Junge Lauds Holy Land Church Support to Peace-building Institutions

GENEVA, 24 February 2012 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has extended congratulations to Palestinian Lutheran pastor Rev. Dr Mitri Raheb on winning the 2011 “Deutscher Medienpreis” (German Media Prize). The award, which Raheb will receive later today, recognizes his individual and the church’s peace efforts, said LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge.

Raheb is pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). He is among four recipients of the prestigious prize to be awarded in Baden-Baden, Germany.

“The Deutscher Medienpreis is a recognition of not only your hard work and passion for justice, it is an affirmation of your approach, and that of the ELCJHL, to the complicated challenges of building institutions that change lives and of building relationships that strengthen prospects for a lasting peace,” wrote Junge in a congratulatory letter to Raheb.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the prize this year, it honors individuals who, in their work for peace, have quietly carried on without much media attention. The Deutscher Medienpreis jury said Raheb was being honored for building the Bethlehem congregation’s education, health care and dialogue programs.

Raheb is president of the Diyar Consortium and the ELCJHL Synod. The Bethlehem congregation and the Consortium, along with other congregational and educational ministries, reach out to thousands of individuals and families each year in Jerusalem, other parts of the West Bank and Amman, Jordan.

Junge said Raheb’s tireless service as a Lutheran leader and as a peace worker was an inspiration to those seeking a just solution to the conflict in the Middle East.

“Your efforts exemplify the ELCJHL’s nonviolent opposition to the Occupation, its uncompromising commitment to finding peaceful solutions, and its rigorous promotion of tolerance and mutual respect among Jews, Christians and Muslims, and between Palestinians and Israelis,” wrote the LWF general secretary.

“This prize is especially significant because it recognizes your individual contributions and it honors the values and witness of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land in which you serve.”

The LWF general secretary praised Raheb’s work among Palestinian youth and his efforts in developing high quality educational and vocational training from a Christian perspective, which focuses on compassion, love and forgiveness.

“Your work has helped shape the ELCJHL’s vision of the future for Palestinians and Israelis, where self-determination, dignity, freedom, prosperity, hope and reconciliation outshine the decades of conflict and discrimination,” noted the LWF leader.

Junge emphasized the ELCJHL’s contribution to interpreting the vision of the LWF which is embodied in its member churches “working together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world.”

The Palestinian pastor was also recognized in 2008 when he received the Aachen Peace Prize. He will receive the Deutscher Medienpreis alongside Dr Denis Mukwege of the Democratic Republic of Congo; Stanislaw Petrow of Russia; and Dr Sakena Yacoobi of Afghanistan.

The 3,000-member ELCJHL joined the LWF in1974. It has five congregations in Jerusalem, Ramallah and the Bethlehem area, and in Amman (Jordan), and is led by Bishop Dr Munib A. Younan, also LWF President. (535 words)

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Latin American Churches Working on Human Rights Network

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras/GENEVA, 17 February 2012 (LWI) – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has welcomed a preliminary United Nations report on human rights violations in Honduras that urges protection of human rights workers, who are facing death threats, extrajudicial executions, disappearances and torture.

“We welcome the UN envoy’s preliminary statement,” said Eva Ekelund, regional representative of the LWF’s Department for World Service (DWS) in Central America. “The situation is one of ongoing violations of human rights.”

UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya on 14 February in Tegucigalpa said Honduras faces serious challenges in combating violence and insecurity. “The pervasive impunity and absence of effective investigations of human rights violations undermine the administration of justice and damage the public’s trust in authorities.”

Those under threat include journalists, National Human Rights Commission staff, lawyers, prosecutors and judges, as well as human rights defenders and those working on environmental and land rights issues, said the UN independent expert charged with monitoring the situation of human rights defenders at the end of an eight-day mission to the country. Her final report will be issued in 2013.

In August 2011, the LWF called for the establishment of an Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras in light of violence over land issues. LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge said scrutiny brought by the UN office would help deter the violence.

Ralston Deffenbaugh, LWF assistant general secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights, stressed the continuing need for a UN presence in Honduras. “Killings and other human rights abuses are carried out with impunity.  There are no satisfactory investigations.  There are no independent international observers,” he said.

Churches and human rights organizations report that over the past two years the killing of peasants in Bajo Aguán has become a horrifying part of daily life.

