UMCOR has
found need for a humanitarian mission that will restore farmland and
provide seeds, tools and technical training in South Darfur, where few
agencies are working. Emergency supplies, such as soap, buckets, cooking
utensils and plastic sheeting, will also be supplied to people in
refugee camps. Jim
Cox, the agency’s international operations director, pointed to the
acute need for services to children. He said that the 2004 harvest
provided even less than a short harvest the year before. World Food
Program figures indicate that 22 percent of children under age 5 are
malnourished. Donations
to the mission in Sudan can be earmarked for UMCOR Advance No. 184385,
“Sudan Emergency,” and dropped in church collection plates or mailed
directly to UMCOR at 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. To
donate using a credit card, contributors may call toll free, (800)
554-8583.
*Beher is executive secretary for communications at the United Methodist Committee on Relief. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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