Winter comes to the Middle East
Thousands of Syrian refugees have received heaters, blankets and fuel vouchers from
Tearfund to cope with blizzards that have affected Jordan this week. Five hundred families
benefited from our latest distribution of items to protect people from wintry conditions.
Mother-of-six Hadba, who received help last month, explained why it is so badly needed: ‘The
weather is very cold. There is a lot of damp in the house where we are living. We don’t have
enough blankets, and we only have one heater, but it doesn’t work well. All my children are
sick because they are cold at night, so these items will help us.
‘We came here to Jordan because our house was destroyed. We don’t have anything here.
Syria now is miserable, it is destroyed. We can’t go back there — we are afraid. So we don’t
know what will happen in the future. We would love to go back to our country. I hope we will
get more help. We need so many things.’
Thomas Stocker, Tearfund’s Middle East Response Partners Manager, said, ‘This is a miserable
time of year for the millions of refugees across the region, having to cope with freezing
temperatures, rain and snow on top of all their other problems. We’re relieved that we were
able to equip these vulnerable families before the weather turned.’
You can find out more about Tearfund’s work helping refugees displaced by conflict in the
Middle East here.
Please pray for refugees facing freezing temperatures in the Middle East, and that Tearfund’s
support helps sustain those living in basic conditions.
Vanuatu: one year on
Jacob (pictured here) was smiling and singing when we went to visit him – a far cry from the
desolate man we met nearly a year ago.
Jacob was among the (roughly) 140,000 people who had homes and livelihoods destroyed
when Cyclone Pam smashed into the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu last March. ‘The cyclone
destroyed our houses, gardens and coffee,’ says Jacob, who lives on the island of Tanna. ‘A lot
of farmers lost heart when they saw their coffee plantations completely destroyed.’
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Despite the hardships of the months since the cyclone, Jacob has hope. Thanks to Tearfund
supporters’ generosity, our partners were able to help people like him in the tropical storm’s
aftermath with food, water and shelter. We’ve also been training people in new planting and
cultivating techniques for quick-growing and high-yield food and cash crops, and teaching how
to process peanuts – a good source of new income.
Jacob has built a new home for his family, but Tearfund partner training to help people be
better prepared for disasters has given him new ideas: ‘When there are the resources
available, I will build a cyclone-proof house. I’d like to build a strong community house we can
all go to be safe during the next cyclone.’
Please pray for a strong and lasting recovery for Jacob and his fellow islanders.
Drought in Ethiopia
The earth in Ethiopia’s Fentale District is growing increasingly brown, parched and lifeless.
That’s grim news for tens of thousands of the local population who rely on it to feed their
sheep and goats, and grow their crops.
The failure of main and short season rains last year – combined with the impact of El Niño –
means that today 84,000 people in Fentale are suffering serious food shortages. More than
20,000 animals have died as a result, while water supplies and pasture have also been hit.
Many pastoralists have resorted to selling their animals to buy food, while others have
migrated to new areas seeking water and good grazing.
Tearfund is preparing to supply more than 68,000 people with a month of emergency rations.
Tearfund partner, the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church, is to distribute supplies of maize, beans,
vegetable oil and nutritionally-enriched flour. This will mean a family of five will receive 75kg
of maize, 7.5kg of beans, 2.5 litres of cooking oil and supplements: enough to provide 2,200
calories per person per day.
Climatic changes underpin the food crisis facing Ethiopia and urgent action is needed to
prevent a major disaster. ‘Since June 2015, Ethiopia has been affected by its worst drought in
30-50 years. Erratic rains and El Niño have resulted in two failed harvests, resulting in 10
million Ethiopians now requiring food assistance,’ says Tearfund country representative Keith
Etherington. ‘That number is expected to rise to 15 million in the next few months.
‘That’s why we are working with the authorities to distribute food and also maize and bean
seeds in preparation for the upcoming Belg rains. There’ll be enough seeds for 2,000
households to plant half a hectare each. We want to do what we can now to help prevent even
greater hunger later in the year.’
Please pray.
God of creation, we pray for all those facing drought in Ethiopia. Bless them with rains, and
swift recovery. We pray too for all communities already suffering the effects of climate
change. Help us to do all we can to fight this injustice. Amen.
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29 January 2016 One Voice weekly prayer email
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