wfn.org | UN Official Praises UMCOR

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (21
notes).

Note 20 by UMNS on April 16, 1997 at 15:43 Eastern (4763 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

Contact:  Joretta Purdue                        208(10-21-71B){20}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722          April 16, 1997

UN official praises
UMCOR refugee work

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- The representative to the United States
from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had high
praise for the work of the United Methodist Committee on Relief
(UMCOR) in Bosnia.
     Anne Willem Bijleveld, speaking here April 14, said, "We are
extremely pleased with the cooperation we have with you."
     He praised UMCOR's work in the former Yugoslavia and said
160,000 people were able to return to their homes in that country
last year. 
     UMCOR had administered projects that repaired water,
sanitation and electrical systems. It oversaw the distribution of
building materials for home repair. In addition, other UMCOR staff
worked with children to help them overcome the experiences of war.
     Bijleveld said UMCOR currently is administering a grant from
his agency to repair 1,500 homes and will do 1,500 more later in
the year as part of a commitment of the international community to
make 18,000 units livable again.
     Even then, 30,000 more will be needed, he said. He added that
he sees "a lot of problems ahead," but "with patience and
perseverance" on the part of governments as well as individuals,
he is confident it will all work out.
     He also mentioned other global trouble spots including
Rwanda, which he termed "an area where still a lot of assistance
is needed."
     Bijleveld spoke at a reception for UMCOR heads of mission
from Armenia, Azerbaijan, the former Yugoslavia, Georgia, Haiti,
Liberia and Sierra Leone.
     These UMCOR projects use funds from government and other
donors for specific projects to help development within those
countries, explained Sue McIntyre, head of mission for Haiti.
     "We don't compete for church funds," she explained.
     McIntyre has been on the job for 13 months in a former "house
of voodoo." No one wanted to go there because of its reputation,
including some murders, she said, "so the rent was real cheap."
     UMCOR signed the lease, hosed the place down and fixed it up.
Then, McIntyre said, they had the local United Methodist
missionaries perform a very formal, public dedication and blessing
of the facility. Now, she said, UMCOR's building is the envy of
the community.
     McIntyre has been able to facilitate disaster relief in the
northwest part of the country from a hurricane last fall, channel
pharmaceuticals to the main hospital in Port-au-Prince and to
rural clinics, and oversee water projects.
     A plumbers' school for 27 rural Haitians was geared to
repairing and maintaining systems that had been neglected, she
said.
     But a major task was applying to the Haitian government for
registration as a non-governmental organization. 
     "It took a year to get all the paperwork together that they
required," she recalled, commenting that original papers of
incorporation for predecessors to the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries had to be located in vaults so copies could be
included in the application.
     Registration as an NGO will allow the UMCOR mission to seek
funds for specific development projects, she said. In Haiti, she
sees those as falling into three categories: water and sanitation,
health, and agriculture and micro-enterprise.
     Although McIntyre expects the approval of the application to
take three months, UMCOR is allowed to go forward on the basis of
the application.
     McIntyre is developing a national program for eye care and is
working on funding it. She also expects to work with farmers on
the island of La Gonave and to set up some micro-enterprise
projects with women. 
     One of the primary duties of the heads of mission and their
staffs is accounting for every dollar of funds entrusted to them
for the development projects, McIntyre added.
     These UMCOR missions are located in three different parts of
the world: Southeastern Europe, Africa and the Caribbean. In each,
the staffs are a multi-cultural group of people working to help
the people overcome the results of years of conflict.
     The heads of mission are themselves different. Richard
Wagner, a very collegiate-appearing young man, began the UMCOR
mission in Azerbaijan in 1993 and continues there. Terry Wollen,
who was in his first day as head of mission for Armenia (see
separate story #209 {21}), has already worked 25 years as a
veterinarian in the field of livestock reproduction.
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