wfn.org | ACT launches winter crisis appeal for Russia

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Worst winter this century threatens survival of vulnerable groups

GENEVA, 7 December 1998 (lwi) - The Action by Churches Together (ACT) has
made a US$ 3,228,175 appeal on behalf of churches in Russia to provide
life sustaining, short term emergency assistance for some 10 million
people affected by the current winter crisis in the country. The appeal
was made on 30 November 1998.

ACT works to meet human need by coordinating the emergency response of a
worldwide network of churches and their related agencies. It is
organizationally based in the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the
World Council of Churches (WCC).

ACT members implementing the five-month emergency assistance are the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States (ELCROS), the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia (ELCIR), the Russian Union
of Evangelical Christian Baptists (RUECB), the Russian Orthodox
Church/Hungarian Interchurch Aid (ROC-HIA) and the Christian Inter-Church
Diaconical Council of St. Petersburg (CIDC).

According to ACT, the expected severe winter is aggravated by the
continuing economic crisis which has created increasing hardship and
deprivation for large groups of vulnerable persons throughout the Russian
Federation. A considerable section of the vast society comprises socially
unprotected persons who have no available means of sustenance or
protection.

Millions of Russians live below the poverty line

ACT reports that millions of people live below the poverty line and are
victims of unemployment, inflation and the disintegration of
social/medical services. The collapse of the Russian rouble against the US
dollar last August has made the situation even more difficult. Millions of
people have lost their savings in the resulting banking crisis, or their
wages and pensions have become non-existent or a fraction of their former
value.This deepening crisis will have a critical effect on the most
vulnerable who include the elderly, disabled, single-parent and large
families, refugees, small to medium-sized provincial cities and segments
of the rural population.

Further, the impending winter crisis is compounded by the poor crop
harvest throughout the region. According to the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), cereal and pulse crops in Russia are expected to be 25
per cent less than in 1997 due to adverse weather including exceptionally
high temperatures, drought and flooding. Last summer, central and southern
parts of Russia, which are the main producers of wheat and grains,
suffered the most serious drought in a century.

Since Russia's economic crisis began last August , the section of the
population living in poverty reached one-third of the country's 146
million people. Real incomes decreased by 12.4 percent during the first
nine months of the year compared to 1997, while consumer prices rose by
38.4 percent in September alone, the biggest monthly rise in three years,
according to the October/November LWF-World Service report on the Russia
Program.

Implementation of the ACT appeal assistance will be carried out by the
participating churches through the local congregations. Activities by the
two Lutheran churches and the Baptist churches will be coordinated by a
central office specially set up for this purpose in St. Petersburg.

Participants from the Lutheran, Orthodox and Baptist congregations have
been trained and equipped for implementation of diaconical
ministries.through two diaconical seminars in St. Petersburg and Moscow,
organized by the LWF consultant in Russia, Peter Kroslak.

Planning for the ACT winter assistance was part of a recent seminar in
which the LWF consultant explained the logistics of ACT assistance and the
methodology of preparing an ACT application. The requests of these
participants are contained in the current appeal.

This is not the first time the ELCROS is participating in the distribution
of emergency assistance provided by ecumenical bodies, ACT says. In 1994,
the Lutheran church, with a membership of 250,000, participated in the
ecumenical program of distribution of humanitarian aid provided by LWF.
During times of crisis, Lutheran congregations have provided assistance to
vulnerable persons within all parts of the country irrespective of race,
nationality, religion or other discriminating factors.

For ELCIR, with 15,000 members, diaconical work has always been an
integral part of the church life. A Diaconical Committee established in
1994 helps to plan, organize and monitor social work, ACT notes.

The most vulnerable groups which will be identified by the local
implementing congregations and organizations will receive life sustaining
supplies which may include family food parcels, hygiene parcels, medicine,
blankets, soup kitchen meals, clothing and shoes.

ACT says these local partners play an important role in the identification
the most vulnerable groups and in the implementation of the emergency
program because they have the special knowledge and the required capacity
for distribution and control. Without their involvement, the
transformation period after the emergency assistance ends can become very
painful.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/