Episcopal Relief & Development | Episcopal Relief & Development

Inspiration for the Journey in 2016: Following Jesus Wherever He Calls Us

Neel Lane — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 19:36:20 +0000

I write you at the beginning of a new year, the celebration of Christ’s birth still fresh in our memories. If you are like me, your Christmas tree is still up, and it will be taken down only reluctantly in the days to come. And then only because you don’t want to be that crazy neighbor who keeps his tree up until March.

The Episcopal Church is also poised at a new beginning, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry having taken his place only two short months ago. And for Episcopal Relief & Development, another new beginning (far less momentous) as I begin my term as our new Chairman. As the first layperson to chair Episcopal Relief & Development, you should know that I am not used to preaching, but plenty used to communicating. So I will tell you a bit about myself, how I came to lead this wonderful organization, and what I hope to help us achieve in the coming years.

I was raised in The Episcopal Church, beginning my service (rather ineptly) in the children’s choir and (for many years) as an acolyte. Early on, this responsibility mostly entailed leading the procession into church with a candle or cross, wrestling in full robes with my brother and friends out of sight of the priests (usually during the sermon), and then recessing out. But over time, the singsong liturgy of our service was hard-wired onto my soul. “We do not presume to come to this Thy table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Thy manifold and great mercy.” The words I heard during Eucharist returned to me many times as I hiked in the mountains, or sat on a New York subway, and at other odd moments.

Some years ago, I was serving as chairman of the outreach committee for my church in San Antonio, helping decide where we would give a portion of our budget to do good for others. It happened that we gave a substantial gift to a community across the border in Mexico hard hit by flooding. A fellow vestry member came to me and asked “Why do we send our money to another country when there is so much need right here near home?” Now you have to understand this was a good person, a generous person, a kindred spirit. I told her, in all humility, that I understood her concern for our nearest neighbors, but that I also believed God’s Kingdom does not recognize any political boundary. We are called to serve God’s children wherever they may be found in need. I spoke to her as someone I cared about and loved, and she understood and agreed.

Notwithstanding what I told my vestry friend, most of my lay ministry has focused on need close to home. I devoted many years serving on the board and as chairman of the Good Samaritan Center (now Good Samaritan Community Services), a social services agency of the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas, located in an impoverished neighborhood on San Antonio’s west side. We served everyone from the tiniest child who needed care while her mother worked a job, to the school-age-kids who needed a safe place after school to learn and thrive, to the seniors who came for a nutritious meal and the company of others. Our ministry was aimed at helping our neighbors escape the grip of poverty, to live a full and rich life, the life God intended for them.

My work at Good Sam led me to think a great deal about the parable from which we took our name, and my first instinct was to see myself as the courageous Samaritan, the hero of the story, who saved another in need. Only with great reflection (and reluctance), did I come to see myself as the unnamed soul found bleeding in the road, the one most in need of God’s grace. I saw that it was only with the help of those we served – our poorest neighbors – that I might be lifted out of that road and brought to health.

Our Presiding Bishop has spoken movingly about how Jesus began his ministry with the simple invitation to “Follow me.” As he puts it, Jesus tells us: “Follow me and I will help you change the world from the nightmare it often is into the dream that God intends.” This was the call that led me to accept the Presiding Bishop’s request that I succeed him as Chair of Episcopal Relief & Development’s Board of Directors. Let me tell you, my first impulse was to question his judgment in choosing me, to feel the full weight of my unworthiness. I suppose many journeys begin this way. (Just ask Jonah.)

Fortunately, it is not my burden alone to devise the game plan Episcopal Relief & Development will follow going forward. This organization is blessed with extremely talented and committed board members who, in collaboration with Rob Radtke and his senior management, will develop a new strategic plan to guide us for the next five years. Episcopal Relief & Development will continue to create, support, and execute best-in-class programs that deliver measurable positive outcomes in nearly 40 countries throughout the world. The strategic challenge will be to decide how to deploy our capabilities and resources to bring about the most profound sustainable impact.

Personally, my hope is to help our faithful supporters feel more present in, and even more connected to, our work throughout the world. Where need be, to help others see that in God’s Kingdom there are no political boundaries, we must follow Jesus wherever he calls us. And finally, perhaps I can even help some needy souls like me understand that, in serving our neighbors most in need, we not only help heal the hurting world that surrounds us, but also that which is within us.

I wish you and those you love a very Happy New Year, and I look forward to our adventures together.

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Daniel McNeel "Neel" Lane, is Chairperson of Episcopal Relief & Development's Board of Directors

Images: Top, child participant from the Philippines. Middle 1, Neel in a red hat as a young child, next to his younger brother Maury with his sister Oletta in the background. Middle 2, children participants from Guatemala. Last, The Good Samaritan by artist Dinah Roe Kendall.

'The Work of Christmas' : Healing a Hurting World

Nagulan Nesiah — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 20:53:00 +0000

One of our greatest challenges as an organization is to identify how best to utilize finite resources. But it is also a gift. We have the privilege of being good stewards of the resources entrusted to us, by recognizing those most in need and focusing our relief and development initiatives to do the most good. We do this in close collaboration with our local church partners.

In many cases, those in need are also classified as marginalized or vulnerable; marginalized from the access, availability and use of the resources and services present in a community, and vulnerable to the social structures, economic systems, physical and political factors as well.

We at Episcopal Relief & Development find our mandate in the words of Jesus, as he instructs us to be a welcoming, loving presence to the ‘other.’ It’s a mandate we share with our local church partners, who are in the unique position to recognize where and how we as a faith community can be witness to Christ’s love. The Church has the expansive presence and established trust around the world to connect with vulnerable populations and serve them with dignity.

In the last year, we have seen disenfranchised Haitian migrant workers being served by the church in the Dominican Republic; we have seen faithful congregations across Europe sharing collective assets with those seeking refuge in safer shores; we have seen church leaders in Liberia and India extend their pastoral role by amplifying the voices of those whom society ignores; and we have seen the poor, the widowed and the differently abled being supported by local churches in Burundi, Myanmar and El Salvador in the aftermath of floods, cyclones and conflict… the list could go on.

As we approach the Christmas season, we are again reminded of the story of the birth of Christ. Jesus is born to a marginalized family, and soon after, in fear of death, they flee their homeland as refugees. It is really not that different from some of the stories we read in today’s newspapers. And, like the characters in Jesus’s birth story some 2,000 years ago, we are called to play similar roles:

Sometimes we are called to be like the Three Kings, to share our bounty and bear gifts to those in need
Sometimes we are called to be like the innkeepers, to open our homes and churches to provide hospitality to those in need
Sometimes we are called to be like the shepherds, to stand in solidarity and to pray with those in need

Christ, from his birth to his death, has identified himself with those on the margins, those in the minority and those who live exposed to natural forces and to human cruelty or neglect. This season, let us give thanks for the gift of God in Jesus Christ, who calls us to what theologian Howard Thurman names ‘the work of Christmas’:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
when the star in the sky is gone,
when the kings and princes are home,
when the shepherds are back with their flocks,
the work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the people,
to make music in the heart.

