In Troubled Darfur – Hopelessness to Hope!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Killings of African Union peacekeepers, drivers, and the detention of aid workers in the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Western Sudan are just some examples of a continually volatile situation, now in its fifth year.

From June to late August 2007, the United Nations reported 55,000 new persons being displaced in the region. Speaking under a plastic tarp on a drizzling day in Darfur, Mariam recounted how she was displaced eight months ago by attacks in which her husband and son-in-law were killed, forcing her to become the sole support for a household of six children.

Mariam said she would not return to her village 93 miles away, given the insecurity in her home region, the schooling her daughter is now receiving, and the difficulty she would face trying to make a living without a male breadwinner.

As dire and hopeless as the situation seems, there is also hope. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) through Week of Compassion is supporting partners in the region working to improve the conditions in Darfur. Humanitarian aid, including food, continues to be provided. Water and sanitation in refugee camps are being improved. Health clinics are now providing health care for the most vulnerable children and elderly, in addition to well-care for pregnant women. Schools have been established for children in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and for the communities hosting the camps so that most of the children can receive an education.

Raising awareness in the U.S. on the conflict in Sudan through education, advocacy, and fundraising for humanitarian assistance is the goal of the Tents of Hope Campaign, a national, interfaith, community-based project that unites artistic creativity with social concern. Local churches are invited to create a simulation refugee tent in their communities and to transform it into a hopeful work of art by painting the tent. Tents of Hope will culminate in a collective action, as local communities bring their tents and delegations to Washington, DC, for a national event in October 2008. The website www.tentsofhope.org includes project guidelines, a photo gallery of tents, free downloadable posters, and promotional materials.

Linking support for humanitarian relief with advocacy for lasting change is a growing emphasis of Week of Compassion in complex conflict situations around the world.

Unrest and Violence in Kenya

According to a number of church partners and humanitarian organizations, the civil unrest and violence in the East African nation of Kenya following the recent national elections has grown into a national humanitarian disaster. The violence has now claimed the lives of more than 300 people and may have left more than 100,000 homeless in what has been one of Africa’s most prosperous and stable countries.

The eleven Action by Churches Together members in Kenya, including Church World Service, are closely monitoring the crisis and are preparing a coordinated response. CWS has just issued an initial appeal to its U.S. member communions to provide emergency food and non-food items through its local partner, the Kenyan Evangelical Lutheran Church, to families whose homes were destroyed in the Nairobi slum communities. Week of Compassion has responded with a grant from the Compassion Response Fund.

WOC Map/Poster

Click here for the latest additions to the WOC interactive map/poster. For a complimentary copy of the map/poster for your congregation, call the office at 317.713.2442 or send an e-mail to ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.