wfn.org | FEATURE: Partnership, Cooperation Mark LWF Communion Response

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

FEATURE: Partnership, Cooperation Mark LWF Communion Response to
Disaster in India
Canadian Seminary Students' Experience with "Putting Theology into
Action"

SASKATOON, Canada/GENEVA, 30 March 2005 (LWI) * On a recent study tour
to southeastern India, students from the Lutheran Theological Seminary
in Saskatoon, Canada, witnessed first hand the strength of partnership
and cooperation between members of the Lutheran communion during a time
of great loss. The group, accompanied by Dr Ruth E. Jensen, executive
director of Canadian Lutheran World Relief (CLWR), spent time with
several of the organization's partners responding to the devastation
wrought on India's southeastern coastline by the tidal waves (tsunamis)
after an undersea earthquake struck South East Asia last December.

During initial encounters with fishing communities in the Pulicat Lake
area, some 60 kilometers north of Chennai, women revealed strong
feelings of betrayal by the sea. This source of life, leisure and
livelihood had destroyed their homes, boats and fishing nets, and killed
family and friends. One student observed that the women's desire to
share their personal experiences and stories appeared therapeutic as
though lessening their burden of pain. 

In Pulicat area, CLWR has a longstanding relationship with CReNIEO, a
local development organization that distributed emergency relief
supplies when the tsunamis struck, provided trauma care, and assisted
with rehabilitation. 

CLWR is the service delivery arm for development programming and
overseas relief for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and
Lutheran Church-Canada. It facilitates and supports development programs
in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, where it also
collaborates with member churches of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF).

A desire to ease the suffering and put theology into action was a common
objective shared by students and CLWR partners, the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church in India (UELCI), a body of 12 Lutheran churches, nine
of which are LWF member churches. In communities around the town of
Cuddalore, students, volunteers from local churches, and UELCI staff
persons distributed aid packages containing stoves and cooking utensils.
With most of their belongings swept away by the tsunamis, villagers, who
were dependent on the delivery of pre-prepared meals, are gradually
moving toward re-empowerment and self-sufficiency. The UELCI continues
to be actively engaged beyond emergency relief, and is currently
focusing on livelihood restoration and rehabilitation efforts in
collaboration with the local government.

Equipping Community Members to Provide Long-term Care

At the Bishop Peter Teachers Training Institute in Cuddalore, now turned
into a mini hospital, the UELCI National Lutheran Health and Medical
Board (NLHMB) is providing medical and trauma care to the surrounding
communities. Staff highlight an acute need for psycho social
rehabilitation with reports of insomnia and flashbacks from many of
those seeking care. NLHMB professionals are training local volunteers to
provide counseling and psychological assistance. Long after the
immediate need for water, food and shelter has been met, the impact of
fear and loss will undoubtedly linger, and local people require capacity
to serve their communities after the field hospital is no longer in
operation.

The need to address psycho social concerns and provide trauma counseling
was also echoed by Mr Howard Jost, director of the Kolkata-based LWF
Department for World Service (DWS) program in India, which is providing
strategic support to the Chennai-based UELCI. DWS India is utilizing
trauma counseling resources drawn from Church of Sweden to train and
enable local people in other operational areas to respond effectively. 

Rev. Chandran Paul Martin, UELCI executive secretary, stressed
livelihood issues as a major concern. A fear of the sea, the loss or
destruction of boats and nets for fishing and the salinization of
agricultural lands pose long-term challenges as relief operations shift
to the post-crisis phase. In the meantime, DWS India is providing new
boats to fishermen in villages on the eastern coast. The LWF program
plans to purchase and deliver at least 90 boats, each of which will also
come with a power engine and two sets of fishing nets.

Continued partnership and cooperation among members of the LWF communion
will be crucial to ensure the accompaniment and empowerment of survivors
as they face such challenges. Other partners providing support in India
include, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran World Relief and
several of the UELCI member churches. (719 words)

(Daranne Mills, a student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in
Saskatoon contributed this article. Mills served as a youth intern with
the LWF Office for Communication Services between 2002 and 2003.)

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a membership of
nearly 66 million Christians. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be
freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

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