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Nagulan Nesiah is a Senior Program Officer with Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: Top, Lorenzo Monaco, Adorazione Dei Magi, 1409. Middle 1, the Nativity, Unknown Ethiopian Artist, Tempera/Acrylic on parchment, 30.5 x 39.5 cm. Middle 2, The Adoration of the Magi I, Unknown Ethiopian Artist, Tempera/Acrylic on leather, 16 x 21.5 cm. 1428. Middle 3, Adoration of the Magi, Palla Strozzi (1372-1462). Middle 4, This Italian nativity tapestry depicts the birth of Jesus Christ seen in a fresco by Giotto in 1304-6 at Padua. Last, graphic of North Star.

Healing the world starts with your story!

During the 75th Anniversary Celebration, we are sharing 75 stories over 75 weeks - illustrating how lives are transformed through the shared abundance of our partners and friends like you! We invite you to join us in inspiring our vibrant community by sharing your own story!

Faith, Resilience, and Empowerment: The 2015 International Symposium

Abagail Nelson — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 23:00:00 +0000

On November 11, we had the honor of hosting the 2015 International Symposium in New York, with presentations from some of our partners worldwide, as well as our own staff and special guests around the international development community. As the capstone event for the 75th Anniversary Celebration, it was a time not only for in-depth discussion and exchange of expertise amongst the participants, but a time for building fellowship and growing relationships with one another. The theme of the day was ‘supporting community transformation,’ which we and our partners strive to do through sharing, recognizing and affirming each other’s valuable contributions.

The afternoon opened with a keynote address from Dr. Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group. He talked about his Korean roots and his connection to faith-based communities over the years, and described how that had influenced his own approach to answering the question,‘what is to be done in the world?’ This was a question he grappled with early in his career and came to some direction after working with people like Dr. Paul Farmer in Episcopal communities in Haiti and being influenced by faith leaders such as Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, the founder of liberation theology in Peru. He cited a famous quote from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s book,Crazy Christians, and issued a clarion call for faith leaders to work towards ending poverty by 2030, explaining that we are the first generation in human history that can see the end of extreme poverty. It was incredibly inspiring and set the tone for the discussions that followed.

As we experienced throughout the Symposium, a key component of our collective work has been to explore, define, bottle and share the energy and sense of spiritual calling that guides and roots so many people with whom we partner – people of faith working in development in some of the world’s toughest places. We wanted to give those people working on the ground, who really understand the importance of faith in remaining steadfast through the challenges of poverty, hunger, disaster and injustice, a platform to share their experiences and to be heard by a broad audience. With this context in mind, the symposium included presentations and panel discussions in four key areas: supporting asset-based community development, ending sexual and gender-based violence, empowering community volunteers and leveraging faith-based partnerships.

There were many extraordinary voices during the daylong event. Here are just a few from the symposium. Floyd Lalwet of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines and Kikala Isabel Tomás from the Anglican Diocese of Angola are working in their countries with people from severely impoverished and marginalized communities: women, farmers and others in deeply remote places living on less than $1 or $2 a day. Floyd provided perspective on what it means to go from being “receivers to givers” and how they integrate that principle into all of their program work. Kikala emphasized the importance of allowing communities to recognize and name a problem, while identifying their own assets to address it.

Louise Bashige, a sexual and gender-based advisor for IMA World Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo, gave a personal account of why she became an activist and shared what makes an holistic project. Annette Musa Kiawu, the National Director for the Episcopal Church of Liberia Relief & Development, shared several insights about the work they are doing with faith leaders and young men to raise awareness and change behavior to eliminate gender-based violence.

Florence Achapa of Anglican Development Services-Nyanza in Kenya talked about how to nurture the passion of volunteers to sustain relationships in communities. She also explained how their work supports peace building. Léonidas Niyongabo, from the Anglican Church of Burundi, discussed how farmers in his community are gaining the technical know-how to grow more resilient crops but noted that more technical assistance is still needed.

Throughout the day, we heard stories of how local faith institutions are engaging communities in positive cycles of transformation, and we also saw clear, hard- dollars-and-cents evidence for how this is changing lives for the better.

During these conversations, we learned how communities are identifying, mobilizing, organizing and sharing their gifts and expertise to transform themselves, their program designs and their program finances in very clear and practical ways.

Many of us have seen the devastation of disasters or the struggles of remote communities where food is scarce. We have witnessed those reeling from human conflict, and have been astounded and energized by those who manage to face these challenges and vow to rebuild, build back better, replant, and in so doing, ensure their children have opportunities to sustain and grow a vision of abundance that they, in faith, still see all around them.

Hearing the thoughtful reflections of our partners was a truly humbling way to close a year filled with celebration, reflection and gratitude for everyone who makes up our community and strives to heal a hurting world. We are full of excitement for the journey ahead, as we enter into our next 75 years!

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Take a moment to view the highlights from the symposium in this short video.

An Exclusive! Watch the keynote address from Dr. Jim Yong Kim.

For additional resources from the International Symposium, visit episcopalrelief.org/symposium.

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Abagail Nelson is the Senior Vice President of Programs for Episcopal Relief & Development.

All Photos taken from the 2015 International Symposium: Top, Dr. Kim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group presenting his Keynote address. Middle1, quote from Presiding Bishop Curry's address to the 2012 General Convention. Middle 2, Louis Bashige, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Advisor, DR Congo, IMA World Health. Middle 3, Floyd Lalwet, National Development Officer, Episcopal CARE Foundation, Philippines. Middle 4, Q&A During the 2015 International Symposium. Last, panelist from the Ending Sexual and Gender-Based Violence session

Videos: Highlights - 2015 International Symposium Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCo6Nrl_ZbU

Jim Yong Kim, Keynote Address https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta7w2J1qARE

Healing the world starts with your story!

Timeless Stories of Laughter During Advent

Esther Cohen — Wed, 09 Dec 2015 17:11:00 +0000

It was the fourth Sunday in Advent, and our Christian Education team wanted to do something a little “different” for the children’s sermon. After all, the children were restless, Christmas was just around the corner, and it certainly seemed like a good opportunity to be creative and interactive. And so it was on that fateful Sunday morning that Miss Kathy pulled out a bag of animal puppets and told the children that they would be helping her recreate the scene at the stable where Jesus was born.

Each child happily reached in to the bag and pulled out a cute and clever hand puppet – lambs, cows, donkeys, birds – and anxiously awaited their chance to help tell the story of Jesus’ birth.

Except for Michael. Mischievous Michael, mysterious Michael, malcontent Michael; shrewd, clever and crafty Michael! Michael reached deep into the bag and discovered something that Miss Kathy had missed. Michael reached inside and found…

… a wolf puppet.

Let us say that there was no reenactment of the Peaceable Kingdom that day. The wolf did not lie down with the lamb. No cattle were lowing, and if the poor babe had been asleep, he would most certainly have been awake by the end of that particular children’s sermon! It is safe to say that, between the shrieking children and the laughing adults, there was not a dry eye in the house.

