Title: 'Hidden' crises in Africa supported by Disciples relief ministry
Date: November 19, 1999
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
99b-77
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- "Hidden and forgotten" emergencies in Africa and the emotional needs of high schoolers in communities affected by random violence were among priorities recently addressed by the emergency, relief and development ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
The Week of Compassion Committee, meeting here Nov. 12-13, endorsed a special $100,000 grant for humanitarian efforts in the Sudan and other little-publicized crises across Africa. That figure represents 20 percent of the WOC Response Fund, according to the Rev. Johnny Wray, director.
Wray said endorsing the special grant "was the single most important thing we did." Many of the crises in Africa predate and are more severe than those in Kosovo and other European countries, he added. Africa's crises include civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Eritrea/Ethiopia conflict, flooding, drought and civil war in the Sudan, a drought in Tanzania, and ongoing instability in Rwanda and the Congo, among others.
The committee hopes the grant will raise awareness among Disciples regarding these little-known crises and challenge partner churches to assist.
The Disciples will be a major supporter of a summer camp for high school students from U.S. cities where shootings and other violent incidents have taken place. The late July camp is based on a model organized for survivors of the Westside Middle School shooting in Jonesboro, Ark. Students and staff from the Jonesboro school initiated the idea to expand the camping project.
The Jonesboro group has met for two summers at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center near Little Rock. Ferncliff, which is operated by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), also is slated to sponsor the new group.
In other action, the committee okayed three emergency grants of $25,000 each to assist refugees in East Timor, refugees from the war in Chechnya and survivors of a recent cyclone in India. The group also approved the expenditure of $159,000 for 11 priority projects. These include relief and development projects in the Congo, El Salvador, Haiti, Lesotho, Peru, the Philippines, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The committee affirmed a program budget for $2,076,900 for next year and learned that the WOC Endowment Fund now is more than halfway to its goal of $1 million by Dec. 31, 2000. A Speedway, Ind., layperson, Bob McCallister, was named the new committee chairperson. He succeeds outgoing chairperson, the Rev. Jan Ehrmantraut, Lexington, Ky.
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