Sudanese refugees receive hope and comfort from Canadian Lutherans

Last summer, aid organizations and the Ethiopian government opened a new refugee camp to help accommodate thousands of people fleeing fighting in Sudan. Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR), a Winnipeg-based humanitarian organization, has been supporting the Bambasi camp, located in western Ethiopia and a safe haven to over 12,000 people.

Robert Granke, executive director of CLWR, will visit Bambasi on March 26. He will meet with people living there, and visit the work of The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), CLWR’s partner in the camp. The LWF is providing clean water and sanitation, livelihood training, and community-based psychosocial programming.

“The basic need for water, food, shelter, and sanitation is crucial and at the top of most people’s minds when they think of helping refugees,” says Granke. “But what is also important is helping people recover from the trauma of losing homes and loved ones. We do this by teaching skills that help people care for themselves and their families, economically, emotionally, and socially.”

CLWR has supported the LWF in providing permanent sources of water. Three wells have been completed, with more under construction. Latrines have been built, and the distribution of soap and water treatment kits help to stop the spread of disease.

A woman carries water on her head in the Doro refugee camp in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State (located over the border from Bambasi in Ethiopia). She is one of thousands of refugees fleeing bombings in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, where Sudanese military are fighting the SPLM-N rebel group. Paul Jeffrey/Lutheran World Federation

Camp residents are learning how to garden. With tools and seeds, they can add vegetables like radishes and cabbages to the rations they receive at the camp.

Soccer and volleyball matches for youth, classes on food preparation, and community conversations on stress management all help to create healthy social networks, teach useful skills, and promote emotional well-being.

Most of the people living in Bambasi come from Sudan’s Blue Nile state, where fighting between Sudanese government forces and a rebel group (the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement-North, or SPLM-N) has driven thousands from their homes.

Heart of the Good Shepherd

Members of the Church of the Good Shepherd LWML, Pastor Harold Borchardt, Tom Brook. Photo: CLWR/T.Brook

Church of the Good Shepherd in the Winnipeg suburb of Transcona truly has the heart of the Good Shepherd. This Lutheran Church Canada congregation is deeply engaged in a variety of international and domestic mission and ministry. However, it seemed to me, that they had a special attachment to Canadian Lutheran World Relief.

The LWML provides We Care kits, quilts and blankets as well as financial support. Even the Sunday School children meet their mission needs through CLWR. The members of the congregation are also very generous in their personal support.

Seventy people came to lunch following the service to hear about the work of CLWR. I was pleased to report on some of the life-giving work of CLWR in Ethiopia. They learned more about what Lutherans are doing at the Shirkole Refugee Camp on the border with Sudan, the famine relief work in the Goro District and agricultural development in Rural Ethiopia.

Next week the Sunday School is sponsoring a tea, CLWR will be the object of the free-will offering!

Tom Brook

Community Relations Director

We Were Dust Before – Now We Are Somebody

In February of this year (2012) Rev. Dr. Faith Rohrbough joined other Canadian Lutheran World Relief Global Encounter participants on a trip to Ethiopia. Here is her eloquent report of some of her experiences.

Most interesting for me was the visit to Chenaksin where we learned about COLTA, a  program in leadership training with five major emphases:  Gender Issues, Education (including opportunities for girls), HIV-AIDS prevention, Peace and Reconciliation and the Environment.  We then had the opportunity to witness the difference this program was making for women.

We were invited to visit a new school (one of five built by the UN/LWF program) where the students and their families waited over two hours for us to arrive to cut the ribbon.  After that ceremony, that included the pledge of allegiance to the Ethiopian flag, the children streamed into the building to enjoy sitting at desks instead of on the dirt floor in the old school.  We were invited to hand out awards to the ten top students.  I was gratified to note that there were many girls among the crowd of students and four of the ten awards went to girls as well.

Rev. Dr. Faith Rohrbough at a school opening at Serte Ethiopia where she learned of the COLTA leadership program. Photo: G. Blishen

We then had the privilege of hearing from women and men who had been helped by a Micro-financing/Savings and Loan program of COLTA. This program not only made loans, it also taught financial management and the importance of saving money.