I love Advent and Christmas. I love the beauty of the sanctuary, lighted with candles and decorated with greens. I love shopping, and baking cookies, and thinking of friends and family, far and near. I marvel at the generosity of those who share Gifts for Life with their loved ones (alas, no wolves this year, but there some pretty adorable goats and pigs!). But in my house, the stories that we tell at Christmas – the stories that make us laugh until we cry, no matter how often they are told – are the stories of when everything went wrong. When the wolf ate the lambs during the children’s sermon. When the cotton ball-covered sheep left a trail of white cotton down the new red runner in the sanctuary. When we forgot where we hid the Christmas gifts “for safekeeping.” When the dog ate the plastic sheep in the manger. When we were utterly, amazingly, imperfectly human.

I wish for you and your loved ones moments of great peace and comfort during the coming weeks. But more than that, I wish you great moments of laughter and riotous imperfection. Joy to the World!!

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Esther Cohen is the Chief Operating Officer for Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: Top, A Muppet Christmas Carol (1992). Middle 1, Dog Nativity scene (justonemorepet.wordpress.com). Middle 2, A Christmas Story (1983). Bottom, Nation Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

Healing the world starts with your story!

The Story of St. Nicholas

Sean McConnell — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 20:38:00 +0000

Once upon a time, there was a young boy. This boy was born into both profound wealth and deep faith. His parents raised him to love Jesus and to be good to others. He knew that all he had was a gift from God, and that he was to honor God in how he lived with these gifts and shared them with others.

While still young, a terrible epidemic struck. All around the boy, there was suffering and despair. In their attempts to help the sick in their community, both of the boy’s parents contracted the disease and died. For some reason, the boy did not get sick, and he inherited his parents’ wealth and station.

Even after losing his parents, the young man still had great faith and, under the guidance of his uncle who happened to be a bishop, diligently studied the teachings of Jesus. When reading the Gospels, he came across the story of another rich young man. The rich man asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life. Jesus responded that he must love God and keep the commandments. “I have kept all these, what do I still lack?” asked the young man. Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” (Matthew 19:16-22)

The rich man in the Bible story walked away dejected, because he was very wealthy, but the orphaned son with his inherited wealth felt Jesus speaking directly to him, so he did as Jesus said and sold his belongings.

Now, the young man of our story was shrewd and didn’t simply give without thought. In fact, he put a great deal of thought into his philanthropy. He wanted to make sure that his gifts would have the greatest impact. Elsewhere in Matthew, he read that “Whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:2-4)

Our young man struck out, visiting towns and villages. Wherever he went, he would practice kindness and show mercy. One day, he met a poor man with three kind daughters. They took him in, and though they were poor, fed him his fill. The eldest daughter was in love with another young man in the village, but the object of her affection could not marry her because his father would not allow him to take a wife without a dowry. One morning, as the daughter was preparing to go into town, she discovered a sack of gold, enough for a dowry and then some, tucked in her shoe… and the house guest was gone.

Well, the good Christian young man took vows as a priest and continued to travel and do good deeds. He set out for the Holy Land with dreams to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. He went by sea and was soon the friend of all the sailing men. One day, a great storm blew upon the ship and the sailors were sure that they would all be killed. The good priest went to the bow of the ship and started to pray, and as soon the words left his lips, the storm passed and the sea grew calm. The sailors rejoiced and declared that they too would follow Jesus. These sailors, wherever they sailed, helped establish churches in the name of the sea-calming priest.

Stories of his good deeds and miraculous faith spread around the lands and everywhere the good priest went, he was welcomed and revered. One day, as he was praying in a monastery in the Holy Land, he heard the Holy Spirit’s call. It was time for him to return home, to Asia Minor, where upon his return he was made a bishop.

In his time, he was known as a miracle worker and the many types and stations of people he helped are legion. He truly sought Christ in all persons, and loved every neighbor. It was on this day, December 6, 343, that the good saint Nicholas died.

Almighty Father, lover of souls,

who chose your servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of your grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Resources for St. Nicholas:

Watch a brief history of St. Nicholas's life in the video below:

Here is a great resource to teach children about St. Nicholas. It has digital stories, activities and more!

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Sean McConnell is the Director of Engagement for Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: St. Nick Block Prints: Elisabeth Ivanovsky. Resource: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/. St. Nicholas Rebuking the Tempest - Bicci di Lorenzo.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNG1lanvBME

Healing the world starts with your story!

World AIDS Day 2015 - Thoughts from Mozambique

Rebecca J. Vander Muelen — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 21:04:00 +0000

December 1st is World AIDS Day. It's an opportunity to demonstrate international solidarity for people living with HIV and to commemorate the spirit of those who have died battling the deadly disease. Below is a dispatch from Rebecca J. Vander Muelen, the Director of Community Development for the Anglican Diocese of Niassa (Mozambique), a partner of Episcopal Relief & Development. ‪#‎WorldAIDSDay‬.

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Antonia’s first finger-prick rapid HIV test came back with two lines—lines that indicate a positive result.

Rapid HIV tests have revolutionized the process of HIV diagnosis. They require only a drop of blood, and give accurate results within minutes. The first type of test we use is 100% sensitive and 99.7% specific, meaning that three out of every thousand people without HIV will have a false positive result. So before giving a client a positive diagnosis, we confirm a positive result with a second test, from a different manufacturer. Almost always, this second test substantiates that the person is, indeed, living with HIV.

But Antonia’s second test gave a negative result, and now my 17-year-old friend lives in the limbo of a maddeningly nebulous “indeterminate” diagnosis.

There is a good chance that Antonia does not have HIV in her body. The test looks for HIV antibodies, not HIV itself. This fact can confuse, but we explain it using the analogy of a ship traveling over a long distance. Using this analogy, a person who goes to the beach to find out if the ship has arrived is able to come to a clear conclusion (in the same way that a rapid HIV test tells us whether or not the person’s body has made antibodies to HIV). But that person might not be able to tell, from the beach, whether or not the ship has recently left its distant port (in the same way that a rapid HIV test might not be able to tell whether a person has recently contracted HIV). In Antonia’s case, we can look into the distance and see something on the horizon—but it’s hard to know whether it’s a ship or not.

This unanswered question of whether or not she is living with HIV colors Antonia’s spirit and interrupts her thoughts— as she studies for exams, travels to visit her grandparents, and chats with her classmates, who seem so free, not hampered by this all-pervasive question.

Except in rare cases like Antonia’s, this agonizing waiting game—once a standard element of getting an HIV test—is largely a thing of the past. Gone are the days when an HIV result comes weeks after blood is taken.

Also gone are the days when a positive HIV result means a probable painful and torturous journey and, ultimately, an agonizing death.

These are the days when it is truly possible to live well with HIV, and not just bide one’s time.

These are the days when—given adequate human resources, adequate supply and distribution chains, and adequate patient understanding and family support—people living with HIV do not die from HIV.

These are the days when just one tablet every twenty-four hours can reduce HIV to undetectable levels.

