Humanitarian Crisis Grows in Mozambique

Thursday, March 6, A.D. 2008

Recent flooding in the east African nation of Mozambique has created a serious humanitarian crisis for hundreds of thousands of people, yet has drawn little attention or assistance from the international community. More than 250,000 have been affected, at least 100,000 of whom have been displaced, but all of whom are in dire need of immediate food aid, water and sanitation assistance as well as long-term recovery assistance to rebuild homes and re-establish their farming and fishing livelihoods.

The Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM), a long-time Church World Service partner and local Action by Churches Together member, is one of several ACT members in the field, trying to respond to the enormous needs of the flood survivors. Jorge Samuel, program director of CCM, encourages CWS members to support the recent CWS appeal for the floods. The appeal will assist some 10,575 families (more than 55,000 people), all of whom are members of rural farming and fishing communities. The assistance includes clean water, sanitation facilities, shelter, and food security.

While the Mozambique floods reveal yet another example of a significant need in the human family that receives little attention from the outside world, they also show the remarkable partnerships of churches and church organizations on the ground that enable Disciples through Week of Compassion to respond to the human need and support the work and witness of the local church partners. WOC has provided a grant of $6000 from the Compassion Response Fund to the CWS appeal.

It's Not Too Late to Register

There are still spaces available for Disciples to participate in the upcoming WeekEnd of Compassion. The April 11-13 event in Nashville, TN, will offer great preaching, incredible music, imaginative worship, opportunities to learn about more hands-on mission opportunities from WOC partners, new and creative ideas on WOC promotion and much, much more. Click here for more information and registration details.

Work Trip Grants Available for Hurricane & Tornado Recovery

While funding for most 2008 work trips is limited, there are ample funds available for work trips to Disciples hurricane and tornado recovery mission stations along the Gulf Coast and in Greensburg, KS. We are well on our way of reaching the goal of sending 750 Disciples work groups between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2008 – less than 60 groups away. Work trip grant applications are downloadable at www.weekofcompassion.org, and scheduling and other information is available by calling the Office of Disciples Volunteering at 888.346.2631.

WOC Map/Poster

We would like to share the following story sent to us by Julie Richardson Brown, Minister of Youth and Young Adults at Beargrass Christian Church, Louisville, KY:

We recently ordered one of the completely awesome map/posters from WOC to display here at the church. We intend to post updates on it as well. Sunday was the first weekend we had it, and so I used it during my Children’s Moment in both our first and second Sunday service.

In the first service, I talked about what compassion means and how God calls us to love and care for one another and showed them the map, pointing out all the places that WOC has a presence.

In the second service, I had two of our other ministers roll the map out while I talked to the kids for a minute; I then turned around to show them the map, and asked, “Can anyone tell me what this is a map of?” I was expecting, of course, for them to tell me that it was a map of the world. However, next to me was sitting a 7 year-old named Avery who had been at the first service as well. She pulled on the sleeve of my robe and whispered, “It is a map of compassion.” Both Leigh Bond and I dropped our jaws in amazement, and it took me a minute to recover and finish up the closing prayer for Children’s Moment.

Yes, she was at the first service and so had seen the map — but nowhere in that service did I use the phrase, “map of compassion.”

Out of the mouths of babes!

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.