The majority of these loans went to women although there were some that had been given to men as well.  Both women and men spoke of how these loans had made a huge difference in their lives, changing the relationship between men and women in their village.  Women became more respected in the community for their abilities, including providing income for the families.  Men were now more willing to help with domestic chores, something that before would have been shaming for them.

The big difference, however, was in people’s lives and their learning to work together. As one woman so eloquently put it:  “We learned the difference between ‘push’ and ‘pull’.  Before we had been pushing our way to the front of the line, pushing others out of the way.  Now we have learned to pull together to get things done.”  Then she spoke almost poetically about the huge difference in women’s lives:  “We were dust before—that’s what poverty does for you.  Now we are somebody—we have a future before us.”

I shall never forget the passion with which this woman spoke, but also the agreement and nods of heads from both the women and the men in that room.  I was extremely humbled by the gratitude of these people for the difference that the LWF COLTA program had made in their lives.

 

Faith E. Rohrbough

CLWR Board Member

A Cautionary Tale for Canadians

Dr. Lemma Degefa is the extremely competent and well respected Lutheran World Federation Country Representative for Ethiopia. His leadership has made sure the  investment Canadian Lutherans have made in development and relief work in that country is delivered in an efficient and effective manner.

Lemma spoke to our CLWR March board meeting and raised some valuable points that agencies like CLWR, and the government programs that support them, need to be aware of as they consider funding aid in Africa. Here’s a link to the video of what he said.

Dr. Degefa related a story from the history of Ethiopia concerning a time when they were preparing for an armed struggle against Somalia. The Russians armed Somalia “to the teeth” and they were poised to take over the southern portion of Ethiopia.  The Americans were the friends of Ethiopia. Aid to Ethiopia for the conflict had reached as far as the Gulf of Yemen and then the Americans felt that they couldn’t support the socialist government of Ethiopia and withdrew their support.

The Russians sensed there was an opportunity now to back a “bigger horse” and armed Ethiopia to the point that it defeated Somalia rather easily. Somalia is still recovering socially and politically from that event.

Lemma’s point is this – when the west is not there to help there is always someone else on the sidelines waiting for an opportunity and their motives may not always be the same. Africa needs collaboration from compassionate and peace-loving nations from the north and North America, but the African reality is that others who do not share our values or motives are waiting for the opportunity to take our place.

Tom Brook

CLWR Director of Community Relations

Sometimes Impressions Can Be Misleading

CLWR Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from Ethiopia.

I have to say that the reality of Ethiopia was entirely different than what I had thought would be the case. I have described earlier the many things that we have in common and they really extend beyond the agricultural background and the values that flow from that common experience.

I visited communities which have specific visions for their future and a plan of how to achieve them. People have great initiative and work hard for what they have. There is an overall sense of harmony and relative peace here.

On every border of Ethiopia, refugees fleeing war, famine, drought or economic persecution find a sincere welcome and the government in concert with aid agencies take care of as many people as possible. It is as if the border doesn’t really exist or does so at least as an artificial human creation. North America could learn from this attitude.

I think the reason I had a false notion of conditions in this country and Africa in general was because we constantly see images of starving and disadvantaged children and other people which form part of the advertising campaign of some relief agencies.

Of course there is poverty here as much as any place in the world and there are refugees and displaced persons with tremendous needs, but that is not the whole story. Agencies that dwell on the negative for maximum fund raising impact do a tremendous disservice to people who are working hard with the resources they have to build a life of hope and a future of prosperity.

So when you see those ads on TV, posters in your church, or appeals in your mail; please remember there is a completely different world that is reaching out to you not just for assistance but welcoming you to be a partner in their vision that will save and change lives.

- Tom Brook

Not As Different As You Think

Residents of the small Ethiopian farming community Abichu Gna come to hear from CLWR and LWF about possible future collaboration. Photo: Tom Brook

As we passed through the rolling farmlands full of durum wheat, rye and barley all ready for harvest, it occurred to me that there is really little difference between Canada and Ethiopia in many respects. Certainly our rural roots and heritage are much the same.

