| Responding
to crises in Africa DARFUR AND GREATER AFRICA RELIEF PAGE The ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, in East Africa has killed thousands and displaced over 1.3 million people, as they escape genocide, rape and torture at the hands of Arab militias. Refugees have poured into camps in neighboring Chad, straining the resources of that country as well. After 21 years of civil war, the January 9, 2005 peace accord between north and south provides some room for hope, but it does not address the continuing problems in Darfur, in the west, or Beja, in the northeast. Even as the world begins to pay attention to Darfur, civil war and conflicts continue elsewhere. The International Rescue Committee has issued a recent report stating that 3.8 million people have died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the civil war started in August 1998. In addition, 31,000 people die each month of infectious diseases and hunger for lack of basic health care, water and sanitation programs, which have been disrupted because of the ongoing strife. For more information, please go to www.theirc.org/index.cfm/wwwID/2129 AIDS, largely controlled in the developed nations of the world, continues to kill in the developing world. The Global AIDS alliance website states that 95% of the world’s AIDS/HIV cases are in the developing world, with 63% in sub-Saharan Africa. More Africans die from AIDS than any other cause, including war. One more person dies in Africa of AIDS every 14 seconds. At present 12 million African children have lost one or both parents to the disease and it is estimated that by 2010, global AIDS orphans will number 40 million. For more information, please go to www.globalaids.alliance.org/cd_basic_info.cfm On a more hopeful note, progress is being made in many parts of Africa, and through the efforts of many advocacy groups, the world is being forced to pay attention to that continent and its people. The World Bank has made assistance to Africa a priority. We have created this page to give you an overview of the important and varied work by done by the charities on this website, both in Darfur and throughout Africa. Focus on Darfur and Chad Africare World attention has turned toward the Darfur region of Sudan, where displacement of local people by militia forces has resulted in a large-scale humanitarian crisis. While this emergency is centered on the Darfur region of western Sudan, the bordering country of Chad has been forced to deal with the consequences of the Sudanese conflict, as hundreds of thousands of refugees stream across the border, seeking assistance and sanctuary inside Chad. This massive influx of refugees has put the local Chadian population, already living in fragile conditions, at risk. Prior to the outbreak of the Sudanese crisis, Africare/Chad was already in place, actively bringing food security to the dry and impoverished area of eastern Chad. Africare has longstanding experience with the local communities and authorities of the eastern region of Chad. Since the early 1980s, when Africare started its work in the area following various natural disasters and political conflicts, it has gained momentum and established a good reputation in providing emergency as well as development-oriented assistance. Today, Africare/Chad is implementing the Ouaddaii Food Security Initiative in the Adre/Abeche corridor of eastern Chad to improve food security and nutrition. Activities include water development (wells, dikes, dam construction), work with women and farmer groups to market harvests, support of income-generating activities, and seed distribution. Africare is also proceeding with the Care and Assistance to Sudanese Refugees in Eastern Chad project (with support from the UNHCR and in coordination with local authorities and other humanitarian agencies), and is providing assistance to Sudanese refugees in the following areas: sanitation, shelter, community services, education, agriculture, and micro-credit. Donations to Africare’s Disaster Relief Fund will provide much-needed assistance to the people of Chad, Sudanese refugees, and Africans in need all over the continent. For more information, please go to: www.africare.org. Children’s Food Fund/World Emergency Relief Senior UN officials call Sudan one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. The ongoing conflict in the Darfur region has displaced over 1.3 million people. Reports of genocide, rape, torture and concentration camps where many are facing starvation and disease finally began reaching the west in May, 2004. Many of the displaced talk of massacres, burning of villages, and loved ones who have been kidnapped and their fate is still unknown. Political leaders of Sudan have been criticized by both world leaders and humanitarian workers for lying and down playing the atrocities. The Sudanese government is allied with the Arab militia carrying out the horrors against their own nationals. Emergency aid is being flown into the Darfur area but is not yet enough for all of the suffering. To make matters worse, many displaced farmers will not be able to produce food for the coming harvest, meaning impending famine is a reality. WER has already sent 87,000 pounds of crucial food and medical aid to help eliminate suffering in this desperate part of the world. With your help, WER can continue to give