wfn.org | NCC News Briefs: Moringa, Balkans, Angola, Zimbabwe, Children, Iraq

[Carol Fouke <carolf@ncccusa.org>]

Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2252  
NCC6/14/01 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCC/CWS NEWS BRIEFS: Summer Livingstone Expedition Distributes Moringa Seeds
in Tanzania; CWS Seeks Help for War-Torn Angola and Weather-Battered
Zimbabwe; CWS "Gift of the Heart" Baby and Health Kits are Balkans-Bound;
NCC Supports "Leave No Child Behind" Campaign and Lifting of Comprehensive
Economic Sanctions Against Iraq

Summer Livingstone Expedition Distributing 100,000 Moringa Seeds in Tanzania

NEW YORK, N.Y.  - An expedition retracing the route taken by Henry M.
Stanley during his famous 19th century search for Dr. Stanley Livingstone is
distributing 100,000 Moringa tree seeds during its 1,000-mile hike June
15-August 15 across Tanzania.

This is renowned expedition leader Jim Owens' fifth major historic
expedition since 1990.  Last year, he led another 1,000-mile hike across
Tanzania, retracing the steps of Sir Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke
in 1857 as they sought to locate the source of the Nile.  That expedition
distributed 20,000 Moringa seeds along the way.

The two expeditions' "Moringa component" is thanks to Henry L. Rigali, an
attorney and avid outdoorsman.  Mr. Rigali learned last spring (2000) of
Church World Service's pioneering work to document the dramatic
effectiveness of Moringa Oleifera leaf powder against malnutrition and to
expand the tree's cultivation, especially in Africa.  A member of Second
Congregational Church in Palmer, Mass., Mr. Rigali read about Moringa in a
"One Great Hour of Sharing" Sunday bulletin insert.

Church World Service documented the Moringa tree's effectiveness against
malnutrition, especially among infants, children and mothers, in a 1997-99
pilot project conducted in clinics across southwestern Senegal, where the
Moringa tree grows wild.  CWS, the global service and witness ministry of
the (U.S.) National Council of Churches, and its Senegalese partner AGADA
now are expanding Moringa's cultivation across Senegal, to other West
African countries and beyond.

This scruffy-looking, fast-growing tree is in full leaf at the end of the
dry season, precisely when other foods are the scarcest.  Moringa leaf
powder conserves well and is easy to use in porridge, biscuits, sauces
served over rice or couscous and other recipes.

The eight Americans (including Mr. Rigali) and six Tanzanians on this year's
Stanley Livingstone Expedition are distributing the 100,000 Moringa seeds to
rural farmers and villages encountered along their hike.  They also are
distributing medical supplies, sporting equipment, educational materials and
gifts to local inhabitants.

"In Morogoro we will meet with tribal elders to negotiate the terms of the
purchase or lease of a large tract of land for a Moringa plantation," Mr.
Rigali said.  "The plantation will be the site of an orphanage, hopefully
within the next three years.  Income from the plantation will help subsidize
the orphanage.

CWS Seeking Aid for Internally Displaced in Angola, Drought Relief in
Zimbabwe

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Church World Service is seeking support for two programs of
emergency response, one in war-torn Angola and the other in drought- and
flood-stricken Zimbabwe.

ANGOLA: A 25-year war in Angola has left hundreds of thousands displaced and
totally destitute.  As a result, one of Africa's most resource-rich
countries now ranks as the world's 160th poorest nations (out of 174),
according to the United Nations.

CWS is seeking to raise a total of $178,000 for food; household items
including cooking sets, blankets, and clothes; seeds and tools;
rehabilitation and management of health centers, and education projects,
including the rehabilitation of schools and provision of school materials.
School reconstruction will benefit some 6,000 children and health center
improvements will benefit some 20,000 people.

$150,000 is for CWS partner, the Evangelical Reformed Church of Angola
(Igreja Evangelica Reformada de Angola - IERA), which is providing
assistance to 9,000 families (about 40,000 people) in the provinces of Uige,
Kwanza-Sul and Huambo - areas where thousands of displaced war survivors are
living in deplorable conditions.

