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Lutheran Disaster Response

Situation Report: Horn of Africa Drought

Situation:A map of Africa with Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia highlighted.

The Horn of Africa is in the midst of one of its worst droughts in recent history, severely impacting more than 15 million people across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Water is needed for drinking, cooking and hygiene, so the lack of water has greatly affected people’s wellbeing. Food security is also a concern as the drought is causing families to lose livestock used for food and livelihoods. Extreme droughts, such as this one, will become increasingly more common as changes in climate affect rainfall patterns.

Three women walking and carrying food. Photo from ACT Alliance.

Response:

Lutheran Disaster Response is supporting an ACT Alliance appeal to address the humanitarian crisis resulting from the drought in the Horn of Africa. Through this appeal, implementing partners in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will provide food aid, cash-based assistance, safe and accessible water, psychosocial support, livelihood improvement strategies and climate-induced disaster risk reduction. To provide access to safe water, partners intend to bring in water to areas, repair existing water infrastructure and educate local communities in WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene) practices.

 

 

Be part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the drought in the Horn of Africa. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (Horn of Africa Drought) will be used entirely (100%) to assist those impacted by drought in Africa.

To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

  • Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
  • Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
  • Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook, follow @ELCALDR on Twitter, and follow @ELCA_LDR on Instagram.
  • Download the situation report and share as a PDF.

The Power of Peacebuilding

 

See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. —1 Thessalonians 5:15

 

Forgiveness is rarely easy. It takes empathy, letting go of resentment and seeing the humanity in others. Even more difficult is seeking forgiveness and reconciliation after years of conflict that led to the deaths of over 380,000 people and the displacement of 4 million.

After achieving independence in 2011, South Sudan descended into civil war in 2013 when fighting broke out between the South Sudanese government and opposition forces. There were additional ethnic undertones to the conflict because the leaders of each faction were from different ethnic groups. A national peace process began in 2018, and the security situation has improved greatly, though some areas are still plagued by ethnic tension and communal violence.

Since the beginning of the civil war, South Sudan has been gripped by a cycle of violent retribution. The Episcopal Church of South Sudan–Upper Nile Internal Province (ECSS-UNIP) is striving to break that cycle.

Participants at an ECSS-UNIP workshop.

Community Peacebuilding

Through its Peace and Reconciliation project, which is funded by Lutheran Disaster Response, ECSS-UNIP is fostering peace and understanding in the Upper Nile Internal Province. Much of the current discontent is at the local level; therefore, it must be addressed at the local level. The initiative unites local faith groups, tribal communities and political parties to provide stability in the region.

The Peace and Reconciliation project is achieving its goals through multiple avenues. Community peace committees distribute peace and reconciliation messages through social media, brochures and radio broadcasts, translating the messages into four languages to accommodate the area’s different ethnic groups. ECSS-UNIP also provides spiritual care and educational opportunities for youth — many of whom have experienced conflict and are now active in the peace committees.

 

“Real, full healing”

A group praying together at an ECSS-UNIP peacebuilding workshop.

In October 2020, ECSS-UNIP held a weeklong peace and reconciliation workshop for local leaders. The training focused on peace-building, confliction resolution and trauma healing. At the end of the week, Juliano Ambrose, a well-known peace advocate and coordinator for the South Sudan Council of Churches, closed the workshop with prayer.

Afterward, on his way home, Ambrose was fatally shot.

In the past, such a killing would have sparked more violence. But this time was different. Upon hearing of Ambrose’s death, leaders came together, encouraging dialogue and reconciliation. Workshop participants mourned together.

“What has happened is wrong,” Stephen Nyodho, bishop of the Catholic Church of Malakal, told local media about Ambrose’s death. “It should have not taken place when people are preaching peace, reconciliation and love.”

Ambrose believed in the power of prayer, peacebuilding and healing — as do many others. The reaction to his death shows that uniting communities around the goal of reconciliation can lead to real societal change. The Peace and Reconciliation initiative emphasizes that peace is not just the absence of violence; it takes real, full healing. Conflict is transformed, managed and resolved. Amid South Sudan’s continuing political strife, ECSS-UNIP is building relationships and resilient communities and showing that Christ’s love can break through all barriers.

Situation Report: Ethiopia Humanitarian Crisis

A map of Ethiopia labelling the regions of Amhara, Tigray and Afar

Situation

Since November 2020, an ongoing conflict in Tigray, a region of Ethiopia, has caused a humanitarian crisis. People have been forced to leave their homes, becoming internally displaced people (IDPs) in the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. There are an estimated 1.2 million IDPs, who are faced with food insecurity, COVID-19 and possible flooding.

 

 

 

 

Response

Lutheran Disaster Response is contributing to an ACT Alliance appeal that is addressing the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. Implementing partners Lutheran World Federation and Ethiopia Evangelical Mekane Yesus Church are assisting IDPs in Amhara and Afar. IDPs will receive cash assistance to purchase essential nonfood and relief items. They will also be supplied with masks and hand soap to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This is the second contribution to the ACT Alliance appeal by Lutheran Disaster Response this year.

 

 

 

 

Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (Where needed most) will be used to assist survivors whenever and wherever disaster strikes.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

  • Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
  • Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
  • Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook, follow @ELCALDR on Twitter, and follow @ELCA_LDR on Instagram.
  • Download the situation report and share as a PDF.

Situation Report: Ethiopian Conflict

 

Be a part of the response:

Pray
Please pray for people who have been affected by conflict in Tigray. May God’s healing presence give them peace and hope in their time of need.

Give
Thanks to generous donations, Lutheran Disaster Response is able to respond quickly and effectively to disasters around the globe. Your gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (Give where needed most) will be used where they are most needed.

