Tornado Recovery Expands

Thursday, March 13, A.D. 2008

Church World Service Emergency Response Specialists continue to work with disaster recovery leaders in the aftermath of the deadly tornadoes that ravaged communities throughout Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky last month. CWS now estimates at least 15 long term recovery organizations will be needed to meet the many unmet needs in the four states. As a result, CWS has revised and expanded its initial tornado appeal to its members communions to support the crucial work of these long term recovery groups. Because of the strong response of Disciples to the tornadoes, Week of Compassion has been able to increase its support of the CWS appeal. Thanks!

Also, because of a very active winter weather season, which included the southern tornadoes as well as heavy flooding in the midwest, CWS reports that its Emergency Clean-up Bucket stock at the New Windsor, MD, warehouse is depleted and is issuing an emergency appeal to its member communions for help. For content information on the kits and where to send them, click here.

Church Partners Continue to Offer Hope in Darfur

While much of the news out of Darfur in recent weeks hasn’t been good, the good work of the ACT-Caritas Darfur Emergency Response Operation continues. Disciples through Week of Compassion have pledged $100,000 toward the 2008 Darfur appeal and have already sent $25,000 this year. Designated contributions from Disciples members and friends are needed. Here is one hopeful example from a recent ACT Dateline:

“There was no one around in the village to help when my pregnant sister told me, ‘I want to deliver.’ I assisted the delivery and after that I became a birth attendant,” recalls Hawa.

In the rural areas and camps of Darfur most babies are born at home, with mothers sometimes assisted by a midwife, and more often by a traditional birth attendant, who may or may not have any prior training.

Hawa was forced to flee her original village in West Darfur three years ago due to the conflict in the region. She now lives in a camp for displaced persons in Kubum, South Darfur, where she continues to work, assisting three or four mothers to deliver their babies each week.

“The work is in the heart," explains Hawa. "God is the only guidance I have had.”

The stark reality of the basic conditions in which many women give birth becomes clear as Hawa explains that the only equipment she has used in the past is a razor blade (and not necessarily a new one), wash cloths and hot water. Many traditional birth attendants, especially older ones, are illiterate and have never received any formal training. Even younger traditional birth attendants typically only receive three months of training and have a similarly limited range of equipment.

Over the past three years, ACT-Caritas has set up mother and child health care services in all its health care facilities across South and West Darfur. Despite the large number of consultations, records indicate that there are very few deliveries in the clinics, with the vast majority of women, around 85%, still preferring to give birth at home. (In Darfurian culture, women typically will only go to a hospital to deliver if there is a complication with the birth.) Prompted by this data, ACT-Caritas last year trained and equipped 82 midwives and traditional birth attendants who are working in camps and rural areas in South and West Darfur to improve services and support the clean, safe delivery of babies.

“The training taught me the importance of cleanliness during delivery so as to prevent disease. Since the training I have changed the way I work. Now, I wash my hands, use gloves, only use a new razor and new cloths and to sterilize the equipment,” says Hawa.

For traditional birth attendants like Hawa, the training was the first they had ever received. For midwives and those with some training already, the course served as a refresher, covering topics including the theory and practice of ante-natal care, recognizing and dealing with complications early, sterilization and clean delivery, hygiene and post-natal care.

Beginning in February and continuing through March, ACT-Caritas will train another 100 women. Last week, a group of 50 midwives of all ages traveled from far and wide across South Darfur to attend a five day refresher-training course held in Nyala.

Fatima Omer, who has been working as a midwife for 18 years and has delivered over 300 babies, said, “The skills we have learned here are something new, so we are going to share this with our sisters in the village who did not have the chance to be here.” This was her first chance to receive any training in 8 years.

With the investment by women who are learning new skills and the safe and clean equipment provided by ACT-Caritas, birth attendants like Fatima and Hawa are now able to better support and reduce the risks faced by both mothers and babies in South and West Darfur.

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.

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.