wfn.org | Anglican Fund accepting donations for Congo Volcano refugees

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 2840 - CANADA - 28 January 2002

Primate's Fund accepting donations for Congo Volcano refugees need aid

Toronto

[ACC News] The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) is
calling for donations for refugee relief in the Democratic Republic of Congo
where the city of Goma has been devastated by volcano eruptions.

Hundreds of thousands of residents fled volcano eruptions which endangered
their homes, then returned to Goma and surrounding villages less than a week
later.

They returned, despite warnings that the area was still unsafe, rather than
remain in refugee camps in Rwanda. By Jan. 22, an estimated 17,000-20,000
people were still seeking shelter in Rwanda.

Action by Churches Together, an international alliance of churches and
relief agencies, including the PWRDF, reports that the Anglican Church in
Rwanda and the Lutheran World Federation are distributing food and non-food
items at two of the three sites established by Rwandan authorities. People
are getting aid at a site in Ruhengeri and one of the two camps set up in
Gisenyi.

Church partners estimate that up to half a million people were affected by
the eruptions of Mount Nyiragongo, beginning Jan. 17. In addition to
financial donations, PWRDF's website notes that the most urgently needed
items are plastic sheeting, blankets, kitchen utensils, food and drinking
water.

PWRDF, the Anglican Church of Canada's relief arm, has supported development
work in the Congo since 1992, when the country was still called Zaire. Its
work to date, said development co-ordinator Rob Shropshire, has focused on
emergency relief and economic needs, as well as on "the political changes
needed to provide a context of peace and democracy where development can
take place."

The country, explained Mr. Shropshire, has been at war since 1998, when
Rwanda and Uganda invaded. Since then, up to 300,000 people have been killed
and it is estimated that more than 2.5 million more have died from hunger
and disease.

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