When two masked men shot Matias Valley on 20 January, he became the 45th organized peasant to be slain in the agrarian conflict in Aguán. “What happens in Honduras is attributed to organized crime and drug trafficking, but the offenders are the armed forces and police,” said Diego Almedo (a pseudonym), who has risked his life to denounce human rights violations in the region.

Honduras is one of the countries with the highest rates of violence in the world, with 82 deaths per 100,000 people, according to the National Autonomous University in Honduras.

The situation in Aguán stems from agrarian reform in 1972 when the Honduran government gave land to a big landowner. The peasants have since organized to demand their land back. In response, the government has deployed 600 police and army officers to the region.

A recent DWS update on the human rights situation in Honduras warned that the situation in general, and especially in Bajo Aguán, was “alarming,” adding, “There is cause of great concern with massive loss of life.”

Ekelund said DWS continues work with existing networks to provide protection and refuge for human rights defenders.

Rev. Dr Patricia Cuyatti, LWF area secretary for Latin America and the Caribbean with the Department for Mission and Development, said the LWF member churches in the region are establishing a network to monitor human rights violations.

“Having a UN office in Honduras will reinforce the work of the state institutions and civil society organizations, which includes the churches,” she stated.

Deffenbaugh noted that the voice of the church is particularly vital in the current situation. “Along with other civil society actors, the church calls for respect for human rights and dignity, and for an end to impunity,” he said. (608 words)

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2. Lutherans Plead for Human Rights Protection in Political Conflicts
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5. Honduras: Call for Lutheran Communion Solidarity as Violence Impedes Pastoral Care

“Together for a Just, Peaceful and Reconciled World” Theme for June Meeting

GENEVA, 15 February 2012 (LWI) – “Together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world” is the theme of the 2012 meeting of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Council to be hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Colombia (IELCO) 15-20 June in the capital city Bogotá.

The Colombian church is very pleased to have the opportunity to welcome the Council, said IELCO Bishop Eduardo Martínez in a letter to the LWF governing body.

“We consider that our main strength is to be part of a confessional family which is so extensive, diverse and wonderful, as is the Lutheran Communion in the world. Meetings such as the Council’s are tangible signs of communion among Lutheran men and women from around the world,” he stated.

The Council is the LWF’s governing body between Assemblies. It consists of the President and 48 persons elected by the Assembly, as well as the Chairperson of the Finance Committee, who can be elected from among the membership Council or from outside. In addition, advisers to Council Committees provide expertise for specific areas of work. The Council includes ordained and lay members, women, men and youth.

The Bogotá meeting will mark the first time an LWF governing body has met in Latin America since 1990, when the Eighth Assembly was held at Curitiba, Brazil.

Pre-Council exposure tours on 12-14 June will allow Council members to experience the life and witness of the IELCO, which is active in ministries such as work among people with disabilities and internally displaced persons; ecumenical accompaniment in conflict regions; peace and justice; education; inclusion of women and youth; and human rights of persons affected by HIV and AIDS.

The LWF Meeting of Officers and the Committee for Holistic Mission and Church Relations will meet prior to the Council sessions, as will Pre-Council Women and Youth gatherings.

The Council agenda includes the President’s address, and reports from the General Secretary and the Chair of the Finance Committee. On 17 June, members will worship in local churches.

Members of the Committee for World Service will visit projects of the LWF’s Department for World Service (DWS) prior to and following the Council meeting. DWS has been active in Colombia since 2001 with humanitarian, human rights and sustainable development programs that address root causes of poverty, and promote just, peaceful responses to armed conflict.

LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge, a Chilean theologian, said that the Colombian context, still characterized by situations of conflict, violence and injustice, offers an excellent opportunity to explore the dimensions of what it means to be a communion that commits to live and work together for a just, peaceful and reconciled world.

“The LWF understands its Council meeting in Colombia as a concrete contribution to the Programme of Ecumenical Accompaniment in Colombia launched by the Latin American Council of Churches [CLAI] and the World Council of Churches in October 2011,” he noted.