these refugees, including thousands of children, a living chance. To make a donation, or for more information, please go to http://www.worldemergencyrelief.org/publicinformation.sudan.htm International Rescue Committee The IRC is providing emergency assistance to hundreds of thousands of uprooted people fleeing ongoing violence in Darfur, Sudan. The conflict has driven more than a million people from their homes and into overcrowded camps across western Sudan and northeastern Chad. IRC staff report first-hand on the conditions these refugees face. To read updates filed by IRC employees from the field, see photos and support their work in the Sudan and all 25 countries where they have offices, please go to www.theirc.org/index.cfm/wwwID/2070. Lutheran World Relief Nearly one-and-a-half million people, the U.N. says, have been driven from their villages, landing in scattered and hastily created camps in their own country and in neighboring Chad. Sadly, even in these camps, many are still harassed and sometimes killed by the militia. Although the Sudanese government promised to disarm the militia, protect civilians and ensure safe access for aid operations, many of those promises depend on the assistance of outside organizations and resources. Recent rebel attacks, and the expulsion by the Sudanese government of the largest food distributors in Sudan, has disrupted urgently needed feeding program efforts, worsening an already tenuous situation of severe malnutrition. Lutheran World Relief and partners have long experience working in Sudan and continue assisting more than half a million people living in camps and in burned-out villages providing shelter, water, sanitation, bedding and kitchen utensils for internally displaced people and their hosts in Darfur.
LWR and partners in two global church aid alliances are currently seeking $17.5 million for this work in Darfur. To respond to this crisis, Action by Churches Together (which is co-chaired by LWR's president) has joined forces with its Catholic counterpart, Caritas Internationalis. LWR is requesting public contributions to help Darfur. Your support will help provide relief in this remote part of Sudan. The best way to assist people caught in an emergency is to give cash so that our partner staff on the ground can be most effective. Your gift will be used for the "Darfur/Sudan Crisis" until needs there are met. After that, further gifts will be used to help LWR respond where the need is greatest. Please go to www.lwr.org/emergencies/04/Sudan/index.asp. Save the Children Save the Children is operating one of the largest relief efforts in West Darfur, Sudan. Our vital programs include:
Your contribution means so much to children and families in Sudan! To donate, please go to www.savethechildren.org/radio_sudan.asp USA for UNHCR The UN refugee agency is battling the elements, massive logistics obstacles and daunting security challenges to help hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Refugees who fled across the border into neighboring Chad arrived in a remote, desert region where resources, particularly water, are scarce. Constructing makeshift shelters often just meters from the frontier, they faced cross-border raids by marauding militia and dangerous isolation during the rainy season, when aid deliveries were nearly impossible. In response, UNHCR in early 2004 mounted a major logistics operation to move the vast majority of the refugees to camps at a safer distance from the volatile border. In some of the most desloate terrain on earth, UNHCR and its partners virtually built small villages for thousands of people from the ground up -- everything from family shelters to latrines, clinics, schools, wells and other infrastructure. The first camp opened in January 2004. By September, a total of 10 had been established. Emergency airlifts flew thousands of metric tons of tents, blankets, plastic sheeting, soap and other relief items. Today, the search for new campsites continues. But the lack of water remains a daunting challenge, particularly following a poor rainy season that left wells and groundwater sources unreplenished. Across the border in strife-torn Darfur itself, despite ongoing security problems, UNHCR's mobile monitoring teams visit internally displaced people in settlements, particularly in West Darfur and near the Chad border. The teams investigate the security situation for the displaced people, many of whom say they will flee to neighbouring Chad if they don't get the help and protection they need in Sudan. UNHCR's teams also monitor movements of people, including new outflows of potential refugees towards the border, as well as small numbers of refugees returning from Chad, who for security reasons are often unable to get back to their home villages and so find themselves still displaced within Darfur. UNHCR became operational in Darfur in June 2004, opening offices in Nyala and El Geneina, following a request from the UN country team for the refugee agency to share its expertise in protection. In October 2004, UNHCR announced it would step up its operational activities in West Darfur as part of the collaborative United Nations effort. Acting on authorization from Secretary-General Kofi Annan, High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers said UNHCR would work closely with the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in providing a more protective international presence in West Darfur and in preparing for the eventual voluntary return of internally displaced people and refugees. To support this work, please go to www.USAforUNHCR.org/emergency.cfm OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES WITH FOCUS OR PROGRAMS IN AFRICA All the agencies listed as helping in Darfur and Chad also have other programs in other African nations and you can read about them on their websites. The following Charitable Choices clients also work in or for African causes. Africa Action Activism for Africa since 1953. Africa Action is the oldest organization in the U.S. working on African affairs. Our mission is to change U.S.