Title: Lutherans Support Relief Efforts in Sudan
ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 14, 2000

LUTHERANS SUPPORT RELIEF EFFORTS IN SUDAN
00-058-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- International Disaster Response of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) provided $75,000 to help
rehabilitate southern Bahr el Ghazal in southern Sudan.  The funds sent
by the church will help deliver food and other materials needed there.
     The Rev. Y. Franklin Ishida, director for international
communication, ELCA Division for Global Mission, said $25,000 was
delivered to Lutheran World Relief to support its relief efforts in
southern Sudan, and $50,000 was given to Action by Churches Together
(ACT) to be implemented by the Lutheran World Federation.
     ACT is a worldwide network of churches and related agencies
meeting human need through coordinated emergency response.  ACT is based
with the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.  The ELCA is a member of both the WCC
and LWF.
  Ishida said the food security situation in Rumbek and Yirol
counties in Sudan has improved since the start of emergency relief
operations there in May 1998.  "But the World Food Programme's 1999-2000
Annual Needs Assessment -- conducted in the two counties in November
1999 -- indicated that, due to the erratic and insufficient rainfall and
widespread pest infestation in crops, about 40 percent of the population
will experience food deficits in 2000, notably during the 'hunger gap'
period from March to September."
  Such critical food shortages will be "exacerbated by the expected
continuing influx of returnees and internally displaced people fleeing
the fighting in northern Bahr el Ghazal and western Upper Nile," Ishida
said.
  LWF's Sudan Emergency Operation began in 1988.  By 1991 LWF
focused on the large-scale delivery system of food on behalf of an
ecumenical development consortium.  Since then, LWF has distributed
hundreds of metric tons of seeds and cereals and has provided other
materials needed for the rehabilitation of the population, Ishida said.
  "The funds sent by the ELCA will help provide food security,
skills training and income generation, secondary school education, and
capacity building and training," Ishida said.
  Members of the ELCA contribute funds to the church's International
Disaster Response fund.  Coordinated through the ELCA Division for
Global Mission, the International Disaster Response helps relief
agencies provide food, medicine, drinking water, emergency shelter, and
other materials and supplies.  Funds are also used to rebuild
communities and to repair structures destroyed by major disasters.

INTERNATIONAL DISASTERS:

Editors:  When listing organizations receiving funds for aid to
survivors of major disasters outside the United States, Puerto Rico or
the U.S. Virgin Islands, please include:

Lutheran World Relief
PO Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832
1-800-LWR-LWR2

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html