NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF

November 18, 2004

For more information contact contact Lisa Baumgartner Bonds at lbonds@lwr.org or 410-230-2814.

In this news release:

1. Small Helpings of Hope Where the Need is Great

2. LWR Partners with Luther College

3. LWR Persists with Relief in Haiti

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SMALL HELPINGS OF HOPE WHERE THE NEED IS GREAT

Baltimore, November 18, 2004 — With food supplies running low and malnutrition levels three times beyond U.N. emergency thresholds, Lutheran World Relief and its partners, ACT and Caritas Internationalis, continue working to provide life’s basics to the hundreds of thousands of people affected by violence and displacement in Sudan’s Darfur region.

For too many, malnutrition is acute. Take Abdul Gafar Isaak. At 22 months, Abdul weighs in at just 17 pounds – the weight of a normal six-month old. Abdul is receiving treatment at the clinic in Hassa Hissa, a new refugee camp established by LWR partners, ACT/Caritas. More than 40,000 people displaced by the ongoing conflict in the region have found refuge here.

Little Abdul needs high-protein food. Everyone at the camp does. But the last United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) distribution in the camp was two and a half months ago. According to health promoter Damaris Ager, a nutrition team serving the camp identifies about three cases of severe malnourishment every day.

Besides hunger, the residents of the camp at Hassa Hissa are also confronting the results of their forced displacement. Few have not lost at least one family member in the Janjaweed militia attacks. Hadya Musa Ismael, a young girl from Darfur who lost her parents in the attack on her village, is being taken care of by her friend Howa’s family.

With so little progress made in government efforts to disarm the Janjaweed, many people do not feel safe returning to their villages nor do they expect to be able to return home soon. Stripped of their safety, homes, livelihoods and now food supplies, these people know first-hand what it means to have their lives literally hanging in the balance.

LWR and its partners continue to work toward the goal of helping the half-million people in Darfur over the next year. But for now, they are serving up relatively small portions of hope in the face of overwhelmingly greater need.

Gifts can be made online, by phone at 1-800-LWR-LWR-2, or by check or money order to:

Lutheran World Relief
Darfur/Sudan Crisis
P.O. Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832

LWR PARTNERS WITH LUTHER COLLEGE

Baltimore, November 18, 2004 — Lutheran World Relief announces a new partnership with Luther College that makes it possible for the school’s Nordic Choir to give “something back” to the various cultures whose music it performs.

$3.00 from the sale of each copy of the Nordic Choir’s new world music CD, “Eight Chestnut Horses,” will be donated to Lutheran World Relief (LWR) to support its humanitarian work around the world.

LWR President Kathryn Wolford says “We are thrilled that Luther College’s Nordic Choir chose LWR to receive a portion of the sale of this wonderful CD. The “Eight Chestnut Horses” collection of world music reminds us of the places where LWR shares Christ’s love through acts of mercy and justice. Thanks to the generosity of Luther College, more impoverished families will have access to safe, clean water, nutritious food, and good health.”

Weston Noble, director of the Luther College Nordic Choir for 57 years, recognizes the importance of exposing his students and the choir’s audiences to music from all continents. His fresh, accurate interpretations of world music are exquisitely represented in this collection.

To order the CD, go to http://music.luther.edu/recordings and click on the “Eight Chestnut Horses.” The cost of shipping is included in the price of the CD.

LWR PERSISTS WITH RELIEF IN HAITI

Baltimore, November 18, 2004 — Lutheran World Relief responded quickly to the latest emergency in Haiti, sending an immediate $20,000 to support an appeal by its partners in ACT (Action by Churches Together) to provide relief for people whose lives were devastated by this year’s Caribbean hurricanes.

Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, has suffered greatly in the past year. First, episodes of civil unrest resulting from violence related to demands for the return of Haiti’s exiled president sent waves of violence across the island nation. The resulting insecurity forced businesses and schools to close. LWR, through its ACT partners, responded to the violence by providing funding for health, legal, food, and other assistance.

Then, in May, floods and landslides struck, killing more than 1,500. LWR, again through its ACT partners, distributed food and non-food items to individuals and families with great needs. It also supported cash-for-work projects that included bringing safe drinking water to people by laying more than nine miles of pipe from a spring. Then the spring was protected by promoting the growth of grassland and by reforestation.

Bad weather hit Haiti again in September. A hurricane caused extensive damage. Floods devastated Gonaïves, the coastal city that is the cradle of Haiti’s independence. As many as 2,000 died. LWR’s response included the delivery of 1,000 food buckets through twenty churches. Another 4,200 food buckets remain to be delivered, but a difficult security situation in Gonaïves is interfering with deliveries.

In addition to the food, two water purification units are to be installed, 20 schools are being rehabilitated, and food for three months is being provided for some 4,000 students.

Haiti is struggling, even with the help of LWR and its partners in ACT. There still is a great need for food and clean water, particularly in the areas of Gonaïves that were flooded.

Gifts can be made online or by phone at 1-800-LWR-LWR-2, or by check or money order to:

Lutheran World Relief
Caribbean Emergency
P.O. Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832