-Africa relations to promote political, economic and social justice in Africa. We provide accessible information and analysis and we mobilize popular support for campaigns to achieve this mission. www.africaaction.org Bread and Water for Africa Our mission is to promote positive changes in Africa by supporting and strengthening grassroots initiatives for community self-sufficiency, health and education. Projects include education programs in Ethiopia; orphan care in Kenya; health care and micro-economic programs in Sierra Leone; literacy programs, vocational training and micro-economic programs in Mozambique; water sanitation programs in Uganda and safe haven in Zambia for children affected by AIDS. www.africanrelief.org Children of God Relief Fund/Nyumbani Orphanage Orphanage, hospice and outreach services to children affected by HIV/AIDS. Starting in 1992 with three orphans, Nyumbani has grown to serve hundreds at its orphanage and at Lea Toto, its outreach center in the slums of Nairobi. In 2004, the government of Kenya donated eight land parcels in order that a Nyumbani Village might be established in each of the country’s eight provinces. Nyumbani Villages give these children the best nutritional, medical, psychological and spiritual care available. www.nyumbani.org Children’s Relief Mission Children's Relief Mission exists for the sake of children in need, in many places, under every circumstance. Where there are children hungry, we want to bring bread. Where there are children alone, we want to bring protection. Where there are children in pain, we want to bring healing. Where there are children without hope, we want to bring good news. Recent past missions have included sending food supplies to the Congo; a container of medical and surgical supplies, clothing, educational and other supplies for needy communities to Liberia and medical supplies to Malawi. www.childrensreliefmission.org Christian Relief Services Through its partner organization, Bread and Water for Africa (see above), Christian Relief Services provides food and water relief, orphan support, efforts towards community self-sufficiency and health and education projects. Works to connect the vast resources of America through collaborations and partnerships formed with grass roots charitable groups, churches and human service agencies to empower local volunteers throughout the world to help those in need in their own communities and enable people to help themselves. www.christianrelief.org Giving Hope International GHI is a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to rescuing women and children from life threatening health crises by providing hospitalization, surgical operations, medicine, nutrition and transportation locally and worldwide; and caring for the hopeless and forgotten. GHI fosters partnerships among groups. Among its worldwide programs are shipments to of medical supplies and equipment to underserved communities in Kenya so that they might have what they needed to foster greater economic self-sufficiency. www.ghintl.org Global AIDS Alliance (mentioned in previous section) The mission of the Global AIDS Alliance (GAA) is to galvanize the political will and financial resources needed to slow and ultimately stop the global AIDS crisis, and to reduce its impacts on poor countries that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. A key focus of our work is securing comprehensive support for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries, including children with HIV/AIDS. Specifically, we seek to ensure that all children have access to health care, education, food and nutrition, and lifesaving medicines. Only such a solid foundation will enable the world’s children to build a promising future. www.globalaidsalliance.org Kids for the Kingdom Tourists who travel to Kenya for the amazing animals and landscapes
rarely see the rural villages and inner city slums where grinding
poverty, infant mortality, disease, hunger and unemployment define
the lives of so many of Kenyans. Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers On the continent of Africa, 52 Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers serve the people of six African nations: Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania. There are Maryknollers from other branches of the Maryknoll family: the Maryknoll Sisters (who also work in Sudan and Zimbabwe), members of MMAF (who also work in Sudan) and, most recently, the Maryknoll Affiliates. Maryknoll Programs in Africa encompass the following programs: Communications (including Print,