Unfortunately, progress in the development of human capacity and of distribution systems has not always kept pace with pharmaceutical advances. The medicine works, but it also needs to be available and someone also needs to know how to prescribe it well. So these are the days when HIV activists still have an enormous role to play.

I am honored to work alongside HIV activists who continue explaining how HIV is spread, because yes, there are STILL people who do not have accurate information about how HIV is transmitted, and live in unnecessary fear of air-borne or skin-borne infection.

I am honored to work alongside HIV activists who convince their neighbors—and their priests and bishops—that getting an HIV test is a respectable, prudent, and wise choice for all of us, and not an embarrassing suggestion of behavior deemed disreputable.

I am honored to work alongside HIV activists who creatively attract and teach large groups through locally contextualized theater.

I am honored to work alongside HIV activists who hike to communities that are unreachable by cars and by motorcycles and even by bicycles to deliver medication to people living with HIV.

I am honored to work alongside these 5000 HIV activists—these activists who fuel hope, and who live out grace in a context too often marked by shame.

Shame keeps us from getting an HIV test, keeps us from openly seeking treatment, and keeps us in silence. Shame feeds secrecy, resentment, and isolation. I imagine shame is a factor in a majority of Mozambique’s 200+ daily AIDS-related deaths and 250+ daily new HIV infections.

But grace—seeing the beautiful in others and ourselves, and, in so doing, calling it out even more emphatically—is shame’s antidote.

Antonia’s biggest concern—if she does end up with a positive result—is not that she’ll be ill, and not that she’ll have the hassle of a daily medication. Her biggest concern is that her parents will be angry and disappointed. Antonia recognizes she made an unsafe choice. But wallowing in shame, and its sister, fear, would give HIV the upper hand.

I know fear, and I know its irrationality. The first time I went to get an HIV test, I presented myself to the receptionist and then fled the clinic before I was called into a counseling room.

If Antonia’s next results come back negative, we will talk through strategies for staying that way. I will love her.

If her results are positive, I will tell her what I have told many before her: you are exactly the same person as you were an hour ago. You’ve learned that you’ve got a virus in your veins. And you are still you.

You are still Antonia. The same Antonia you have always been. You are spunky and vivacious. You are compassionate and nurturing. You are reliable and trustworthy. You are not HIV.

We will love Antonia. We will love her parents. We will walk alongside her parents as they love their daughter, and learn—even with a positive result—that she is the same person they have always known. We will proclaim that love is stronger than HIV.

I have witnessed fear and shame overpower facts and reason. And I have witnessed fear and shame kill, far too frequently.

But I have also witnessed love and grace overpower fear and shame. And I have seen love and grace bring fresh and abundant life.

May we choose to love.

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Rebecca J. Vander Muelen is the Director of Community Development for the Anglican Diocese of Niassa (Mozambique), a partner of Episcopal Relief & Development. This story was originally published on her blog Views from Mozambique and can bee seen here: http://rvmphotography.com/2015/12/01/world-aids-day/

Healing the world starts with your story!

Responding to Global Need, Hunger Program Legacy Lives On

Faith Rowold — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 19:30:01 +0000

Over the course of the 75th Anniversary Celebration, our 75 Stories Project has given me the opportunity to hear from many of Episcopal Relief & Development's supporters and friends. This very special blog post comes from two people whose work with the Hunger Program of The Episcopal Church helped lay the foundation for our programs that continue to address the root causes of hunger. My deep and heartfelt thanks to Canon Charles Cesaretti and Canon J. Fletcher Lowe for their service to the Church and to the world through their work, and for sharing their reflections with us!

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Hunger was and continues to be one of our world’s most pressing human problems; it touches developing countries as well as developed. We see it on the streets of our cities and in the rural areas of America. The Church has had an ongoing commitment to its eradication, both in the US and worldwide.

In response to the drought in sub-Saharan Africa in the early 1970s, The Episcopal Church through the Division of Church in Society held a church-wide consultation on the most appropriate and effective ways to respond. One of the recommendations of that consultation was the establishment of a church-wide hunger committee to address the multiple facets of hunger alleviation, especially education and consciousness-raising among Episcopalians.

Working with Executive Council, Presiding Bishop John Maury Allin established the National Hunger Committee (NHC) in 1976 with lay and clergy participants drawn from each province of The Episcopal Church. The Rev. Canon J. Fletcher Lowe, Jr., who was part of the initial consultation, was elected to chair the committee and lead it through regularly reviewing and evaluating the process and effectiveness of the Hunger Program.

To support the NHC, the Hunger Office was established and added to the Church in Society staff clustering, based at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City. Presiding Bishop Allin appointed The Rev. Charles Cesaretti as staff officer for the program. The mandate of the Hunger Program, as carried out by the NHC and the Hunger Office, was to initiate a church-wide awareness of the root causes of hunger, not only in sub-Saharan Africa but worldwide, including in the United States. Being a part of the Church staff, the Hunger Officer had the opportunity, and responsibility, to enter into partnership with the other domestic and international programs. This dynamic relationship fostered the breadth and depth of the Hunger Program by drawing on the experience, perspective and resources of various outreach and education program groups of The Episcopal Church.

To fulfill the mandate of the Hunger Program, the NHC developed a church-wide diocesan network. Aside from its three bishops, the committee was organized with one representative for each of the nine Episcopal Church provinces. That person recruited a coordinator for each diocese who, in turn, recruited a representative in each parish. This became the NHC’s primary communications link and network.

To equip the network, the NHC held training sessions to facilitate public policy initiatives locally, nationally and internationally, and published a series of educational and informational resources. Hunger Notes, later The Hunger Networker, was a monthly publication covering various related hunger issues and resources. At the NHC’s request, Executive Council designated Lent 1979 for a church-wide hunger focus, with a curriculum the NHC developed especially for parish use that year. Over the years, other publications evolved, including Fr. Cesaretti’s To Care Enough, and a Jubilee Series of three books on land use and living simply.

Having a presence at General Convention was a key part of awareness-raising within The Episcopal Church, and the NHC’s activities during the 1976, 1979 and 1982 General Conventions led to enormous upswells in support for the Hunger Program. The NHC researched alternative housing such as YMCAs for convention-goers, and planned for having fruit at convention stands and alternative menus for banquets. The NHC promoted the Friday of Convention to be a fast day, with the money saved on meals going to the PB Fund. Each year, hundreds of people attended the Unfair Share Lunch, where attendees were arbitrarily divided into ‘1st, 2nd and 3rd world’ tables with food and population appropriate to that sector, and then each meal concluded with a discussion of learnings. Resolutions were offered and adopted with a focus on hunger. Other efforts included ECW workshops, hunger-related movies and Convention-wide hunger-focused Eucharists. In 1979, at the Convention in Denver, the NHC sponsored a fundraising concert offered gratis by singer John Denver, to benefit the PB Fund. At the 1982 Convention in New Orleans, NHC convened a luncheon with Desmond Tutu speaking, one of only two times he spoke at Convention that year.