Connect
To learn more about the situation and the ELCA’s response:

  • Sign up to receive Lutheran Disaster Response alerts.
  • Check the Lutheran Disaster Response blog.
  • Like Lutheran Disaster Response on Facebook, follow @ELCALDR on Twitter, and follow @ELCA_LDR on Instagram.
  • Download the situation report and share as a PDF.

Supporting neighbors after disaster

 

The following is written by Daudi Msseemmaa

An earthquake, mass displacement, low-latitude tropical cyclones, COVID-19, a plague of locusts – 2020 has been a year of calamities in East Africa like no other. Among the most destructive and widespread for ELCA companions in the region was flooding. 

 

In Rundugai, Tanzania, the water came quickly. After enduring a season of heavy rains on Mount Kilimanjaro and the plains to the west, water coursed over saturated ground in the valley between Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru. The water rose suddenly on the savanna, soaking the earthen walls of people’s homes and soon washing away goats, cows, and even houses.

People ran for safety to their neighbors on higher ground. Some needed rescue, and neighbors were the first line of support.

In the hours and days after, people who lost everything needed shelter, food, and hugs. They assessed the damage, digging through the mud where their homes stood, searching for treasures and missing livestock. At this time, neighbors took the lead in helping each other. In Rundugai, they took in those who had lost their homes and they fed those who lost their food stock.

For communal societies across rural Africa, sharing is instinctual, even if it leaves you hungry. The immediate needs of the flooding stretched resources of even those who were on higher ground and less affected. This is where external support becomes essential – relieving pressure on neighbors and relatives who gave their all helping the most stricken.

The Support of the Church

Rundugai is in southern Hai District, which they say is the poorest and most climate-averse part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT) Northern Diocese. Members of the local church went to every household in the parish to conduct an assessment and determine who most critically needed support. Through three villages, they waded through thigh-deep mud and water in some places to reach 151 households that were severely affected. The local church appealed to the district church office. A week after the flood, they sent over 14,000 pounds of maize and 1,700 pounds of beans.

Neema Eliya, 26, lost her home and half of her goats in floods, along with her field where she had planted maize and beans. She and her five children moved into a relative’s home, and six months later they are still there. “Floods are normal, but not like this year,” she said. She received maize and beans from the ELCT.

The floodwaters remained, with the main road into Rundugai not passable for six weeks. After trucks could again enter, the diocese office sent another round of  food for distribution.

The ELCT national office was kept informed of the situation. The flooding was widespread, and the church proposed a coordinated response and reached out to the ELCA. Through Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR), they funded relief in the Northern Diocese as well as five others – the Meru, Mwanga, Ulanga-Kilombero, Lake Tanganyika and South Eastern dioceses. Roads and boats were used to  reach the most distressed, who often are women, children, and people with disabilities. Additionally, LDR supported major flood responses in Kenya’s Tana River and Kisumu counties around the same time.

Another affected area was Kilwa, on the Swahili coast in the Lindi region of Tanzania – a rural, undeveloped, and mostly Muslim corner of the country. People who lost family members and homes were evacuated after the floods. Hundreds took refuge in schools that had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The church distributed food and non-food items and offered training on hygiene practices.

God’s Love in Action

But now, several months after the water receded, the impact is being seen as new churches have sprouted in areas of flood response. “You’d be surprised to see the long-term effect of disaster response,” said Bishop Lucas Mbedule of the ELCT South Eastern Diocese. People who didn’t know about Christ or the church could see God’s love in action.

LDR support comes alongside the dignified work that is already in place – that of neighbors helping neighbors in crisis. Local churches took special donations for purchasing food for those who lost everything. Relatives stepped up as best they could. In our vision of accompaniment, the ELCA lives into its role as a companion when it walks alongside brothers and sisters in their moment of need, stands with them in prayer, and remains hopeful of what arises out of disaster.

 

Daudi Msseemmaa is the ELCA’s regional representative for East Africa. He lives in Arusha, Tanzania, with his wife and children.

A Traditional View on Seasons of Hardship

 

The following is an excerpt from the newsletter of Daudi Msseemmaa, the ELCA’s regional representative in East Africa.

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Rural people are accustomed to cycles of plenty and poverty. Livestock keepers, like the Maasai who live in my region, are even more so. During a severe drought in 2008-2009, I spent time in dusty villages where the carcasses of livestock littered the ground and hungry children fainted in class. There was a lot of suffering. But I did not encounter hopelessness, even among malnourished mothers whose couldn’t provide enough breast milk for their infants. They had a saying – God is far, but he is very near.

I recently recounted that memory with one of my elders – a theologian named Rev. Gabriel Kimirei. He said that in the Maasai traditional religion, there’s a belief that in the good times God is near with all his communal blessings. In the times of drought and communal suffering, God is far. But even when God is far, it won’t be long before he comes back.

This is not to minimize the suffering that our brothers and sisters go through in those seasons of hardship. There is no healthy outlook or ideology that will help you pass painlessly through losing loved ones or being unable to feed your children. It’s a hopeful posture through pain – understanding that it is a season that will pass.

In times like these when the coronavirus has taken so many lives and battered so many economies, and when flooding and locusts plague parts of our region, it would be easy to say that God is far. But our Christian tradition tells us God is a very present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46). God never leaves us. Still, adopting the cyclical way of seeing life can help us avoid despair during seasons like this. It requires breaking free from a linear way of looking at life as a journey from Point A to Point B or looking at time as the steady march of progress. In this view, life is instead like a circle, moving us all through despair and hope.

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Daudi Msseemmaa is the ELCA’s regional representative for East Africa. He lives in Arusha, Tanzania, with his wife and children.