wfn.org | Methodists need more work teams for El Salvador

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 11, 2001      News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-32-71BP{380}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.

By United Methodist News Service

At least 20 more volunteer work teams are needed for a Methodist earthquake
relief project in El Salvador.

Jeannie Blankenbaker, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, said 25 teams already have been scheduled through next April,
but more are needed to meet a commitment to build 300 homes there.

Methodists from El Salvador, Puerto Rico and the United States have worked
together on the housing project, which is coordinated by the United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and United Methodist Volunteers in
Mission. The 450-square-foot block homes are being built for vulnerable
families - including widows, single mothers and the elderly - whose houses
were damaged by earthquakes early in the year.

"The people of El Salvador still have so much hope," said Blankenbaker, who
noted that a drought-induced food shortage has worsened their situation.
"They haven't given up."

The project's first two houses -- built by teams from Virginia, led by the
Rev. Linda Kusse Wolf, and Oklahoma, led by Nancy Reynen -- were dedicated
during a special worship service on Aug. 18. Those teams also provided
medical attention to local residents, treating about 150 people for such
ailments as parasites, skin infections, diarrhea, allergies and poor
nutrition. The Oklahoma team held a Bible school for more than 70 children.

Florrie Snow, a United Church of Canada missionary who served as a volunteer
coordinator over the summer, also shared home remedies for diarrhea, lice
and skin diseases, showing the women how to utilize local herbs.

In her diary, Snow reported on the June 20 inspection that she and her
husband, Arturo, made of areas around Ahuachapan where the rebuilding would
begin. "In the first 'colonia,' called Las Victorias, we will build four
houses. The damage was pretty bad there and the people more than poor. Most
are sleeping in a lean-to of plastic and pieces of houses.

"The next place, El Espino, is within the area that was taken from Guatemala
in a war in the1940s. There is a sort of Arch of Triumph leading into the
area. The families who lost their houses there have been given sheets of
zinc roof and walls. They call them 'microwaves' for obvious reasons. We
have to build 20 houses there." 

The Virginia volunteer team built the first house of the project in July.
"The whole experience of the Virginia team was more than positive ... they
were an exceptional group of people," Snow wrote. "They started a house from
scratch, clearing the land and digging ditches. The family that will live in
the house worked along with them. They have four children and two
grandmothers living with the family. All participated, and a very close
relationship was formed."

In addition to their own rebuilding project, United Methodists are
supporting the rebuilding of another 200 homes by residents through the
"food for work" program of Action By Churches Together (ACT). As of August,
the various denominations participating in ACT and represented in El
Salvador by the Lutheran World Federation, had erected 1,315 temporary homes
and built 210 permanent homes.

Gelmarie Moreno, from the Methodist Church in Puerto Rico, has now replaced
Snow, who was on temporary assignment. She will continue to assist Karen
Mayorga of the Methodist Church of El Salvador.

While some volunteer teams are coming this fall, Blankenbaker said, more are
scheduled for 2002, where back-to-back teams already have been scheduled
from January to April.

Blankenbaker suggests that each team, which is expected to contribute $3,000
for the cost of materials for one home, have a maximum of 12 people.
Interested volunteers can call the Volunteer Hotline at (800) 918-3100 to
register teams and receive information packets.

Donations also are needed to continue the work in El Salvador. Checks should
be designated to UMCOR Advance Special No. 511447-8, "El Salvador
Earthquake" and dropped into church collection plates or mailed directly to
Michael Deborja, Mission Volunteers Office, United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries, 475 Riverside Dr., Suite 1374, New York, NY 10115. More
information is available at http://gbgm-umc.org/vim/elsalvador.htm online.

UMCOR also has established a special appeal, Advance No. 501300-0, "Central
America Emergency," to assist with threats of famine in Nicaragua, Honduras
and El Salvador. The agency has shipped two containers of ready-to-eat meals
to El Salvador, to be distributed by ACT.
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United Methodist News Service
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