Radio, Video, Internet) For further information, please go to : www.maryknoll.org/WORLD/AFRICA/welcom_africa.htm Mercy Ships Mercy Ships has two ongoing programs serving Africa—Mercy Ships Sierra Leone, which has expanded from its original location in Freetown to serve not only that region but seven additional regions and Mercy Ship: Anastis, which is spending four months in early 2005 docked in the port of Cotonou, Benin, with plans to travel on to Liberia. Mercy Ship programs in Sierra Leone include physical rehabilitation for people who have suffered polio-related mobility impairments and war wounds in the country’s longstanding civil war. A new clinic will provide vesico vaginal fistula surgery. Classes and treatment for environmental sanitation and personal hygiene helped insure that there were no cholera cases in the area served by Mercy Ships even during a country-wide outbreak of the disease. Mercy Ships offers ongoing classes in literacy, personal development and basic education. Community development projects include well rehabilitation, irrigation and seed multiplication projects and livestock replenishment in areas ravaged by fighting. The Anastis is a floating hospital performing eye procedures, maxillo facial and plastics procedures. It is home for 300 volunteers and headquarters for inland community projects including a dental clinic; classes in literacy, water and sanitation principles and vocational training; and a variety of sustainable development projects. For further information, please go to www.mercyships.org/News/NewsList.cfm?c=9 Mission Aviation Fellowship Mission Aviation Fellowship is a non-profit team of aviation and communication specialists working in support of more than 300 Christian and humanitarian organizations around the world. MAF was founded in 1945 by former World War II pilots who wanted to combine their religious faith and their love of flying. Taking off from 41 bases worldwide with a fleet of more than 70 aircraft, MAF pilots are able to traverse rough, hostile terrain that could take days or weeks to travel by boat, beast of burden or on foot. This mobility ensures that MAF saves thousands of hours of human time and increases exponentially the number of people living in remote locations who can be helped. MAF provides aviation transportation, information technology (electronic mail, satellite phones, HF data radio and other wireless systems) and learning technology services in 12 countries. Using their facilities and equipment worldwide, MAF also provides warehousing, shipping and demographic mapping services for Christian agencies worldwide. In Africa, MAF has programs in the eastern and western regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and North Africa. For further information, please go to www.maf.org/services/programs.html. Operation Blessing South African Families Drink Clean Water for the First Time Imagine
walking for miles every day in scorching heat just to get clean
water for drinking and cooking. This is reality for many men, women
and children living in the remote villages of China, India, Nigeria
and other nations around the world. The Vumase, Gwala and Ngubane families all live in the Umbombo region of South Africa. As part of the Zulu people, they farm communal plots of land. Multiple generations live in each tiny home. For as long as they could remember, this poor but hard-working community experienced frequent outbreaks of Cholera. Parents were horrified to find out the very water they were giving to their children was killing them. It was the normal way of life for children and women to trek long distances to gather filthy water from pit wells. These wells were nothing more than unprotected holes in the ground. It was easy for livestock to step into them and get a drink. The Zulu people had been unaware that they shouldn’t have been washing their clothes or taking baths in the same hole that they drank from. But they didn’t have an alternative. The city water trucks couldn’t get to them with drinking water; and even if they could the Zulu’s wouldn’t have been able to afford the service. Representatives from Operation Blessing’s Living Waters program learned of the Zulu’s desperate need. We began digging clean water wells for the community. The Vumase, Gwala and Ngubane families excitedly drank the first cup of safe water from their individual wells in June. One family member commented, “Life is easier with the well right here and I have been able to help my neighbors with water as well.” The benefits of these wells will last a lifetime! Now parents in the Umbombo region can give their children a cup of water without fearing for their lives. Families can grow larger gardens because the water is close by. A few people are even making building blocks from clay and water to sell and use. The new wells have changed the Zulu people’s way of life for the better. Save children and adults from contracting waterborne diseases as
well as the back-breaking work of hauling water from distant and
contaminated locations. Search for Common Ground Search for Common Ground has currently thirteen field programs on four continents. Our two headquarters offices in Brussels and Washington, DC, provide logistical, fund-raising and policy work support to the field while our divisions dispense technical expertise. Our global projects and initiatives deal with cross-border issues such as Western-Islamic relations.
