On Monday the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs gave a press release on the situation in the Horn of Africa. Reading it this morning, I was struck by some familiar echoes to the response of the ELCA.

The release notes that though the situation has continued to worsen and stories of tragedy continue to roll in, this tragedy did not take us by surprise. The ELCA, like the UN, had pre-positioned funds and partners on the ground well before this crisis hit the news. I also heard in the release’s description of the UN’s continued work, how the ELCA has continued to respond through our partners and companions as the situation worsens. And how like the release, the ELCA acknowledges more must be and can be done.

What I was really hit by, and what I saw as the main message in the release, is that the situation is not hopeless nor our responses futile. We have the resources to reduce and alleviate much of the suffering in this crisis. But the need is great and the time to act is now. This is at the heart of it the message I hear echoed in the ELCA’s response. We are the church, this is our purpose and we will continue to respond.

To learn more about the ELCA’s response, check out our disaster web page Horn of Africa Drought. The situation report(s) located under the “ELCA Response” give a great overview of the church’s response.

And here is the UN OCHA press release (pdf) if you’d like to read it.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.

Late last week the ELCA committed over $500,000 to help the Lutheran Church in Haiti as it continues to respond to the cholera epidemic that has affected the country since October 2010. As of May almost 125,000 people have been hospitalized resulting in over 5000 deaths. The main cause of the epidemic has been linked to poor access to drinking water and insufficient waste management. This newest commitment by the ELCA is on top of an original designation of $525,000 for cholera prevention and education made last November.

The Lutheran Church in Haiti is responding in two of the hardest hit areas, targeting 17,000 families (approx. 100,000 people), by providing management of patients and prevention education and efforts. This new phase, running from May to October, is a continuation of an earlier phase that ran from February to May. The focus of both phases is on educating and supporting families by sharing ways to prevent the spread of cholera and what to do once a person becomes infected. As part of this effort a mobile medical and paramedical team of 90 health agents, 2 doctors and 4 nurses has been mobilized. So far the earlier intervention has led to 430 lives saved and 3,100 cases of cholera contained.

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Gifts to ELCA International Disaster Response allow the church to respond globally in times of need. Donate now.