In addition to educating Episcopalians about hunger issues in the US and internationally, the other major facet of the NHC’s work was advocacy. The committee successfully pushed for a Washington Office so issues of crucial national and international importance could be addressed, in conjunction with other denominational offices and such non-profits as Bread for the World and Heifer International. In Washington, the NHC also advocated for domestic feeding programs such as Women Infants and Children (WIC), and informed public policy on the structural response and delivery of services to those in need and on the margins of society.

Internationally, the Hunger Office was instrumental in establishing a network linking the Provinces of the Anglican Communion to provide communication, consultation and coordination worldwide. This network seeded the later development of the Peace and Justice Network and the Refugee and Resettlement Network, which became official parts of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), as well as the Office of the Anglican Observer at the United Nations.

For 10 years, the NHC and the Hunger Office worked collaboratively with the Presiding Bishop’s Fund for World Relief (the precursor to Episcopal Relief & Development) with clear differentiation between their mandates: the NHC was for education and advocacy, and the PB Fund was for fundraising. Eventually, though, the NHC and Hunger Office were folded into the PB Fund as the latter shifted to focus more on long-term development.

Today, Episcopal Relief & Development continues the Church’s work on hunger alleviation internationally through climate-smart agriculture programs in places like Burundi, Nicaragua and the Solomon Islands. The organization also offersAbundant Life Garden Project® faith formation resources to help US churches connect their community gardens to global hunger.

As Thanksgiving is celebrated across the US, let us remember to be thankful when abundant food surrounds us, and thankful for a Church that can provide both immediate help and support for long-term change. Around the world, through the work begun by the Hunger Office and continued in Episcopal Relief & Development’s programs, fewer people go hungry each year. Let us remain steadfast in our pursuit of ending hunger, so that all may enjoy the abundance of Creation.

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The Rev. Canon Charles Cesaretti is retired and lives in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Diocese of Bethlehem.

Canon J. Fletcher Lowe served as the Chair of the Episcopal Church's National Hunger Committee from 1974-82 and on the board of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, now Episcopal Relief & Development, from 1988-92. He is the Rector Emeritus of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Richmond, VA.

Images: Top, Hunger work in Ethiopia. Middle 1, The Hunger Office started by the National Hunger Committee. Middle 2, Educating Episcopalians about Hunger. Middle 3, The Hunger Office. Bottom, 3 children in Nicaragua from our current hunger programs.

Healing the world starts with your story!

Be Not Afraid

Rob Radtke — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 19:27:21 +0000

Our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, calls us to “Be not afraid.” I take his words to heart in these tense times.

Terrorism is not an abstract risk around the world and certainly not in New York City where I live with my family. If you let it, fear can paralyze you.

However, I find that the best way to fight fear is to be prepared.

This weekend, my wife and I are getting ready to welcome our daughter home from college and planning the Thanksgiving meal we will share with friends and family. Before next Thursday, I will make sure my cell phone is fully charged and loaded with key contact numbers. I’ll also check to make sure we have enough food, water and cash to get us through a week if life is disrupted. Then, I will put fear out of my mind and focus on all that we have to give thanks for.

If you’d like to take a few moments to be prepared for potential catastrophic events, here are some resources to consider:

https://www.episcopalrelief.org/preparedness

http://www.ready.gov

During this challenging time, let us remember Jesus’ words in John 14:27.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

May you and your family enjoy the many blessings of the season and a peaceful start to Advent.

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Rob Radtke is President of Episcopal Relief & Development.

Healing the world starts with your story!

New Kid on the Block

Lauren Fiata — Mon, 02 Nov 2015 21:59:00 +0000

As one of the newer staff members at Episcopal Relief & Development, there has been much for me to learn about the organization. From our life saving work post-disaster, to our community development programs around the world, I truly feel that I am just one small piece of a much larger purpose. It feels good coming to work everyday knowing that I make a difference by helping to raise the funds necessary to continue this important work.

Overseeing the Sustainers Circle, our monthly giving program, I spend a great deal of time connecting with many of our loyal supporters. One thing I always try to do is to express our gratitude for each gift, no matter the size. We understand that there are many worthy causes out there, and it is meaningful knowing donors choose to support our mission.

One piece of feedback I never get tired of hearing is that donors like giving to Episcopal Relief & Development. They know that with us their donations are in good hands as they have built a trust and have faith in an organization with a 75-year track record of healing a hurting world.

One particular donor sticks out in my mind: Judy Goans from Clinton, TN. In our first conversation, we discussed her reasons for supporting Episcopal Relief & Development. I learned that Judy is particularly drawn to our water programs because she sees clean water as a basic right for everyone.

"We take clean water for granted in the United States, but in many parts of the world, clean water is a struggle," she said. "I was just in Asia and noticed a story in the Myanmar Times: 'Cholera Outbreak Kills 13.' Can you imagine people dying from a disease like cholera in the 21st century?There is a frequently cited statistic that 2 million children die each year from diseases caused by lack of clean water and sanitation. I hear a statistic like that and think, that's more than all of the children in the state of Tennessee.

“For me, water is also a feminist issue. In many places, the burden of fetching water for the family falls to women and girls. This takes up time that they could use to make money for their families, or to pursue an education. In some places, it is dangerous to fetch water because of the risk of assault – or wild animals. And when the schools don’t have bathrooms, the girls stop attending, which further limits their prospects in life,” she said.

This prompted Judy and her husband Ron to take action by contributing to Episcopal Relief & Development as monthly donors. As members of the Sustainers Circle, the Goans family also belong to a community of monthly givers who are committed to providing support for our work throughout the year.

Judy stated, “I love monthly giving. I understand how important it is for the organization to have a steady stream of income, and it’s easy. I picked an amount that we could give without feeling a pinch and set it up as a recurring contribution. It’s no trouble – and it adds up over time. I also love the Gifts for Life catalogue, which lets us see exactly what our money does. Designating gifts feels much more personal. I feel connected to Episcopal Relief & Development's work each time I give.”

Judy and Ron joined the Episcopal Church in 1990. Their journey with the Episcopal Church began on Easter of the previous year, when the family was running late for church.

“I feel like the Holy Spirit put us exactly where we needed to be. I had driven past Good Shepherd a thousand times but had never been in the building. I saw the sign for an 11:00 service at Good Shepherd, we pulled into the exit, and we’ve been there ever since. Ron and I both really like the Episcopal service. I like praying with your whole body. I love it that our prayers mention people by name. And I love being connected to Anglicans around the world. When I don’t go to church I feel like something is missing.”

As an attorney, Judy often travels overseas and works on a range of community development programs. Most recently she was in Laos. When I asked her about how her charitable giving helps her to live her faith, she immediately quoted Matthew 25, the same verse from which Episcopal Relief & Development takes its mandate. If she could say one thing to the people around the world who are strengthening their communities through Episcopal Relief & Development’s partnerships with local organizations, it would be “Jesus loves you, and so do we.”

Episcopal Relief & Development is an organization where our donors and staff are deeply committed to making the world a better place. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a wonderful community.