(only African programs listed here) Angola www.sfcg.org/programmes/angola/programmes_angola.html Burundi www.sfcg.org/programmes/burundi/programmes_burundi.html DR of Congo www.sfcg.org/programmes/drcongo/programmes_drcongo.html Liberia www.sfcg.org/programmes/liberia/programmes_liberia.html Morocco www.sfcg.org/programmes/morocco/programmes_morocco.html Sierra Leone www.sfcg.org/programmes/sierra/programmes_sierra.html South Africa Development Fund The South Africa Development Fund was founded in 1985 by exiles living in the United States to help the oppressed majority of their country. They were joined in this effort by Americans active in the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements. Originally called "Fund for a Free South Africa, (FreeSA)", the organization became a vehicle by which U.S. donors could show their solidarity with South Africans struggling for political and social justice. Since its inception, the South Africa Development Fund has raised over $4.3 million for projects focusing on community and economic development, empowerment of women, children, education, elderly services, environmental issues, health, human rights and democracy building. The organization further responded to the need for economic development in South Africa with the establishment of Shared Interest/Thembani International Guarantee Fund to help individuals and groups in poor communities gain access to credit. SI/TIGF is now a successful and independent program. The abject poverty that characterizes so many communities in South Africa is an immense challenge to the new democracy and an obstacle to the national goal of a peaceful and prosperous society for all. As in the past, the people of South Africa need support from friends and supporters in the international community. The South Africa Development Fund is directed by South Africans who have both a vast knowledge of issues affecting their country and strong ties to the United States. For many years, the organization has maintained a link between concerned Americans and South Africans working to enhance economic and social justice. The Fund welcomes donations large and small to continue this work. All contributions are tax-deductible. www.southafrica-newyork.net/sadf.htm World Orphans World Orphans’ mission is "To rescue orphaned and abandoned children in underdeveloped countries by funding construction of orphan homes required for local Christian churches to meet the spiritual, physical, and educational needs of these children." World Orphans has orphanages and programs in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, D.R. Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Malawi and Swaziland. For information, please go to www.WorldOrphans.org. World Vision World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty. There are many ways to support World Vision’s work in Africa: through one-time donations for food and supplies to Sudanese refugees; seeds, tools and training in Africa; sending a child to school for a year; feeding hungry children for a year; providing money to buy Bibles; and/or sending money to support unrestricted funds that go to the greatest need. Below we profile one of the many programs funded by World Vision, which assists Uganda’s child soldiers. Children have
become pawns of war in northern Uganda. The Lord’s resistance Army
(LRA), an oppressive cult, has abducted more than 20,000 children
for their militia over the past 19 years. The whereabouts of so
many children is unknown. And there is no end in sight. Michael Oruni,
World Vision's coordinator at the center, sees the children arrive
feeling weak, vulnerable and suspicious. He said, "They look
so frail and malnourished, with ugly wounds all over their bodies.
It takes God's grace for them to recover." The LRA has terrorized the population of northern Uganda. World Vision estimates between 1.3 million and 1.6 million people have left their homes and are living in temporary camps because they fear the LRA. World Vision is helping the war children by providing:
World Vision is also helping the displaced population by providing:
For more information go to www.worldvision.org. World Wildlife Fund Africa and Madagascar: Preserving Wild Places Considered the cradle of evolution, Africa is home to some of the most spectacular and diverse species on Earth. From the Congo's elusive lowland gorillas to southern Africa's black rhinos to Madagascar's amazing lemurs, the continent presents unprecedented challenges for World Wildlife Fund and its partners. WWF staff work in some of the continent's most remote regions. In the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve, at the heart of the Congo Basin, dedicated conservationists work side-by-side with BaAka pygmies to protect the forest and its species from logging and poaching, respectively. In the emerald-blue waters of Mozambique's coast, fishing communities are marveling at how quickly their fish stocks rebound now that new protections are in place. And in Madagascar's southern spiny forests, octopus trees and comical sifaka lemurs are increasingly threatened by growing urban populations. On this vast continent, WWF's ecoregion conservation programs are put to the ultimate test. Working across national boundaries in countless languages, WWF staff are helping create a lasting legacy of African conservation. For more information, please go to www.worldwildlife.org.
|