In Ethiopia, land holdings are very small. The crop, gardens and livestock will support a family under normal conditions, with perhaps a little leftover for market. The country of Ethiopia is predominantly rural. Estimates vary but as much as 70% or more of the population resides outside the cities. And the people are very much guided by their religion.

Canada is only a generation or two removed from a time when a typical farm was no more than a quarter section. The family lived off the farm output and faith was an important part of life. Our provinces were largely rural.

When we met the Abichu Gna District Manager he said he understood those familiarities. He told us that is why the National Development Strategy urges development districts to emulate the Canadian experience.

He said that coming to them in this way to investigate ways in which we might help was evidence of our concern and recognition of mutual values.

The area certainly had the feel of a peaceful and secure district and had a particularly good environment for development. There was an open and welcoming attitude among local authorities.

This is an area of Ethiopia that CLWR is considering for future development support. There is a great need for water diversion, water retention and irrigation. There is a great deal of good farmland waiting to be broken and brought under cultivation. As well, capacity building and assistance with marketing would go a long way to bringing prosperity.

But here’s something else. There is a great opportunity here for Canadian farmers to use some of their knowledge and ingenuity by coming here in their off-season helping to bring new fields under cultivation, and passing on farming techniques which would maximize the limited resources available. We will work toward determining the feasibility of a farmer-to-farmer development experience.

People here are eager to change their lives and deeply committed to work with anyone who wants to help.

- Tom Brook

I Can Keep My Children

CLWR’s Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from the Goro region in Ethiopia.

Fekadu Genite, LWF Goro project coordinator; Asha Haji Abdu of Gobu village; and Tesfaye Saboka, LWF emergency assistance coordinator. Photo: Tom Brook

While touring in the town of Gobu in the Goro district of Ethiopia, Lutheran World Federation’s Goro Project Coordinator Fekadu Genite and Emergency Assistance Coordinator Tesfaye Saboka introduced me to Asha Haji Abdu.

Asha is a single mother of four who is receiving food assistance from the Canadian Lutheran World Relief-supported Goro Emergency Response Program.

She was asked how this assistance benefited her. She was very deliberate in her response. “I could not feed my family and myself without this food ration.” She said it with a deep note of sadness and that seemed to come from the unspoken consequences should she not have received the food – either she would have gone hungry or some of her children would have to live elsewhere. But that’s not necessary thanks to the CLWR-backed food aid program.

In fact, the presence of a reliable food source has given her the strength and hope that a neighbour might provide his oxen to help her plough her small field and plant a crop for herself.

A small bit of kindness – only pennies a day for a ration – really goes a long way!

- Tom Brook

“You Are Wrong to Think That Way”

CLWR’s Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from the Goro region in Ethiopia.

I don’t have a lot of international travel experience in the context of Canadian Lutheran World Relief’s work around the world. Even so, I have to express that those visits I have made always left me with the uncomfortable feeling of intruding in the lives of people who have become incredibly disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

Work for food soil conservation program in Ro'o Nagya, Goro, Ethiopia. Photo: Tom Brook

Whether it was visiting relief camps in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; refugee sites such as the settlements in Palestine or camps like Sherkole in Ethiopia; or the drought-stressed farmers of the Goro district of Ethiopia, I could not escape the feeling of coming to those places from a position of privilege which was provided as much from the place of my birth than from anything else.

When I expressed my concern over coffee with a local LWF worker in the town of Gobu in the Goro district of Ethiopia, he told me it was wrong to think that way.

He said, “People are excited that you would come and see their problems for yourself. It gives them hope that people really care for their situation, but most important of all – it allows them to say thank you and bless you for the generosity of the people you represent.”

I’ll probably still carry around a good dose of Lutheran guilt, but those words put everything in a completely different light, and for that I was very grateful.

- Tom Brook

Watch a video of Tom Brook reflecting on his experiences in Goro.

There’s No Doubt – You are Making A Difference!

CLWR Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from Ethiopia.

