wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] PDA sending disaster aid to Kenya, Uganda

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Note #7632 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

PDA sending disaster aid to Kenya, Uganda
03138
March 12, 2003

PDA sending disaster aid to Kenya, Uganda

$25,000 will help families victimized by famine, terror

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is providing $15,000 to
fight famine in Kenya and $10,000 to help people victimized by militants in
Uganda.
	
Money for the relief efforts is from One Great Hour of Sharing offering and
from designated disaster funds.
	
PDA is sending $15,000 to Kenya in response to an international appeal for
aid for victims of famine in West Pokot and Turkana, PDA officials said in a
situation report released last month. More than 242,000 people in those
districts in northern Kenya are threatened by severe hunger and draught.
	
 "Churches in the districts raised serious concerns to the government and to
the ecumenical organizations working in Kenya as to the plight of the people
and livestock, and the need for urgent relief interventions," PDA said.
	
Members of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) alliance in Kenya issued the
appeal for food relief for thousands of famine-stricken families in Kenya.
They also asked for money for farming equipment.  
	
ACT, headquartered in Geneva, is an ecumenical alliance of churches and
agencies affiliated with the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World
Federation. PDA and other participating members provide emergency response
and humanitarian assistance.
	
Last year's rainfall in the two semi-arid districts in Kenya was the lowest
since 1984. Farmers reported a crop-failure rate of 97 percent.
	
Several churches in the region will cooperate in distributing the aid. They
include the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Anglican Church, the Full Gospel
Church of Kenya, and the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar.
	
Full rations for an adult for one month are about 30 pounds of maize, five
pounds of beans, 20 pounds of corn soya bean and two pounds of cooking oil.

		   Uganda

	
PDA is providing $10,000 to refugees in neighboring Uganda who have suffered
at the hands of a heavily armed rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance
Army (LRA).
	
The LRA has been fighting the Ugandan government for 16 years, terrorizing
the country's northern districts from bases in southern Sudan. The group is
notorious for abducting young boys as fighters and young girls as sex and
labor slaves.  
	
Ugandan authorities last year tried unsuccessfully to liberate hundreds of
kidnapped children in a major offensive against the LRA. The rebels returned
to northern Uganda in June, setting fire to more than 7,000 homes in 13 camps
and displacing more than 9,000 people from the Gulu, Kitgum and Pader
districts.
	
The Church of Uganda is providing emergency relief to more than 5,000
families who lost their homes and possessions, distributing kitchen utensils,
blankets, hoes, machetes and plant materials. The World Food Program is
providing emergency rations.
	
ACT is coordinating the emergency program in Uganda.

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