PWRDF UPDATE May 2008
Welcome to Update - The Primate's World Relief and Development Fund newsletter and information bulletin for subscribers.
PWRDF is the Anglican Church of Canada's agency for international development, relief, refugees and justice issues. This list is an outgoing communication service from PWRDF only. Please contact Yvonne Lane for more information on any of the following items.
1. Prayers for Burundi
2. PWRDF Partner News
3. Board Meeting
4. Youth Council
5. Refugee Network
6. Celebrating the work of PWRDF
7. Fair Trade Weeks May 1 – 15
8. Regional Meeting – Glace Bay, NS
9. Our work is your story
10. Local Heroes
11. PWRDF website
1. Prayers for Burundi
We have been asked by Bishop Pie Ntukamazina, Bishop of the Diocese of Bujimbura in Burundi to hold the people of Burundi in our prayers. Burundi is still struggling to recover from ethnic violence sparked off in 1994 from tensions between the dominant Tutsi minority and the Hutu majority and a 13-year conflict which killed more than 300,000. Burundi is beginning to reap the dividends of a peace process, but it faces the formidable task of reviving a shattered economy and of forging national unity. Only recently, mortar shells were used by rebels who attacked military positions in the capital.
While we pray for peace, the economic situation goes from bad to worse, refugees are returning and struggling to get rehabilitated, and the government has not been working since January, so no laws are being passed nor decisions taken.
The Diocese of Bujumbura (Anglican Church of Burundi) is a long-term partner of PWRDF. PWRDF has been supporting the work of the diocese development office since 1992. That work includes rural development programs as well as HIV& AIDS programs.
2. PWRDF Partner News
Partner Visits – We were fortunate to recently welcome two PWRDF partners:
• Elizete Joao Nampuio from Mozambique – Elizete is the chair of Caixa Das Mulheres de Nampula (CMN), PWRDF partner for many years in Nampula City, Mozambique. CMN began in 1994 as a group of women interested in selling cassava cakes. With the support of PWRDF and prudent capacity development, CMN has grown into a financial institution that serves over 3,000 women and their families today through micro-finance programs. See Under the Sun newsletter #40
• Dr. Gilberto Valdes Gutierrez, researcher and coordinator of the Galfisa Institute and collaborator of the Martin Luther King Centre in Havana, Cuba working on popular education and community leadership. Dr. Gutierrez was attending an international conference at York University in Toronto.
Whenever we are aware of partner visits to Toronto, we try to organize a “Lunch and Learn” session for our colleagues in Church House and visitors. However, we are often at the mercy of visa officials, and the vagaries of international travel these days can be a challenge, particularly for our partners.
Ecumenical HIV Education Conference – PWRDF and several other Canadian development agencies (Presbyterians, United Church, KAIROS, and Canadian Baptist Ministries) sponsored a conference on HIV education in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in early April. The focus was on improving our partners’ work in reaching out and educating men on their responsibilities regarding HIV, and in increasing respect for people infected or affected by the pandemic.
Partners from many countries in East and Southern Africa attended and PWRDF was fortunate to have staff from partners in Cuba and Hong Kong attend. Our partner organization in Cuba, the Cuban Council of Churches was able to send two doctors, specialists in the HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment field. The participation in the conference was an opportunity for them to look at best practices when doing prevention with men, and their applicability in Cuba.
Canadian Foodgrains Bank – Founded in 1983, CFGB has for 25 years as the “Christian response to hunger” been working through its many relationships with members, partners, supporters and project participants to help put an end to hunger. During this time, CFGB has shipped over one million metric tonnes of food and seeds and been active in 77 countries around the world.
Commemorative events will be held in various locations across the country, including a banquet in Winnipeg on June 18th and one in Ontario on June 22nd. For more information, visit their website, www.foodgrainsbank.ca.
Centro Rosa Blanca, Anglican Cathedral in Lima, Peru – The centre became a new PWRDF partner in 2007 and its work emerged out of the accompaniment by people of faith of those living with HIV and AIDS who identified the need to compliment their accompaniment with education programs in their churches, and advocacy work with the Peruvian government. It is estimated that the number of people with HIV and AIDS in Peru is approximately 70,000. Suzanne Rumsey, PWRDF development coordinator for the region, describes the work of the centre as vibrant, doing cutting edge education and advocacy work with persons living with HIV and AIDS, including the Peruvian Network of Women Living with HIV and AIDS, a sex trade workers network, a “trans” network, as well as gay and lesbian organization. Programs with and for youth are an important part of the centre’s work, coordinated by a young man living with HIV and AIDS. The Centre challenges stigmatization and discrimination head on by hiring onto its staff persons living with HIV and AIDS, as well as including them in its decision-making bodies and programming processes. As the centre’s director states, “HIV and AIDS is a lens through which the social issues of discrimination and exclusion ca be clearly seen. If one is truly committed to inclusion and valuing differences and diversity, it doesn’t matter what one’s view is on homosexuality.”
