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In Today's Hotline: Read how UMCOR is responding to needs around the world:
PAKISTAN: FLOOD EMERGENCY FAR FROM OVER
RESOURCES: UNITED METHODISTS IN DISASTER MINISTRY
MYANMAR: HIV DOES NOT RENDER ONE USELESS
SIERRA LEONE: MORINGA TREE, “MOTHER’S BEST FRIEND”
PAKISTAN: FLOOD EMERGENCY FAR FROM OVER
“The people who were very poor in Pakistan were made poorer by last year’s flooding there,” said David Sadoo, International Disaster Response executive for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). “Lay that natural disaster on top of already existing security issues, and it’s a very difficult situation.”
Sadoo traveled to Pakistan last December with personnel from partner agency Church World Service to assess UMCOR’s continuing response to the flooding that rolled through the country for three months last summer.
Nearly 1.9 million homes, 400 medical facilities, and 7,000 schools were damaged or destroyed in the slow-moving disaster. “People lost their homes and their livelihoods, which directly impacts the security of their families,” Sadoo pointed out. Read the full story here.
Your gift to International Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #982450, supports UMCOR’s ongoing relief and recovery efforts in Pakistan when you earmark your check for “Pakistan floods.”
RESOURCES: UNITED METHODISTS IN DISASTER MINISTRY
When a disaster strikes, the local church usually provides the first response. UMCOR equips United Methodists to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters, by supporting church and conference disaster response ministries. New training brochures are now available.
"Early Response Training";" Equipping Caregivers: Spiritual and Emotional Care Training"; "Connecting Neighbors"; and" Equipping Caregivers: A Case Management Training" offer brief course descriptions of available training opportunities for those interested in disaster response.
The informative brochures provide information for churches to understand their role in rebuilding lives and homes after a devastating natural event. Click here to download disaster response brochures now.
Your gift to US Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance #901670, helps UMCOR to be there, be hope when disaster strikes in the United States.
MYANMAR: HIV DOES NOT RENDER ONE USELESS
As a widow and single mother in Myanmar, Naw Shé Wah beat the odds of her HIV-positive circumstances and now works to improve the lives of women living with HIV and AIDS.
“Most people think that positive people are useless persons. As for me, I do not believe that I am useless. I try as much as I can to support other positive people,” exclaims Naw Shé Wah, who works as a project officer with the Myanmar Positive Group, an informal network of self-help support groups for people living with HIV.
The network, supported by the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), brings together close to 80 support groups with 1,600 participants in 77 townships across the country. The overall project is managed through a partnership with Church World Service Asia Pacific. Read the full story here.
You can support projects like these that create education, prevention, treatment and awareness through the United Methodist Global AIDS Fund, UMCOR Advance #982345.
SIERRA LEONE: MORINGA TREE, “MOTHER’S BEST FRIEND”
“Mother’s Best Friend” is just one of the names the Moringa tree goes by. The tree, native to the foothills of the Himalayas, but now widely cultivated in Africa, Central and South America, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, is also known as the “miracle tree.”
UMCOR’s Sustainable Agriculture and Development program has played a pioneering role in Africa in the promotion of the Moringa as a source of nutrition, health, even purified water. Last October, UMCOR launched a promotion of the tree in Sierra Leone to support vulnerable communities there.
Read the full story here. Your gift to Sustainable Agriculture and Development, UMCOR Advance #982188, supports programs like this one for those who need them most.
UMCOR provides emergency relief in many areas of the world. To find out more about UMCOR's ministries, please visit umcor.org. You can donate to any project by placing a contribution in the offering plate at a local United Methodist church; by sending a check to UMCOR, PO Box 9068, New York, NY 10087-9068; or by calling 1-800-554-8583, where credit card donations are accepted. You can also give online by clicking on any of the "Give Now" links. UMCOR is exempt from tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of the United States and qualifies for the maximum charitable contribution deduction by donors.
And, please pray for those who are hungry, displaced, sick or in poverty because of these and other natural and human-made disasters, and for the workers who minister to them.