The IELCO joined the LWF in 1966 and has 1,998 members. (510 words)

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Name | Paweł Gołuszko

Country | Poland

LWF Member Church | Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland

Diaconal Organization | Family-run home for foster children

What kind of diaconal work are you doing?
I’m a father to three children, foster father to eight children and “departure” father to six adult foster children, and in few months I’ll be a foster grandfather. We raise children who can’t live with their parents. We [see] not only [to] their basic needs–food, clothing, housing, school–but also try to show them values–family, love, fairness, faith. In our work, we’re strongly supported by the [Polish Lutheran Church].

What challenges you in your work? What motivates you?
Challenges: To separate work and private life. [Being treated] as a problem or clients, not co-workers, by social workers. Unclear laws. Lack of specialist help. Results of our work are [not immediate].
Motivations: Assurance that my work is according God’s will. Seeing children’s needs around me. Encouragement from other people, especially financial support. Observing progress and successes in the children’s lives.

How does your faith link to your diaconal engagement?
I believe in God. I always wanted to serve God by serving people in need. And I wanted to do it in the church. I and my wife were thinking about being foster parents, and God did some miracles to enable it. Now faith is one of our strengths. We’re trying to connect children with church by setting an example, and sending them to [worship] services, teenage camps, youth meetings [and such].

Besides my main work, I’m also involved in two other diaconal activities: rehabilitation equipment rental through [the Polish Johanniter International organisation] and distributing food in the [Federation of Polish Foodbanks] program.

First “Seeking Conviviality” Workshop

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Work can either affirm life or destroy it, argues a new LWF publication, Dignity of Work-Theological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives.

Part of the LWF’s Documentation series, the publication grew out of a 2011 symposium on the theology of work organized by the LWF’s Department of Theology and Studies (DTS).

“Work or labor constitutes a fundamental aspect of human existence regardless of whether or not one believes in God,” said LWF General Secretary Rev. Martin Junge in the book’s preface. “Individuals of all cultures and traditions associate work not only with sustenance but also identity.”

In his introduction, the publication’s editor, Rev. Dr Kenneth Mtata, DTS study secretary for Lutheran Theology and Practice, noted that work is central to the shared life within and outside the communion of faith. “The fruits of our labor can be shared equally or become the basis for greed and marginalization.”

Dignity of Work looks at Luther’s theology of work as a basis for a just economy, examines how work is understood in different contexts and illustrates how the world of work is skewed against women.

Dignity of Work is available in English and German for EUR 12 | USD 15| CHF 15.

Order Dignity of Work

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In this issue:

• New Year Message Urges Recognition of Human Vulnerability
• Local Solutions to Global Environmental Problems
• Youth Gathered in Durban Offer Hope on Climate Change
• A Pledge for Active Involvement in Environmental Justice
• Workshop Launches Diaconal Reconfiguration Process in Europe
• Diakonia Can Light Up Communities in the Midst of Economic Insecurity
• People Flock to Serbian Province of Vojvodina Expecting Wealth
• FEATURE: London’s Chinese Lutheran Church Reaches Out to Migrants
• Church Challenged to Fight AIDS Epidemic As It Once Did Apartheid
• Positive Masculinity Needed to Stem Tide of AIDS Crisis
• HIV Prevention Tool Kit to Help End Silence on AIDS
• FEATURE: Hope for the People at Cape Town Lutheran Center
• FEATURE: Siahaan Looks Forward to a Family Christmas Visit
• New Book Examines Dignity of Work
• Lutheran Church in Great Britain Celebrates 50th Anniversary
• Surinamese Church Celebrates 270 Years
• Argentine Church Endorses Lay Members Inclusion in Ministry

LWI 12/2011 is available in English and German.

EN Low Resolution (1.1 MB) | EN print quality (1.4 MB) | DE low resolution (1.5 MB) | DE print quality (5.6 MB)

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5. Lutheran World Information (LWI) 05/2011

In this issue:

• In Pursuing Christian Unity, We Have a Double Accountability
• Walking Multiple Pathways toward Christian Unity
• Anglican – Lutheran Agreements Have Laid a Solid Foundation
• Deaconesses Illustrate Character of Tanzanian Church
• Reflection on the Forum on Bilateral Dialogues
• Ecumenism between Lutherans and Roman Catholics in Japan
• Finnish Church’s Hospitality Offers Space to Other Churches
• Lutherans and Orthodox in Finland Live Side by Side
• Unity in Reconciled Diversity: Community of Protestant Churches in Europe
• Lutheran – Orthodox Dialogue: Significance and Expectations
• Meeting around the Table Deepens Levels of Fellowship
• Chile: By Working Together, “Another World Can Be Possible”
• Canadian Lutherans and Mennonites Strengthen Relationships
• Full Communion in the ELCA: Boldly Reaching Out
• Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Mutually Enhance One Another
• Faith and Work Perspectives from a Refugee Camp
• Cameroon: Ecumenical Approach Strengthens Youth Response to HIV and AIDS
• Let Young People Participate in Peace Work
• Adolescents in Uruguay Give a “Vaccination Dose” against Maltreatment
• Liturgical Material: Called to Walk Together

LWI 11/2011 is available in English and German.