One of the questions I am asked so many times as I meet supporters of CLWR is, “Is our money getting there? Is it being used wisely?” Following a visit to the drought-plagued region of Goro in Ethiopia, I am pleased to report that it is being used to make a difference in the lives of people struggling against the loss of crops due to the untimely rains in that region.

Thousands of bags of Canadian wheat along with beans, oil and Famix at the Gobu distribution centre, Ethiopia. Photo: Tom Brook

Typically, farmers could rely on two rainy seasons, a short one in October-November and a longer one from April to June. These would allow planting of two crops and relative food security. But when you can’t count on the rain at the proper time farming becomes chaotic at best.

CLWR is participating in the distribution of over 3.8 million pounds of food to support 18,000 people as part of its East Africa drought and famine relief efforts. The food rations consist of wheat, beans, oil and a food supplement called Famix which is reserved for children and pregnant women.

The first coping mechanism in these times of food shortage is for farmers to begin selling resources – mainly livestock. This food aid makes it more feasible to keep their resources intact.

I was pleased to visit one of the three warehouses in the region where there were thousands of bags of Canadian wheat and the other rations food being carefully stored and guarded. While I was there, a new shipment of wheat and oil had just arrived.

You have helped supply more than 10,000 agricultural tools. I met two young men on the road carrying their new tools. They were walking to a work-for-food site at Ro’o Nagya where I witnessed thirty or more people digging trenches in the hillside to prevent rain runoff from flooding the fields in the valley.

Those who are able spend two days a week participating in work-for-food projects such as brushwood check dams; cut-off drains; vegetative fencing and stabilization; and rural road maintenance.

Young men on their way to Ro'o Nagya work-for-food project for a day's work. Photo: Tom Brook

Not only is this aid making a difference but it comes at a very low cost. Of a budget of $1.3 million, only $60,000 is being spent on administration – less than 5%!

You are making a difference in the lives of people who are reaching out for hope today. These are resourceful and hard-working people. How else can you explain being able to support a family on an average farm of only 1.3 – 1.5 acres in size and even having some produce leftover to take to market! Your gift of food aid in a troubling time provides that hope.

- Tom Brook

There’s A War No One Knows About

October 14, 2011

Children in a section of Sherkole camp not far from the Ethiopia/Sudan border. Photo: Tom Brook.

Tom Brook, CLWR’s community relations director, reports from a Ethiopian refugee camp housing thousands of Sudanese refugees.

I think we all thought with the division of Sudan into two countries, all was well. That’s not the case. In North Sudan the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-North) has begun an armed struggle following the recent elections to create a third country and the war is displacing thousands of Sudanese.

It’s nothing new. During the previous struggle, refugees from the north of Sudan streamed into Ethiopia and camps like Sherkole close to the border. After the formation of South Sudan many returned home, but 3000 remained as they were unsure of the future. With the new hostilities, the camp has grown to nearly 9000 and many thousands more women and children are poised on the border to come across at a moment’s notice once their husbands have finished harvest or the fighting gets more intense.

And there is no doubt there is fighting. You can hear gunfire from the ground war from the border and the bombing and air raids are even more evident.

As it stands now Sherkole is not accepting any new refugees unless it is for family reunification. Otherwise they are going to a new camp at Tonga nearby.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is managing the camp and with assistance from two or three other agencies are providing health and sanitation requirements, education up to grade eight, shelter and water. CLWR is looking to see where there may be gaps that we can fill and there are some.

High school education is only available in the town 16 kilometres away and there is need to provide transportation and increase the school size to accommodate students from the camp. There are a large number of unaccompanied youth in the camp who need an education.

Another area of assistance that would be helpful is in an area that CLWR has a lot of experience and that’s in providing fuel efficient stoves. Large areas of forest were cut down during the previous encampment and have been reforested and rehabilitated but now the fear is that the camp will again cause widespread environmental degradation.

These may seem like small things, but are a way that Canadian Lutherans can step in and make a significant difference in the lives of people who live for signs of hope.

Watch a video of Robert Granke, CLWR’s executive director, reflecting on the situation in Sherkole.