March 24, 2000,
NEW YORK CITY Church World Service is undertaking a $2.6 million program to help
rural households get re-established following the cyclones, heavy rains and floods that
have battered Mozambique, Madagascar and several other southern African countries since
February.
Hundreds of
thousands of persons have lost their homes, belongings and crops and now face rebuilding
their lives from scratch as soon as it is safe for them to return home. CWS and its African partners are keeping a nervous
eye on the continuing bad weather, which already has washed away one harvest and left the
ground too soggy for the March-April planting, and which threatens to prolong food
insecurity.
CWS Emergency
Response consultant Ivan DeKam of Grand Rapids, Mich., is meeting with churches across the
region all this month to assess how Church World Service can best help them meet recovery
needs. CWS Emergency Response Director Rick
Augsburger joined him March 5-10. Follow-up
visits are planned for May and June.
The two spoke by
phone on March 22 (with Mr. DeKam on the line from Madagascar) and briefed a larger group
with details of CWSs planned response. Church
World Service is the emergency response, human development and refugee assistance ministry
of the National Council of Churches.
The big
issue in the region now is long-term recovery, Mr. Augsburger said. Too often in emergencies, after the initial
response, the world tends to move on and forget. Church
World Service is committed to the long-term, supporting people with basic household and
agricultural inputs until they can begin supporting themselves again.
Moreover,
we work with African churches and ecumenical organizations, he said. These partners know their communities and
have worked in those communities for years. We
support them as they support peoples work to re-establish themselves. This way of working is one thing that sets CWS
apart from many other relief and development agencies.
Across southern
Africa, Church World Service is supporting the local purchase of rural resettlement kits,
which for a modest $180 each will equip families as they return home.
While tailored to each
familys particular needs, each kit typically includes cooking pots, a charcoal
stove, dishes and utensils, blankets, sleeping mats, soap, a water container, a bucket, a
basin, plastic sheeting, mosquito nets, a water filter and basic foodstuffs (rice, beans,
maize, sugar, salt, cooking oil) and in some cases even a pair of goats. Seeds and tools will be distributed at the next
planting season.
Persons wishing
to support CWSs post-flood response in southern Africa may do so by sending
contributions to: CWS Southern Africa Flood Appeal, #976416, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN
46515. Phone pledges or credit card
donations: 1-800-297-1516 ext. 222. On-line
contributions: www.churchworldservice.org.
Details on Mozambique Response
Mr. DeKam
reported that, in Mozambique, the strategy is that as soon as the water levels come
down and stay down and the rains are over, people will go home. Theyll come to distribution centers monthly
for food stocks. When its time to
plant, families will collect seeds and agricultural implements, including hoes and pangas. The next planting is scheduled for
September, with harvest six to eight weeks later, Mr. Augsburger noted, so
people will need basic food support until then.
In Mozambique, CWSs rural resettlement
kits also will include landmine awareness materials.
The floods have left many of these deadly weapons, laid during Mozambiques
16-year civil war, exposed, unstable or swept to new areas.
Hidden devices will make rehabilitation that much harder, Mr.
Augsburger said, and complicate the campaign to rid the country of landmines.
Most of the areas that were flooded
had been heavily mined, he said. Most
of those areas were mapped but now most of the maps are useless. We talked with a Canadian organization on site,
which shared their concern that theyll have to do a whole new mine sweeping
operation to determine where the mines are. Many
years of work since the war stopped have just completely gone down the drain.
More than 1.1 million Mozambicans have been
affected by the floods, with 210,000 displaced. Near-total
crop losses are almost certain in the southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane,
with serious crop losses expected in central Manica and Sofala. While some people needing emergency assistance are
still being found, most emergency needs are being met, Mr. DeKam reported on March 22, who
added that there are enough resources in the country to meet those needs.
Church World
Services partners in Mozambique are the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) and
the Presbyterian Church of Mozambique (IPM). Both
are exceptionally well organized, Mr. Augsburger and Mr. DeKam reported.
The CCM has a network of people in the
field all over. Im very impressed,
Mr. DeKam commented. Directing the CCMs
relief and recovery effort is Titos Macie, who did a lot of disaster relief in the civil
war and has all the age and worry wrinkles to show for it.
Hes wise, respected, knows people in the field and has a lot of
experience behind him.
The Presbyterian Church of Mozambique is
undertaking emergency food distribution to survivor accommodation centers on behalf of the
United Nations World Food Program.
Church
World Service is underwriting its Mozambican partners response with more than $1
million, which will cover local purchase of blankets and/or tarps for 24,400 people, rural
resettlement kits for 5,200 families and development of an Emergency Committee to
coordinate long-term recovery efforts and future emergency response.
Madagascar, Zimbabwe Response
Details
Madagascar, an
island nation of 13 million located off continental Africas east coast, also was hit
hard by the cyclones, floods and consequent mudslides.
Mr. DeKam estimated that at least 500,000 people have been affected, 40,000
homes destroyed and hundreds of communities still not reached.
Many water
systems are presumed damaged or destroyed, he said, and anecdotal evidence suggests
a growing health crisis. I talked with
people from the northeast, who said a hospital there is taking in between 60 to 80 cholera
patients a day and the northeast was not the hardest-hit region.
I think there are adequate emergency
supplies on hand but distribution has been the big problem because of a lack of
information about where people are and how to get to them, he said.
Church World Service is planning close to
$1.5 million for Madagascar, for local purchase of rural resettlement kits for 8,000
families and emergency management training for denominational and ecumenical partners in
Madagascar being planned for early June.
The group here that has pizzazz, moxie
and a sound organizational structure that includes congregations in 108 villages is the
Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, Mr. DeKam reported. Theyre eager to help Madagascar
recover. They just dont know how.
The Council of Churches of Madagascar,
FIKRIFAMA and other groups including the Roman Catholic Church also are enthusiastic about
the upcoming training and are expected to participate, he said.
Church World Service is assisting flood response in Zimbabwe by providing funds to the Johannesburg-based South African Council of Churches for purchase and distribution of blankets for 4,500 families. Immediate relief needs in Zimbabwe have been well met, and there already is substantial movement into actual recovery, Mr. Augsburger said.
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