EN Low Resolution (1.2 MB) | EN print quality (1.6 MB) | DE low resolution (1.1 MB) | DE print quality (1.35 MB)

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2. Lutheran World Information (LWI) 04/2011
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5. Lutheran World Information (LWI) 10/2011

The Lasting Effect of Conflict on South Sudan’s Education System

JUBA, South Sudan/GENEVA, 8 February 2012 (LWI) – There is a hunger for education in South Sudan that is obvious wherever you go.

Young people will travel hundreds of kilometers to attend school or university. Old people in the most impoverished areas will ask a visitor for food, but young people will ask for scholarships.

Violent conflict all but destroys education systems and leaves the resident population with the skills needed to survive, but without the knowledge needed to rebuild a country. In this way, education is an important catalyst as a country transitions from war to peace.

But no one dies from not going to school, and other life-threatening needs–for food, water, shelter or healthcare–can seem far more urgent during an emergency. It is only in the last few decades that education has become an integral part of emergency response.

In 1996, as an expert appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, international children’s rights advocate Graça Machel prepared a landmark study, “Impact of armed conflict on children.” that described how conflict harms children not just physically, but socially and emotionally as well. The cognitive development of children suffers during war because skills such as literacy, numeracy and critical thinking are delayed.

Barriers to Schooling

Elbeah Kashemba is 26 and, against the odds, has finished secondary school and is trying to complete a degree in natural resources management.

He started the course at a university close to his home in the Nuba Mountains which is in the disputed area in the north of South Sudan. He fled to Juba over six months ago when his home was bombed by the Sudanese military.

Along with approximately 40 other students he is now living in a makeshift hut trying to make ends meet while he studies his degree.

“There is the problem of fees, accommodation and an income. Those in the Nuba Mountains are missing out,” he says. Altogether, there are 135 students like him who are trying to continue their education in Juba.

The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a founding member of the ACT Alliance, has helped Kashemba and his group with a one-time grant for basics–food, blankets, cooking utensils and the materials to build their huts–but they will need more help if they are to complete their degrees.

Groups like Kashemba and his friends are common. Some Sudanese students travel as far as neighboring Uganda or Kenya, without their parents, to go to school. During the war, many ended up in the LWF-managed Kakuma refugee camp some 380 kilometers from Juba. Over the past six months as many as 150 refugees from South Sudan have been arriving every day in Kakuma.

Building Local Schools

But travelling far from home for an education is not a good solution for children and their families. Ideally schools should be located closer to towns and villages where people already live. In recent years, the LWF has built 13 schools in some of the more remote areas, which has increased the number of children attending school.

The buildings that the LWF has constructed withstand conflict better than traditional buildings which means that children can return to school soon after violent attacks. During a recent cattle raid in Duk Padiet, the concrete school building with iron-sheet roofing was not easily burnt, unlike some of the traditional grass and clay huts in the town.

Cattle raiders broke into one classroom and destroyed textbooks, exercise books and blackboards but, compared to a school, these are inexpensive and simple to replace. In fact, they will be purchased before classes resume in mid-February.

But despite the best efforts of Sudanese youth and non-government organizations like the LWF, there are still more than 1.3 million primary school age children in South Sudan who are out of school.

The country is second-to-last in world rankings for net enrolment in primary education–and at the bottom of the world league table for enrolment in secondary education according to a report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published last year.

For girls the situation is extremely dire–a girl in her early teens in South Sudan is three times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than to reach grade eight.

A lack of education causes a vicious cycle. It means that there is a dearth of trained teachers to staff schools. According to the UNESCO report, in some parts of the country a single teacher can teach up to one hundred students.

