* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
NEWS: SUPPORT FOR REFUGEE LEARNERS
The Albert Street School in Johannesburg was established in 2008 to provide an opportunity for education to refugee and vulnerable children who continue to pour into the South African capital from neighboring Zimbabwe.
Many of the children arrive as unaccompanied minors, often fleeing xenophobic violence in their homeland, and take up residence in abandoned buildings in the city. The buildings lack basic sanitation and electricity, and unscrupulous “landlords” charge exorbitant fees to rent a small space.
The Albert Street School provides a stable and creative environment for these refugee and vulnerable learners and ensures that, although they have no economic support, the children can complete their primary and secondary education.
The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has just issued a new grant to the Methodist Church of Southern Africa’s Central District to support the Albert Street School, its teachers, students, and availability of resources.
Your gift to International Disaster Response, UMCOR Advance ${esc.hash}982450, supports the work of UMCOR and its partners worldwide in their response to critical, emergency needs of vulnerable people such as the children of Albert Street School.
PRAYER: UMCOR FIELD OFFICES
Please remember in your prayers this week the staffs of UMCOR’s field offices in 10 countries around the world as they seek to build strong partnerships with local populations to promote recovery from emergency situations and long-term development.
Field office leaders from Afghanistan, Armenia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Haiti, Philippines, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, and Zimbabwe will be at UMCOR headquarters in New York the week of June 10 for strategy meetings. Please pray for their safe travel and fruitful deliberations.
UMCOR OPENINGS: PROGRAM MANAGER, NEW YORK CITY
UMCOR is seeking a program manager to be based at its New York City headquarters. This professional would guide and oversee UMCOR field offices in their program development, monitoring and reporting of activities, strategic development, and exit/transition planning.
Please visit UMCOR’s Careers page on the organization’s website for more details.
MEDIA: RELIEF KITS NEEDED
Recent emergencies in the United States and overseas are quickly exhausting UMCOR’s supply of relief kits —from cleaning buckets to layette kits, school kits, and more.
View a new UMCOR video on the life-affirming role relief kits play in a crisis, and learn how you can assemble and ship kits that will help survivors of natural and human-caused disasters, from Texas to Syria and beyond.
View a video produced by the United Methodist Oklahoma Conference celebrating the arrival of UMCOR relief kits and supplies after the May 20 tornadoes that caused so much destruction in Moore.
During the annual conference in Oklahoma, members turned right around and devoted time to assembling more kits for delivery, through the UMCOR Relief-Supply Network, to communities in need around the world.
RESOURCES: TORNADO RELIEF CHURCH BULLETIN INSERT
