December Mission Moment

         We are a Church that Responds

          Lutheran Disaster Response – International is committing $1 million to Lutheran World Relief to collaboratively address the needs of the people impacted by Super Typhoon Haiyan.  

Early Nov. 8, 2013, one of the world’s most powerful storms on record, Super Typhoon Haiyan, swept through the Philippines’ Eastern Visayas Region. Several of the areas impacted by Haiyan include communities with high levels of poverty and regions still recovering from the Oct. 15 7.2-magnitude earthquake.

Approximately 9.5 million people have been impacted by the storm, and local officials estimate that up to 10,000 people have died in the Leyte Province city of Tacloban alone.

Lutheran Disaster Response – International is working with ACT Alliance partners—Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Philippines ACT Forum Coordinator, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP)—to coordinate response plans. The LWR Philippines office in Mindanao is in communication with other ministry partners, non-governmental organizations, the United Nations and local government officials.

LWR is responding. Here’s what LWR is doing with your generosity:

Shelter: The typhoon damaged at least 244,000 houses. LWR will help families rebuild by supplying the tools and materials needed to get them back into their homes as soon as possible. The shelter repair kits include plywood, lumber, corrugated metal sheeting, nails and other tools. To the extent possible, materials are procured locally, thereby stimulating the local economy.
Clean water: LWR will provide high-capacity water filters to ensure communities have access to safe drinking water. These refillable water tanks hold 45 liters of water (about 12 gallons) and can filter 12 liters per hour.
Debris removal: In a disaster of this scale, many people have also lost their means of livelihood. Farmers have lost crops and livestock; merchants have lost their inventory. In order to provide a source of income, and simultaneously clean up public areas, LWR will offer a cash-for-work program, in which participants are paid a daily wage for removing storm debris from schools, parks and other public spaces. These short-term work opportunities give families the cash they need to buy food or other necessities, while performing a much-needed service to their ravaged communities.
Distribution of essential household items: When people have lost everything, they have to rebuild from scratch. Organizations such as the World Food Programme and others ensure that people have food. LWR is making sure people can cook that food for their families. LWR will distribute baskets of kitchen supplies including pots, pans and utensils. To the extent possible, materials are procured locally.
LWR Quilts and Kits: LWR is shipping Personal Care Kits, Baby Care Kits, School Kits and Quilts, which will be distributed to more than 26,000 families.

LWR will be responding in areas hard-hit by the Super Typhoon Haiyan, outside the reach of other relief agencies. LWR’s work will be focused in five municipalities in western Leyte Province and three municipalities in northern Cebu Province.

LWR’s response will not end when these efforts are complete. LWR has been working in the Philippines for more than 25 years and their experience tells them that it will take at least two years for the affected communities to fully recover. When immediate needs have been met, LWR will continue our work to help families who lost their means of livelihood begin earning a living again.

Lutheran World Relief’s skills, competencies and capacity with local organizations in the Philippines make them a trusted partner for Lutheran Disaster Response – International to coordinate with for long-term recovery and rebuilding in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan.

Lutheran Disaster Response – International will also respond within the capacity of our companion church, the Lutheran Church in the Philippines, and in coordination with LWF.

We, as the ELCA, are committed to working through these partners. Their on-the-ground presence will best steward our resources so that our brothers and sisters in the Philippines can be assisted both now and through long-term recovery.

Thank you for your generosity toward the ELCA- we could not make these relief efforts happen without those gifts and without you! Thank you!

We cannot be quiet about what we have seen and heard. Acts 4:20

Christine Donahue

TLGCS ELCA Mission Interpreter Coordinator

November Mission Moment

Lutheran Schools Fill the Gap

Many children in the Central African Republic have no school to attend. But thousands of students can now attend a “Village School” started by the Lutheran church in that country – and supported in part by Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) members.

Susan Smith, an ELCA missionary serving with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Central African Republic as an adviser to the Village School Program, says there are now 20 primary schools in areas where there aren’t any government schools. The program supports the schools and teachers by helping create parent organizations, visiting classrooms to give teachers feedback, and providing quarterly exams.

As in any school, parental involvement is important, but in these schools it is the lifeblood. “Parents pay half of the teachers’ salaries and the Village School Program pays the rest,” says Smith. “Parents are also responsible for building temporary classrooms, which have wooden supports and a straw roof.” The goal is to eventually have permanent buildings. And while the ELCA funds much of the construction of the building, parents are responsible for collecting stones and sand and making mud bricks, Smith says.

Today, thanks to ELCA member contributions, the Village School Program educates over 3,000 students, and, Smith adds, “The schools often have a better reputation for quality than the nearby government schools.”

Your gifts to our ELCA fund missionaries like Susan Smith as they work hand in hand with our neighbors around the world. Thank you! As a companion synod to the Lutheran church in the Central African Republic, you are helping to change these children’s lives.

Learn more about ELCA Global Church Sponsorship at www.ELCA.org/globalchurch.

Christine Donahue
TLGCS Mission Interpreter Coordinator
cedonahue@gmail.com

October Mission Moment

Life Changing Care

Eleven-year-old Ratna Mannan was studying at home when the accident happened that would change her life.

As she worked by candlelight, her linen dress caught fire and nearly 90 percent of her body sustained burns.

