UMCOR allocates $1 million to Sudan startup work
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Photo by Hege Opseth, NCA/ACT International Amma Luise lives in a camp for internally displaced persons near Wau, in the Darfur region of Sudan.
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Amma
Luise lives in a camp for internally displaced persons near Wau, in the
Darfur region of Sudan, in this 2004 file photograph. Her brother and
sister were killed during the fighting in the region. The United
Methodist Committee on Relief is starting an agriculture program and
distributing non-food items in South Darfur. A UMNS photo by Hege
Opseth, NCA/ACT International. Photo #05-297. Accompanies UMNS #226,
4/15/05 |
April 15, 2005
By Linda Bloom*
STAMFORD,
Conn. (UMNS)—Responding to the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan, the
United Methodist Committee on Relief has approved a $1 million-plus
startup budget for work in the African country. The
budget will cover personnel, equipment and operations costs and program
activities. UMCOR directors approved the funding request during the
April 11-14 spring meeting of the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, the agency’s parent organization. Sudan
remains a priority for the board, according to the Rev. R. Randy Day,
its chief executive. In March, the United Nations estimated that at
least 180,000 people died in the Darfur region during the previous 18
months because of illness and malnutrition. Up
to 2 million have been displaced because of fighting between Sudanese
government forces and rebel groups. Amnesty International estimates that
perhaps 50,000 people have died from violent attacks. The
World Food Programme recently announced it would be forced to cut the
rations of more than a million victims of fighting in Darfur, beginning
in May, to help stretch food supplies through the summer. UMCOR’s
work will target the people of South Darfur, where fewer humanitarian
services are available, and focus on agriculture, small-scale
livelihoods and distribution of non-food items. Marc Maxi, UMCOR’s
regional director for Africa and the Caribbean, said the coordinating
team in the Sudan is "fully assembled."
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Photo by John Robinson, Mennonite Central Committee Internally displaced people live in makeshift domes at the Otash camp in the Darfur region of Sudan.
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Internally
displaced people live in makeshift domes of sticks, straw and tarps at
the Otash camp in the Darfur region of Sudan in this 2004 file photo.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief, a member of Action by Churches
Together, is starting relief work in South Darfur. A UMNS photo by John
Robinson, Mennonite Central Committee. Photo #05-298, Accompanies UMNS #226, 4/15/05 |
The agency’s head of
mission has established an office in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city,
where the finance director and administrative, logistics and security
manager also are based. The emergency coordinator has set up a field
office in Al Daein in South Darfur.Initial
work will focus on about 250 families in the Ed Al Fursan community
south of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. About a third of the
start-up budget comes from a $311,448 grant from Ginghamsburg United
Methodist Church in Tipp City, Ohio. That money, according to Maxi, will
be used for agriculture work, including seeds, tools and agricultural
extension activities. Planting will begin in late April, with harvesting
expected in September. Bishop
Bruce Ough of West Ohio, an UMCOR director, explained how the church’s
donation for the Sudan work came about. "The pastor challenged the
congregation to take half of what they normally would spend for
Christmas presents and give it to this offering," he said. A
grant of $204,000 from Neighbors in Need, a German donor group, will be
used for nonfood items such as cooking pots and blankets, he said. "We consider what we’re doing now as an investment to leverage more financing," Maxi added. The
project also has received $337,250 in funding from donations to UMCOR’s
Advance for the Sudan Emergency and $177,714 from the Helen Shepherd
Fund, a board-related bequest for food security. Donations
for the "Sudan Emergency," Advance No.184385, can be dropped in church
collection plates or mailed to UMCOR, P.O. Box 9068, GPO, New York, NY
10087-9068. Credit-card gifts can be made by calling (800) 554-8583. *Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York. News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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