Pakistan
Via a mobile health unit, Church World Service is taking basic medical care to people displaced by fighting between the Pakistan military and Taliban insurgents in the country's Northwest Frontier Province.
Currently working in the areas of Mansehra and Abbottabad, CWS plans to expand mobile health services into Swabi and soon provide more comprehensive healthcare including immunizations, since children's scheduled shots against polio and other diseases have been disrupted.
Working with fellow ACT members and local partners, Church World Service is helping to provide displaced families--particularly vulnerable female-headed households--with shelter kits (tents, blankets, ground sheets and tarps), as well as a 30-day family food supply.
South Asia cylone
At least 210 people have died as a result of Cyclone Aila, which hit Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal on May 25. Millions of people have been displaced and are in desperate need of fresh water and food. CWS is supporting the efforts of fellow Action by Churches Together coalition members. Some non-food items, including plastic sheeting, are being distributed to 3,000 families. And, long-time CWS partner Church's Auxiliary for Social Action is working to provide food and plastic sheeting to 4,000 families.
Gaza
As the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is commemorated on June 4, Church World Service and its coalition partners continue to assist children and families affected by conflict in various parts of the world.
In Gaza, some 6,000 students in 12 schools are taking part in activities of partners to address the trauma experienced during attacks on the Gaza Strip earlier this year.
At the Halima Alsadia School in Gaza City, a group of girls plays the "Parachute Game." A social worker guides the girls through remembering both painful and happy memories. At the end the girls put the painful memories, written on pieces of paper, in the center of a parachute. They then scatter the bad memories by shaking the parachute. It looks like a child's game, but is an effective element of CWS coalition partner Action by Churches Together's psychosocial trauma therapy for children affected by the conflict.
Samar, a sixth grade student at the school, explains the importance of the school activities. "We passed through a lot of pain, fear and sadness. These activities provide relief, little by little."
Honduras
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck the Honduran Atlantic coast on May 28, causing at least six deaths, injuring some 17 people, and destroying 80 homes. CWS partners are assessing the situation. CWS will respond to the emergency, as appropriate.
Mozambique
Some 300 families (about 1,880 people) in six villages in the Cupo community, Inhambane province, are trading in weapons-guns, munitions, and landmines--and gaining clean water resources, with the help of Church World Service and local partner the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM).
The only reliable source of water for the community has been at Macuacuane, about nine miles from Cupo. Other wells are closer, but they are not reliable, particularly in the dry season: Dug close to the surface, they dry up easily. In addition, the wells are not protected and are used by animals, making them unfit for human consumption.
The Cupo community is gaining six new deep borehole wells and four semi-deep wells. In addition, eight of their nine existing traditional shallow wells are being dug deeper and being fenced or capped against use by animals. CCM's Weapons into Plowshares project was begun more than 10 years ago in post-civil war Mozambique. Through the program, Cupo residents are also gaining water management and reconciliation training and civic education.