$28,000 is for Share Circle, Inc., a local Angolan organization which is
assisting refugees and displaced persons.  Share Circle is a partner of the
Church of the Brethren, a member denomination of the National Council of
Churches and Church World Service.

ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe has suffered from a series of weather-related disasters
this year: a severe dry spell in January that destroyed most of the planted
crop, followed by floods in February and March affecting the northern part
of the country, particularly the Zambezi basin.

Rural families have been severely hurt by these calamities, with many
selling off their livestock at very low prices due to an economic
depression.  These factors are, in turn, contributing to the nation's
political instability.  Between 10 and 24 percent of children under age 5
are reported malnourished.

Christian Care, a Zimbabwean ecumenical organization and long-time CWS
partner, is making food immediately available to 14,900 adults, 1,500
children below 5 years of age and 1,500 school-age children in regions
affected by the droughts and floods, including Harare, Matebeleland and
Midlands.

This response includes components of food for work, water and sanitation,
supplementary feeding for infants and young children and school feeding.
CWS is seeking $85,000 from its member denominations in support of Christian
Care efforts.

CWS "Gift of the Heart" Baby and Health Kits Are Balkans-Bound

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Church World Service is sending a shipment of CWS "Gift of
the Heart" Baby and Health Kits, along with school and sewing supplies,
valued at $293,725, to Bosnia, for arrival this month (June).

In February 2001, CWS provided $335,000 worth of "Gift of the Heart" Health
and Baby Kits in Serbia.  In 2000, CWS distributed 25,970 School Kits,
64,750 Health Kits, 3,366 Baby Kits, 19,160 blankets, 14,425 sets of bed
linens and 1,950 sewing kits in the Balkans.

The "Gifts of the Heart" kits include an array of supplies and are helping
families in the Balkans who are trying to recover their disrupted lives and
livelihoods.

National Council of Churches Supports "The Act to Leave No Child Behind"

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The National Council of Churches is among a wide variety
of organizations and child advocates to join in supporting "The Act to Leave
No Child Behind," unveiled at a news conference here May 23.

The Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary, was present as Senator Chris
Dodd (D-Connecticut), Congressman George Miller (D-California) and Marian
Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund,
announced details of the bill.  Ending child poverty is one "spoke" in the
NCC's 10-year focus on ending poverty, said Dr. Edgar, who serves on the
steering committee for CDF's "Movement to Leave No Child Behind."

The comprehensive measure includes specific proposals with the aim of
ensuring health insurance for every child and their parents; ending child
hunger through expansion of food programs; lifting every child out of
poverty (half by 2004, all by 2010); fully funding quality Head Start, child
care and preschool programs; making sure every child can read by fourth
grade and leaves school ready for work and life; providing all children with
quality after-school and summer programs, and protecting all children from
neglect and abuse.

Contact: Gigi Hinton, Press Secretary for the Children's Defense Fund,
202-662-3609; cdfcampaign@childrensdefense.org; www.childrensdefense.org

NCC Joins Call for Lifting of Comprehensive Economic Sanctions Against Iraq

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Ms. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, Esq., Director of the
Washington Office of the National Council of Churches and its global witness
and service ministry, Church World Service, is among 13 signatories to a May
21 letter to President Bush asking that comprehensive economic sanctions
against Iraq be lifted.

Church for Middle East Peace, based in Washington, D.C., initiated the
letter, which cites the sanctions' contribution to the "worsening
humanitarian crisis in Iraq."  The NCC is a member of Churches for Middle
East Peace.

"As religious leaders and concerned citizens we seek your support for
addressing the worsening humanitarian crisis in Iraq by quickly ending the
comprehensive economic sanctions which have been in place for more than a
decade," they wrote to President Bush.

"We are well aware that the embargo is by no means the sole cause of the
continuing suffering of the Iraqi people," they wrote.  "Actions of the
Iraqi government also contribute to the present situation of mass
deprivation and suffering.  The Iraqi government's actions, however, do not
relieve the international community of its responsibility to end the
dreadful suffering caused by the embargo."  To continue the embargo
"effectively punishes the Iraqi people for the misdeeds of an authoritarian
regime over which they have no control."

Contact: Churches for Middle East Peace, 202-546-8425; corrinewhi@aol.com;
www.cmep.org

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