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Lauren Fiata is the Monthly Giving and Donor Relations Associate at Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: Top,Woman gathering water in Nicaragua. Middle 1, Judy with her family. Middle 2, Woman gathering water in Nicaragua. Last, Judy and Ron in their home. Images courtesy of Judy Goans.

Healing the world starts with your story!

Take an Immersive Trip Through Ghana!

Lisa Jacoby — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:04:00 +0000

See the sights and hear the sounds on this immersive trip through Ghana. In February 2015, Episcopal Relief & Development awarded two seminarians, Lisa Jacoby and Charles Bauer, with the Ghana Pilgrimage Seminary Fellowship. Using a story mapping tool, Lisa shares their journey during the Ghana Pilgrimage. The trip will take you far north to the Upper East Region of Ghana and all the way down to its coastal towns. You'll not only get to know some of the people along the way, you'll learn more about the partnership between Episcopal Relief & Development and the Anglican Diocese of Tamale and its implementing organization, the Anglican Diocesan Development and Relief Organization (ADDRO).

Click on the image to get started. Once on the platform use your mouse to scroll down the left column. For any videos you come across simply press the prompting arrow.

Hold on and enjoy the ride!

The Next Moonshot - Food Security for All

Sara Delaney — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 13:25:02 +0000

Today is World Food Day, a time when people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. In this blog we follow Sara Delaney's experience at the Global Food Security Conference at Cornell University. #WFD2015

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Today is World Food Day, and this week I attended the 2nd Annual Global Food Security Conference, at Cornell University.

The topic, as you can guess, was food, and more specifically, food security. My favorite topic!

Food Security means that everyone, at all times, has enough food available, or the ability to grow, buy, or otherwise get the food they need. The food also needs to be nutritious, and, your body needs to be healthy enough to digest and use that food.

Easy enough right? Well…unfortunately not. In her talk this week, Sara Scherr, the President of EcoAgricultural Partners, said that “Achieving Global Food Security is as important for us this century, as the moonshot was in the last century”.

And – it may be just as, if not more challenging, than going to the moon.

But surrounded by hundreds of others from around the world at the University this week, did give me hope and inspiration. Episcopal Relief & Development was able to showcase the work we are doing in Burundi, in partnership with Cornell University – introducing kitchen gardens to women to work towards improving family nutrition.

We listened to talks on topics ranging from new mobile apps in Kenya to share information with farmers, to the use of Behavioral Economics to change up cafeterias in New York so that students eat healthier lunches (hint: put the sugary drinks in the back).

While the challenge is large, there are many small yet powerful things we can each be doing to contribute.

After Sara Scherr’s talk the moonshot analogy was sticking with me – and I realized that maybe it was because, as a kid, I really wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. I loved the idea of going up into space, exploring and gathering new knowledge.

Well – I’m now grown up. And I guess while I didn’t make it as an astronaut, I am instead a Food Security astronaut - exploring the world, and working with others on this century’s most important challenge.

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Sara Delaney is the Senior Program Officer at Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images from the Global Food Security Conference at Cornell University.

Healing the world starts with your story!

World Food Day - A Community Volunteer Helps to Eradicate Hunger in India

Sara Delaney — Wed, 14 Oct 2015 16:18:00 +0000

World Food Day is October 16. A time when people around the world come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. In this blog we meet Seema, a community volunteer doing her part in India. #WFD2015

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I met Seema on a hot, muggy afternoon in August in the center of India. After a larger group meeting with the community to discuss the work they are doing together with the Church’s Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA), we were able to find a more quiet moment to chat outside of her house.

Seema is a community volunteer for the newly begun Integrated Food Security program in her area. After CASA explained the goals of the program – supporting families to have sufficient food year-round, improving the management of the soils and water in their watershed, increasing awareness of government programs that they can take advantage of – Seema graciously stepped forward to help make it all happen.

As a volunteer, she keeps records at meetings to share with CASA and acts as a liaison between CASA staff and the community, informing her neighbors when there will be a visit, a distribution of materials, a training. As the program progresses, she will also likely get involved with monitoring the results – are trainings helping people to learn new things? Are farmers using new seeds and making compost? Are more women attending local government meetings?

Sound like a full time job already? Seema does this in her free time. She also farms a small amount of land, has a sewing business, and is the mother to 3 children. As she calmly explained this all to me, I asked her if she ever had time to sleep. She just smiled and laughed.

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Sara Delaney is the Senior Program Officer at Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: Top, Notes taken by Seema. Bottom, Seema.

Healing the world starts with your story!

International Panel of Experts Share Experiences on Day for Disaster Reduction

Nagulan Nesiah — Mon, 12 Oct 2015 19:17:00 +0000

International Day for Disaster Reduction is October 13, and the theme for 2015 is how communities are using traditional, indigenous and local knowledge to prepare for and respond to disasters. For Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners worldwide – including in the United States – there is an added element of the role faith communities can play in organizing and providing space for these activities.

When natural or human-made hazards strike, local churches and other faith institutions are on the front lines, either located in the affected communities or close to them. They are the first to learn about the situation and respond. People in affected areas turn to faith institutions and leaders for help, and churches are often full of willing volunteers – but in order to respond effectively and with regard for their own safety, adequate training, tools and resources are needed.

There are many training resources available for disaster professionals working in government and nongovernmental organizations, but there is great potential at the community level for people to safeguard their homes and livelihoods before and immediately after a disaster. What is needed is training that engages community members in building disaster awareness and resilience, using local resources and expertise to identify hazards, reduce risk and ensure care for those most vulnerable.

Working with partners in 13 countries, Episcopal Relief & Development led the assembly and testing of the Pastors and Disasters toolkit, which guides communities through forming Disaster Committees, recognizing assets and creating customized disaster plans to fit the most likely hazards. So far, 174 partner staff members have been trained in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) and 80 communities have participated in preparedness and planning activities.

In this blog post, we hear from five people who have been active contributors to the Pastors and Disasters process: Léonidas Niyongabo from Burundi, Dr. Daniella Flamenco from El Salvador, Gideon Bustamante from the Philippines and Ethel George and Smith Nice from Vanuatu. This panel of experts shares their impressions and experiences of traditional responses to disasters and how the Pastors and Disasters toolkit has leveraged these practices toward greater preparedness and resilience.

Finally, we are also proud to premiere our video from Sri Lanka, where Fr. Manoruban of St. Paul's Church in Morakotanchenai has assembled the youth of the parish into teams for disaster preparedness and response, using the Pastors and Disasters toolkit.

I am grateful to all of our partners worldwide for their contributions and participation in the formation of the toolkit, and wish everyone safety and good health on this Day for Disaster Reduction!

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Q1: How have local communities addressed disasters in the past?