Education is fundamental to South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, for more than just practical reasons. The founding father of the country, Dr John Garang, constantly stressed that education fosters self-reliance, expands choices and shares prosperity.

Education will underpin peace, and if a South Sudan, independent since July 2011, is to be Garang’s lasting legacy, then the education system must continue to improve. (823 words)

(Written for LWI by Melany Markham in Juba, South Sudan)

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Mental Healthcare in the Wake of Conflict in South Sudan

JUBA, South Sudan/GENEVA, 7 February 2012 (LWI) – January the 16^th was like most other days in the town of Duk Padiet in Jonglei State, South Sudan. Achol Agol had walked through the heat and dust to the borehole to collect water for her three children, her brother and her father. The family lived together in a small compound close to the center of the town.

She looked up and, some distance away in the southeast, she saw hundreds of men running towards the town–Duk Padiet was under attack by a group of cattle raiders. The raid lasted no more than 20 minutes, but it left her father dead and her three-year-old brother in the hands of the armed raiders.

Agol fled with her other children into the surrounding bush. She stayed there three days until she had the courage to return to the town. When she did, she discovered her father’s body and her brother gone.

“I was very sorrowful and I thought my life had come to an end,” she said.

She misses her brother terribly. “I have so much to tell you. I have lost my father and my brother. Life is going to be terrible,” says Agol.

Agol’s brother is unlikely ever to return to their home. Although child abduction is a common practice during inter-ethnic cattle raids in South Sudan, few children ever make it back home.

Agol’s grief is compounded by the death of her father, who was the family breadwinner. She says that life and death have become the same and she also fears that she will become a target when next a cattle raid occurs.

When talking to Agol, it is easy to see that she is overwhelmed by fear and grief, but she must overcome her feelings so that she can find a way to make a living and support the rest of the family.

With little if anything of an organized social security safety net available in South Sudan, humanitarian aid providers like The Lutheran World Federation (LWF), a founding member of the ACT Alliance, are the only places that people like Agol can turn to for help.

State of Fear

After such traumatic events, aid agencies provide food, water and health care to meet people’s basic needs almost immediately. Treating the trauma–that can be just as debilitating–is a particular challenge.

Justin Mokili Elias works for the LWF as a peace-building officer. He says that the most recent wave of violence is not normal cattle raiding but rather tribal hatred. Other staff from the LWF also say that the attacks around Pibor have been of a scale that is much larger than previous years.

Elias is originally from Central Equatoria State, which has been relatively peaceful since the referendum last year, but he saw the effects of the violence in Jonglei recently when he took part in an assessment in a town called Waat.

Elias said that people have fled to Waat because there is a contingent of 500 soldiers in the town. “They feel safe there,” he notes.

Like others throughout the state, most of the people who sought refuge in Waat had fled in fear of further attacks. It is a common reaction as towns and villages that have not been attacked may well be the next target. This is evident driving south from Agol’s town.

Most of the villages between Duk Padiet and Bor, a distance of some 200 kilometers, are almost completely deserted. In some, goats are still tethered, waiting for the occupants of the village to return and feed them.

Regardless of whether they have fled because of fear of violence or the recent attacks, often one thing they take with them is their trauma.

“There was an urgent need. The people are really traumatized. They live in a state of fear and that requires emotional support,” says Elias. He says that psychosocial support will help them stand on their own, deal with their fear and cope with the challenges they face.

Psychosocial Support

Psychosocial is defined as the close relationship between the psychological and social effects of a disaster or conflict. Emergencies erode the normal community support structures at every level and increase the risks of other problems as well as social injustice and inequality.

According to Else Berglund, psychosocial specialist at ACT Alliance member Church of Sweden (CoS), traumatic experiences can cause painful reactions. People are hyper-vigilant, anticipating the next wave or tremor or explosion, like the people who have fled to Waat. People can also feel helpless or hopeless, or even disoriented, like Agol.

Only during the last decade has mental health been considered part of emergency response. Recognizing this need, the LWF has trained staff like Elias to provide psychosocial support to traumatized communities in South Sudan.

To help those who are suffering emotionally in the wake of the recent cattle raids, two psychosocial specialists from CoS will travel to South Sudan this month to work with LWF staff to offer more in the way of psychosocial support and to help people like Agol get back on their feet. (863 words)

(Written for LWI by Melany Markham in Juba, South Sudan)

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