wfn.org | Methodists meet despite cholera epidemic

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
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Note 501 by UMNS on Dec. 11, 1997 at 16:05 Eastern (2895 characters).

CONTACT: Linda Bloom					689(10-21-71B){501}
	    New York (212) 870-3803			Dec. 10, 1997

Cholera outbreak does not
delay Mozambique conference

			by United Methodist News Service

	United Methodists in Mozambique have started their annual conference meeting
in Cambine, despite an outbreak of cholera in the African country.
	The Rev. Jim Fitzgerald of Brooklyn, N.Y., who has been in touch with
Mozambique Bishop Joao Somane Machado by telephone and e-mail, said the bishop
had expressed concern about the possibility of the disease spreading at the
gathering, which runs Dec. 9-14.
	However, a $5,000 grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)
allowed for additional sanitary facilities and a supply of medicine to protect
church members attending the meeting, Fitzgerald added.
	UMCOR is seeking donations to assist with the situation in Mozambique. Gifts
can be made to UMCOR's International Disaster Response No. 982450-8,
designated for "Mozambique Cholera Epidemic."
	The United Methodist New York Conference has a "sister conference"
relationship with Mozambique. Fitzgerald, who is pastor of Vanderveer Park
United Methodist Church and chairperson of the sister conference task force,
said Machado learned about the cholera outbreak in November during a brief
visit to New York after the denomination's Council of Bishops meeting.
	At that time, 150 people had died from the disease, which had erupted in the
capital city of Maputo after unusually heavy rains. As of early December, the
death toll had climbed to 202.
	Fitzgerald explained that Maputo is "very overcrowded" -- a result of people
moving to the city during the country's long civil war.
     "People just put up houses where there was space and did the best they
knew how with sanitation," he said.
	At Machado's request, UMCOR allotted the bishop an initial $10,000 grant for
medical supplies. Through its contacts, the organization also arranged for
$15,000 worth of saline solution -- a preventative -- to be airlifted from
Europe. 
	Machado has a pending request to UMCOR for another $35,000 grant for
medicine.
	The bishop's requests for assistance are supported by the New York Conference
and by its bishop, Ernest Lyght, Fitzgerald said.
	In a Dec. 3 e-mail, Machado reported that "more than 400 people are very
sick, and every day eight people are dying because of cholera." Citing
ministry of health figures, he said that 4,392 cholera victims had entered
Central Hospital last November. A few cases also had been reported north of
the capital.
 	Among those infected have been a niece of the bishop and the wife of Titos
Maocuane, the conference treasurer.
	"Because of many people infected, the Central Hospital does not have
sufficient wards," the bishop wrote, "and people are forced to stay at home
even though (they are) very sick."
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