Title: ELCA Responds to Tanzania Appeal ELCA NEWS SERVICE NEWS BRIEF August 8, 1997 ELCA RESPONDS TO TANZANIA APPEAL More than half a million people face acute food shortages due to severe = drought in Tanzania. According to Action by Churches Together (ACT), no = loss of human life has been reported, but livestock and wildlife have died = and *the situation is getting worse day by day.* ACT is a worldwide = network of churches, including the Lutheran World Federation, meeting = human need through coordinated emergency response. ACT has issued an = appeal for =242,682,000 to provide assistance in Tanzania. The Evangelical= Lutheran Church in America has allocated =2420,000 to send to Tanzania = via ACT. ACT calls drought *a creeping disaster* that takes time to cause = damage. Like other Southern Sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania faces = serious drought conditions that began in 1990 when the rains began to = stray from a traditional pattern. According to ACT, 1997 has brought a = complete failure of short rains and delay of the long rains. In this = prolonged drought cycle people have shifted their crop and planting = patterns, ACT says. Purchasing power is low and external aid is erratic. = Malnutrition among children under five is severe and older children have = collapsed in classrooms as a result of hunger, ACT reports. Communities = who depend on the sale of livestock, milk and meat products are affected = regardless of age, gender or occupation. In farming communities it is the = poor who depend on annual and perennial crops who are severely affected. = Water sources have dried up as a result of large herds of cattle, goats = and sheep migrating to them. People are looking for water in the same = places. Consequently, springs and wells have been overdrawn and the = environment damaged, ACT reports. The Lutheran World Federation is a = worldwide communion of 124 member churches, including the Evangelical = Lutheran Church in America. =20 For information contact:=20 Ann Hafften, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS=40ELCA.ORG http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html