wfn.org | Bread For The World Leads Letters Campaign

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CONTACT: 	Joretta Purdue
(10-31-71BP){152}
		Washington, D.C. (202) 546-8722 	 March 16, 1998

NOTE: A photograph is available.

Bread for the World seeks letters
in "Africa: Seeds of Hope" campaign 

	SILVER SPRING, Md. (UMNS) -- United Methodists are being invited
to join in Bread for the World's nationwide letter-writing campaign,
focusing on the needs of small-scale farmers and struggling rural
communities in Africa.
	"Africa: Seeds of Hope" is the theme of this year's Offering of
Letters. An annual campaign is led by Bread for the World, a
44,000-member Christian citizens' movement against hunger.
	This year's Offering of Letters campaign aims to ensure that
Washington's policies will be good for poor and hungry people in Africa,
rather than benefit mainly high-income and business people.
	Information from the World Bank shows that 39 percent of
Africans live in absolute poverty with daily incomes below $1 in 1993.
Africa is the only region of the world where poverty is expected to
increase in the next decade.
Furthermore, African agricultural production per capita has declined 20
percent from its peak in 1975, according to the Food and Agriculture
Organization. The number of undernourished people in Africa has more
than doubled, from about 100 million to 215 million today, and it is
expected to increase to 265 million by the year 2010.
	Bread for the World members and church congregations are
expected to generate more than 100,000 letters to their members of
Congress, urging them to keep in mind the largest segment of the African
population when discussing trade and investment.
	"Bread for the World's Offering of Letters provides the United
Methodist Church in the United States with a vehicle to speak in a
united voice of faith to the pressing needs of our sisters and brothers
in Africa," said Wendy Whiteside, executive secretary of program
management for the United Committee on Relief (UMCOR).
	David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, said,
"Americans seldom think about Africa, but as Christians we are called to
witness to our nation that God hears the cries of hungry and poor people
everywhere."
	Agriculture is the only source of income for many Africans and
is the largest sector of several sub-Saharan economies. Most African
farms are small, and in some countries, 80 percent of the food is grown
by women farmers.
	"Unless African agriculture prospers, Africa will not," Beckmann
said. "Any long-term solution must include programs that benefit
small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs."
	For more information about participating in the "Africa: Seeds
of Hope" Offering of Letters, contact Bread for the World, Suite 1000,
1100 Wayne Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20910, or send an e-mail to
offering.of.letters@bread.org. Phone calls may be directed to (800)
82BREAD or fax requests to (301) 604-2401.
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