3. Board Meeting
The PWRDF board will meet in Toronto May 8 – 10. New board members will gather beforehand for an evening of orientation on Wednesday. Key messages from the meeting will be shared by the executive director via teleconference with the diocesan representatives/coordinators on May 15 at 1 p.m. EST. Details on how to call in will be circulated next week.
4. Youth Council
The Youth Council has just returned from a three day meeting in Montreal, offering a chance for the national committee to refine the direction it is taking. Highlights included members Derrick Lovell and Victoria Garrett giving a presentation to four local parish youth group about their experience with the PWRDF delegation to Mexico last year. Also, the new 'Off-the-Grid' resource has been very well received so far, and is being distributed to many groups, including ecumenically. The council is excited to explore the possibility of a youth focused trip with one of PWRDF's partners to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the organization. As well, it is looking forward to developing a network of diocesan youth reps (let us know if you're interested!), and creating resources created for youth for PWRDF's 50th anniversary. The Youth Council reminds young Anglicans about the justfund, $15,000 available annually to help those who want to participate in events relating to justice work. Details can be found at www.justgeneration.ca- check it out!
5. Refugee Network
Would you like to know more about the PWRDF refugee program? Or how we relate to Canada’s policy and advocacy on inland refugee and migration through the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) and the KAIROS Refugee and Migration Working Group? Or the Refugee Network and the sponsorships provided by the dioceses? To find out more, please refer to the information on our website.
6. Celebrating the work of PWRDF
When does your diocese celebrate the work of PWRDF? In the Diocese of Ontario they celebrate a PWRDF Awareness Day on May 4 and a PWRDF Action Day in October.
In the Diocese of Huron, they also celebrate the work of PWRDF on May 4.
7. Fair Trade Weeks May 1 – 15
As an opportunity on how to be more conscientious about the goods we consume, you can check out the following web sites to become more informed. We have also included the link to our own website which has some interesting information:
http://www.pwrdf.org/give/families-for-pwrdf/january-fair-trade
See also, Transfair Canada, Equiterre, (Quebec), Maquila Solidarity Network.
8. Regional Meeting – Glace Bay, NS, May 29- 31, 2008
The first regional meeting to cover the dioceses of Montreal, Quebec, Nova Scotia & PEI, Fredericton, Western Newfoundland, Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador, and Central Newfoundland in the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada will be held at St. Mary’s, Glace Bay, on Cape Breton Island, NS. The theme for the meeting is Indigenous Peoples’ Development Program and Dr. Jose Zarate, development coordinator for the program will be present, as well as Mi’kmaq partners from Cape Breton. For additional information and registration form, please contact ylane@pwrdf.org.
9. Our Work is Your Story
For Lent this year, All Saints Anglican Church, Delta, BC followed our theme “Enough for All: Care for Creation” which they used as a special Lenten project to promote the work of the Diocese of Masasi in Southern Tanzania in encouraging the use of solar ovens for cooking.
What is a solar oven? Its an insulated box with a glass top surrounded by four outward panels. It works by greenhouse effect: light enters through the glass and is absorbed and reflected by the foil-covered walls and infrared radiation. The glass blocks the infrared so the heat stays in the box where it cooks food like a crockpot – slowly but steadily, as long as the sun shines. Meat cooks in four hours; rice and bread are ready in three hours.
Glen Spurrell, development program officer for East Africa, comments on the synergy of this project; the natural environment is preserved; women’s and children’s health is improved; and women have time for other activities. In addition, the health effects of smoke must not be under-estimated because of the incomplete combustion in most cookstoves and the proximity necessary for cooking meals is a deadly combination. Other benefits include not having to trek long distances to find and carry home firewood.
10. Local Heroes
This month we celebrate all parishes who are reaching significant milestones in their age!
One that we are aware of is St. Peter’s, Harbour Grace, E. Newfoundland & Labrador, celebrating their 100th anniversary.
Congratulations to all those parishes who through the dedication of their faith have enabled their parishes to flourish and grow. May God richly bless you in your parish lives.
11. PWRDF Website
Where to find the latest Under the Sun newsletter – check out Resources in the top toolbar, then scroll on the left hand side under newsletters http://www.pwrdf.org/resources/newsletters/ You can find Voices of Hope (VOH), formerly Pew Bulletin Stories, through the link at http://www.pwrdf.org/resources/voh/