Her father was a day laborer and the family did not have much money for medical treatment. Ratna was taken to a nearby hospital where she was treated for several months.

As she grew over the years, though, her scars became tight, and her movement became constricted. She underwent operations over the years at a number of hospitals to alleviate her suffering.

Then finally, at the age of 21, she was admitted to Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh, a hospital that specializes in maternal and children’s health funded in part by the generous gifts ELCA members make to ELCA ministries through their Sunday offerings.

Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh is a program designed to not only meet the immediate health-care needs of women like Ratna, but to sustainably improve the health and living conditions for women and children in the southern part of the country through education and development.

The program includes medical outreach to women who may not otherwise receive health care. It has a mobile clinic that visits rural areas of the country five days a week and soon will begin conducting training seminars aimed to teach especially women not just about personal health care, but about how to build a better future for themselves through working for human rights, gender equality and sustainable income generation.

“Bangladesh is a country where poverty particularly affects women and children, increasing risks to their health and wellbeing. I am grateful for ELCA members paying attention to this reality by allowing us to support Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh,” says Franklin Ishida, who coordinates the ELCA’s involvement in Bangladesh. “In accompaniment with Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh, the ELCA is indeed reaching out to provide for safe and appropriate health care for women and children.”

For people like Ratna, who has now had four surgeries to relieve the constriction caused by her scarring as well as reconstructive operations, Lutheran Health Care Bangladesh is the gateway to a better, healthier life. Ratna will remain at the hospital until her treatments are completed. Her procedures and meals will be paid for until she is ready to return home.

This story would not be possible without your generous gifts. Thank you! You are making a difference in this world- you are changing lives. God’s work. Our hands.

We cannot be quiet about what we have seen and heard! Acts 4:20

Christine Donahue
TLGCS Mission Interpreter Coordinator

cedonahue@gmail.com

A congregation responds to OK tornadoes

In August, our very own Pastor Barbara Simmers from Peace Lutheran in Slidell led a group on a good will mission trip by van to Oklahoma in response to the Tornadoes. They had made solid contacts and intended to work in the communities around Shawnee, OK that were hit the day BEFORE the widely publicized Moore, OK. Most of the families hit in these other areas are impoverished and without insurance.

This group of ten people traveled to Shawnee, Oklahoma, which included three teens, two pastors, a couple of senior citizens and middle-aged folks.

They worked together with Debra Big Eagle, who's outreach was helping out the local children affected by the tornadoes with $5 gift cards and schools supplies. Debra shares that 552 homes were affected in her county, with 91 homes destroyed in nearby Steelman Estates, an impoverished mobile home park. 

Although the group may have been small, they were greatly supported by others. Together with them they brought 125 book bags each filled with the following items:

• 3 spiral notebooks
• 1 ruler
• 1 box of gobsters, runts, bottle caps, etc.
• 1 glue stick
• 1 Terragona pencil & 2 No. 2 pencils
• 1 small Kleenex package
• 1 24-box of colors
• 1 pack of markers
• 1 pair of scissors
• $5 Walmart gift card
• 1 assignment pad
• 3 books - new story book classics on the 8-12 year reading level
• 1 pair of Mardi Gras beads

All the goods for the book bags and school supplies came from a variety of sources supporting this project including:

• Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

Congregations:

• Peace in Slidell
• Christ the King in Kenner
• St. Mark's in Metairie
• Hosanna in Mandeville
• St. Paul in Baton Rouge

Community Groups:

• Lions Club - Pearl River
• VFW - Pearl river
• St. Joseph Hospice
• Canon Hospice
• Where Y'At Senior Citizen Group
• Whispering Forest Elementary in Slidell

And of course, the amazing support of the members of Peace Lutheran in Slidell.

September Mission Moment

Imagine having to walk seven to ten miles every day – just to attend school. It’s a long, hot journey and you are worried about your family who need help back at home. But you know that an education is the best way to secure a better future.

Having to choose between supporting their family or an education is a real challenge faced by thousands of girls in the rural areas of Malawi- one of the poorest countries in Africa.

But thanks in part to your support many girls are no longer faced with this obstacle.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi is not only one of the fastest growing Lutheran churches in the world, but it’s also a trusted leader in providing some of the most basic human needs. In addition to spreading the message of God’s unconditional love, the church is often the place where the community turns for health care, food and even education.

With help from you through the ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi started a primary education program. This program turned church buildings in remote areas into classrooms. While the community uses the building for worship on Sundays, students occupy the building during the week. Children no longer need to make the tough decision of dropping out of school or walking miles to receive an education. They can study right in the community.

We are a church that believes God is calling us into the world- together. Through your weekly offering to your congregation and your gifts to ELCA Vision for Mission, your help strengthens our church’s commitment to love and serve God’s people, around the corner and around the world.

Together, we are helping open doors to new ministries, revitalizing existing congregations, sharing the gospel with others and growing the church for the sake of the world. We accomplish more together than we could ever do otherwise.

Thank you for your partnership – both prayerfully and financially – in transforming lives.

We cannot keep silent about what we have seen and heard! Acts 4:20

Christine Donahue
TLGCS Mission Interpreter Coordinator
cedonahue@gmail.com