Léonidas (Burundi):
On February 9 last year, the area around Bujumbura experienced very severe thunderstorms that caused flooding and landslides, killing or injuring 124 people and destroying thousands of homes. The Church in Burundi provided cash assistance to 600 people to help them rebuild their homes and start or restart their small businesses and agricultural activities. We recently did an evaluation of 25 households – three in the restaurant business, three raising livestock, a number selling clothes or construction materials and five old women selling vegetables and small fish in market stands – and found that the opening of small businesses and trades has been widely successful and people are able to make a living. With the cash assistance to rent land, farmers have been able to feed their children and save seeds for the next planting season, selling the surplus to purchase goats to fertilize their crops, as well as clothes, health care and other food to support a diverse household diet.

Dr. Daniella (El Salvador):
In the past, local communities used to be helped by NGOs, churches and other organizations, but sometimes the help was not as effective because there was no connection between the community and the people providing aid, meaning that the real needs of the community were not covered and help didn't reach those who needed it most. For example, in 2009, Hurricane Ida caused a mudslide on the side of a volcano near the town of Verapaz, and the aid agencies brought too much clothing and not enough water, hygiene kits and mattresses. We were able to bring those supplies later, but this situation could have been avoided by the aid providers talking to the community before buying the supplies.

Gideon (Philippines):
The Philippines is very prone to typhoons (around 20 per year) so Filipino people are very used to them! In vulnerable communities it is already people's habit to evacuate to safer areas once the local government has issued warnings, though many would prefer to stay at home for fear of losing their belongings in the storm. Typhoon Haiyan was devastating and people experienced great trauma, but there is a spirit of solidarity that helps with the recovery. Relatives from other places came to help, or hosted family members while they were rebuilding, and people are extending help to each other, even though they themselves are among the victims of the storm.

Ethel and Smith (Vanuatu):
Normally, during the aftermath of a disaster in a local community, the chiefs would mobilize people to work together to address needs. The needs would be categorized in three groups: immediate, medium and longer term. Most assessment, planning and delegation would be done by the chiefs and handed down to the stronger men at the community level to get things done. The chiefs also are actively involved as well. If external assistance is needed then it is the chiefs who request assistance.

Q2: What are some examples of traditional coping strategies?

Léonidas (Burundi):
People have been introducing early-maturing crop varieties that are more tolerant of drought and flood conditions, and using intercropping methods to grow different plants together on the same field, both of which help mitigate the extremes of climate change. People have also been changing their thinking and behavior, being more mindful of disaster preparedness, planting forests and digging trenches to prevent flooding and erosion.

Dr. Daniella (El Salvador):
In the community of Las Bromas, some of the homes are built on a slope and are prone to flooding or even falling into the river in heavy rains. To prevent this, the community has built living barriers of Piñuela and Izote (the national flower of El Salvador) to combat erosion and flooding. This practice is protecting around 100 people now, but it is not a new idea! One of the oldest members of the community, Máximo Reyes, who turns 90 this month, tells us that he remembers his father using these barriers since he was 10 years old.

Gideon (Philippines):
In poor communities, people put used tires on their roof to add weight, so they don't blow away in the storm. Others tie down their houses using ropes or iron cables. If their house is destroyed, people use scrap materials to temporarily build shelter.

Ethel and Smith (Vanuatu):
Where I come from, in Motalava, Torba Province, we prepare traditional biscuit crackers from breadfruit by placing them above open cooking fires during our usual daily cooking times. These biscuits can last for more than five years, so they are prepared specifically for times of disaster. When breadfruit is in season, each family prepares theirs and sometimes we end up with around 1,000 or so. Some communities also dry nuts as a means of traditional food preservation, and these can last for more than a year. Additionally, people are planting more wild yams and Fijian taro since they mature quickly and can withstand most forms of disasters that threaten Vanuatu.

Q3: How have you used the Pastors & Disasters toolkit?

Léonidas (Burundi):
In Kibonde, we did the historical profile, mapping, seasonal calendar, transect walk, hazard ranking, timeline and Venn diagram activities from the Pastors and Disasters toolkit. The group discussion included diverse members of the community, including men, women, older people, youth, secondary school students and clergy. They identified drought, crop diseases, malaria and HIV/AIDS as the major hazards affecting the community, and then selected drought as the top priority since five of the last ten years have had at least seven months of drought, and this threatens the local food supply and economy. On the transect walk, the community noted the deforestation that had happened in the area due to war refugees in 2004 needing homes and firewood, and the connection between deforestation and the ensuing decade of drought.

Dr. Daniella (El Salvador):
The mapping activity in the Pastors and Disasters toolkit has been very useful in helping communities to better understand the possible hazards around them and what resources they can use to decrease their vulnerability. It also helps them to prioritize the potential threats and work on them in a methodical way. Additionally, people have learned how important it is to know the community history and connect past events to the current situation, since it is possible in some cases to predict the next occurrence of a hazard and be prepared for it. For example, in El Maizal, they are working on a system to prevent forest fires, since they have had at least one per year for the past three years and it is dangerous for the community.

Gideon (Philippines):
Using the toolkit broadened people's understanding of the different factors that make a disaster a disaster – not all hazards become disasters, it depends on vulnerability and capacity to respond. Identifying vulnerabilities in the community and going through the process of brainstorming and implementing solutions provides a framework that can be used for any problem. For example, if a nearby river is identified as a major hazard, the community then thinks of ways to prevent flooding, such as planting trees or cleaning the river. Once the ideas are out in the open, it becomes possible to put them into action. Also, in doing the asset maps, the community may see capacities or opportunities they didn't realize were there or hadn't been putting to use.

Ethel and Smith (Vanuatu):
We have inserted the Pastors and Disasters toolkit into our 2016 implementation plans, focusing on engaging youth and women’s groups in Disaster Risk Reduction. The provincial office also used the toolkit in May to train two people from each diocese in preparation for the storm season.

Q4: What are some examples of how the Toolkit resources have had an impact on communities?

Léonidas (Burundi):
We have seen that communities are setting up their Disaster Committees and conducting assessments with the involvement of local clergy. This will help communities recognize their vulnerabilities and strengths, and explore how those strengths can be used to prevent and reduce the effects of disasters.

Dr. Daniella (El Salvador):
We used to work in communities during or after disasters happened, but with the Pastors and Disasters toolkit we now have eight communities working on decreasing their vulnerability in order to prevent disasters from happening. In the community of San Juan Letrán, they are working on improving their water system because in the summertime most of the families have no water and they have to go to the river to get it. While they were working on the map, they discovered that getting water could be very dangerous, not only because the road is steep and there are trees prone to falling over, but also because the site is isolated and some women had been attacked while washing their clothes. There is currently a thin pipe that leads to a water tank, but the project aims to install bigger pipes that will carry more water and not get damaged on the rocks during the rainy season.

Gideon (Philippines):
ECARE uses an asset-based community development approach in all of its work, so asset mapping and transect walk tools in the Pastors and Disasters toolkit are great in any community! In Barangay Cabuloran, during these activities, the community noted that they have a plant they call dulaw (yellow ginger) growing wild throughout the area. They would use it as an ointment for gas pain, but after some research they discovered that dulaw is a key ingredient for making turmeric capsules, a common herbal food supplement. Now they are processing the dulaw into capsules and powdered ginger and selling it in the market and in the ECARE shop.

Ethel and Smith (Vanuatu):
We are looking forward to seeing how the roll-out goes across the dioceses, and are very glad that the province had at least two people in each diocese who were familiar with DRR and could use the Pastors and Disasters tools during the storm season.

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Featured Video: Fr. Manoruban of St. Paul's Church in Morakotanchenai, Sri Lanka, has assembled the youth of the parish into teams for disaster preparedness and response, using the Pastors and Disasters toolkit.

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Léonidas Niyongabo is the Provincial Development Officer of the Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi.

Dr. Daniella Flamenco is the Director of the Integrated Health and Agriculture Program of the Episcopal Diocese of El Salvador.

Gideon Bustamante is the Project Manager of the Disaster Response Project of the ECARE Foundation, the community-based development program of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.

Ethel George and Smith Nice are the Women's and Youth Officers, respectively, of the Anglican Church of Vanuatu, part of the Province of the Anglican Church of Melanesia.

Nagulan Nesiah is a Program Officer with Episcopal Relief & Development.

Images: Disaster Preparedness and Response in Burundi, El Salvador, Philippines, and Vanuatu

Healing the world starts with your story!

Empowering Women and Girls: The Rule, Not the Exception (and it's not just a women's issue)

Vanessa Pizer — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 17:40:00 +0000

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - one of the most comprehensive and progressive global agendas for women and girls’ equality and empowerment. The momentum for ensuring that gender is at the forefront of national and international social, economic and political policies and development agendas has waxed and waned in the years since this landmark occasion. With the UN General Assembly’s recent adoption of 17 post-MDG Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) the development sphere is once again abuzz with discussion on the importance of integrating gender equality and empowerment across all sectors of development. It is generally agreed that the SDGs are much more inclusive and targeted than the MDGs when it comes to gender-related objectives. For example, unlike the MDGs, the SDGs have a specific target on ending violence against women and girls. Still many people contend that the discourse around gender equality needs to be more focused on gender-based violence (GBV) and gender equality as human rights issues.

In fact this was a common sentiment at this year’s Sexual Violence Research Institute (SVRI) Forum in Cape Town. I had the opportunity to attend this 4-day event last month, which brought together researchers and development practitioners from around the world to share best practices and challenges involved with gender-related research, advocacy and programs. One keynote speaker reaffirmed that anything that harms or hinders women and girls, from intimate partner violence to low female scholarization rates, are indeed human rights violations. In other words, they are not just women’s issues; they are men’s issues. This brings me to the ever-present elephant in the SVRI auditorium all the way to the UN General Assembly - the small proportion of men leading or actively involved in discussions on the topic of gender equality and empowerment. Although, efforts to include men and boys in these discussions have increased greatly the past few years, there is still a lot of work to be done.

A key aspect of Episcopal Relief & Development’s GBV prevention work is to engage men, particularly male youth and faith leaders, in in-depth discussions on the social and cultural norms that harm women and girls, and society as a whole. In order to end the cycles of subservience, violence and lack of opportunity that characterize the lives of so many of the world’s women and girls it is necessary for men and women to question culturally prescribed gender roles. This is exactly the kind of self-exploration and dialogue that Episcopal Relief & Development, and our partner the Episcopal Church of Liberia, is facilitating. With male and female youth leaders in Liberia, we are deconstructing what we’ve been taught constitutes a “real man” and a “real woman”. Through guided activities involving self-reflection and critical thinking, youth realize that typical masculine traits of sexual prowess and responsibility for the family are either not truly defining traits or they are traits that are equally feminine. By the end of a recent meeting of youth leaders, the group was amazed that after a process of compiling and narrowing down lists of characteristics of real men versus real women, the two lists were identical. Together, they whittled through the artificial divide between men and women and defined what it means to be a good human.

Creationism: Franciscan Style

Jesse Lebus — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 17:52:00 +0000

I’ve taken to calling myself a creationist these days, in part (grinning impishly) because I like to see how people react and in part because I have come to believe. (Still grinning impishly.)

But really – because of St. Francis – I have come to believe in creation. Not as a static event chiseled in the stone relief of our cosmic narrative, but as an open-ended and dynamic process where every thought and action, person and particle are some how only a few degrees of separation apart.

I am so grateful that Francis heeded his call. As he knelt piously in front of a dusty Byzantine icon of the crucifix, in a busted and crumbling church in the Umbrian valley, something spoke in him, maybe even to him. “Francis, you see that my church is in ruin. Go and rebuild it.”

Not only did Francis – in a fervor worthy of a recent seminary graduate – rebuild that little church stone by stone, he began the more laborious task of offering the world a different perspective of itself; a perspective that still has the potential to change everything.

In Francis’ time, the predominant view of the cosmos was hierarchical. In an attempt to reconcile philosophical and Christian worldviews, the medieval mind conceived of the universe as a ladder. God was at the top, radiating truth down to the dimly lit earth below – for most, matter was less than spirit.

Francis’ own sense of order, however, did not spring from the university or the monastery. Francis was, in a sense, not corrupted by the popular paradigm where divine aspiration could only move in one direction: up. For Francis, Creation was like a web – an expanding sphere of interconnectedness – with God at the center and all components, creatures, moving in myriad directions: out.

It is interesting to consider that when Francis recited the Canticle of the Creatures on his deathbed, he never mentioned animals, pets or otherwise. Certainly he loved and honored all creatures great and small, recognizing their value and part in the drama of the universe. But instead, he mentioned the sun, the moon, the stars, wind and fire and he called them all brothers and sisters. To do so was to name, in an intimate way, his and our deep relationship to the world of matter that surrounds us.

The late Brother Richard Jonathan used to say that in light of what Francis reveals to the world, the words brother and sister are not merely nouns, but also verbs. This reminds us that to be a creature in this process of creation to be a brother or a sister, is not merely to be a hearer of the Word, but a doer as well.

To be a fellow creature is a great responsibility, especially when it comes to our sister, water.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Water;
she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Francis seemed to hit the nail right on the head when he composed that verse. By its very essence, water gives praise to God, the Center of Creation. Water is magnetic. It draws us close that we may draw of it. Water seeks the lowest place and takes the form of what it fills. It is solid, liquid and gas. In an instant, a twig can part water; over years water can shape hard stone. Water gives us life, quenches our thirst, but also threatens our lives.

Humanity, as Francis sang nearly 900 years ago, is passionately related to water. Our future depends upon its purity and availability. Francis’ understanding of creation compels us to acknowledge that we are more than just dependent on water: we are interdependent with water.

Water, its purity, conservation and availability, is a critical focus in the efforts of Episcopal Relief & Development.

To be a creationist – Franciscan style – is not to claim that our known universe came to be over a course of measure at a fixed point in time. Rather, it is a reclaiming of the term “creationism” and a sense that all creatures, players in creation, are united and that human beings play an integral role in the process.

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Jesse Lebus is a Deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island.

Images: Top, St. Francis of Assisi Taming a Wolf by Brian Ames. Middle 1, A goat. Middle 2, Two bunnies. Bottom, A cat.

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