Welcome to Update
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund
Email Update – March 2015
Mission Statement
As an instrument of faith, PWRDF connects Anglicans in Canada to communities around the
world in dynamic partnerships to advance development, respond to emergencies, assist
refugees and act for positive change.
This list is an outgoing communication service from PWRDF only.
PWRDF Announces $20,000 for Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam
The Importance of Midwives
Care for Refugee Children in Egypt
Growing Food, Caring for Creation
Anglican Alliance Director Strengthens Partnerships at ‘Lunch and Learn’
ACT Member CASM Receives Alliance's 2015 Climate Award
Climate Change Behind Brutal Winter, Says Christian Scientist
Earth Day Resources
PWRDF News:
Sharing Bread - Cuba
PWRDF Announces $20,000 for Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam
ACT Alliance is a coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organisations working together in over 140
countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people. PWRDF is a
member of the ACT Alliance.
PWRDF has announced an initial grant of $20,000 in relief funds for Vanuatu after Cyclone Pam tore
through the country this weekend. Entire villages were destroyed by the storm. According to a BBC
article, “President Baldwin Lonsdale said the storm had “wiped out” all development of recent years
and….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2015/pwrdf-announces-20000-for-vanuatu-after-cyclone-pam/
The Importance of Midwives
By Simon Chambers
Lucky Begum rode 1.5km in a van ambulance like this out to the main road when she was in labour and headed to
the hospital. Photo: UBINIG
Lucky Begum was 20 years old and three months pregnant when she first learned about the dai
ghor (midwives’ house) in her village of Mothpara village in Kushtia district, Bangladesh. At the
time of her first visit, her blood pressure was low and she weighed just 38kg. The dai (midwife)
recognized that Lucky was very weak and suffering from malnutrition. Lucky visited the dai ghor
regularly….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2015/the-importance-of-midwives/
Care for Refugee Children in Egypt
By Simon Chambers
A refugee child being weighed at the Well Child Clinic in Cairo. Photo:
Refuge Egypt
Cairo, Egypt is one of the largest urban refugee centres in the world. Over 255,000 refugees call Cairo
home. Unlike refugee camps like Kakuma or Dadaab in Kenya, refugees in Cairo are not all congregated
in one place, but live as they can throughout the city.
In the last few years, the Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees who were the bulk of Cairo’s refugee
population have been joined by tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the violence in their home.
Since 1987, Refuge Egypt, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt based in All Saints’ Cathedral in
Zamalek, Cairo has….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2015/care-for-refugee-children-in-egypt/
Growing Food, Caring for Creation
By Leigh Anne Williams
“The relationship God expects Christians to have with the land and creation is [more like] partner and participant,”
says professor-farmer Jerremie Clyde. Photo: Contributed
(This story first appeared in the February issue of the Anglican Journal)
Jerremie Clyde has a passion for food—for growing it in a way that is healthy for the people who eat it,
for the planet and for a just sharing of God-given bounty. Clyde, who is a librarian and professor at the
University of Calgary, said that he and his wife, Rita, a speech pathologist, were already big into
gardening and were selling produce at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Farmers’ Market in Calgary, when Rita
read Barbara Kingsolver’s book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and then books by American journalist and
activist Michael Pollan. Those writers led them to think more about the effects of pesticides and
fertilizers used in industrial farming, not to mention the greenhouse….read more:
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/everyday-saints
Anglican Alliance Director Strengthens Partnerships at ‘Lunch and Learn’
MATT GARDNER
The Rev. Rachel Carnegie, co-director of the Anglican Alliance, speaks to Church House staff members.
The co-director of the Anglican Alliance stopped by Church House on Friday, Feb. 20 for a visit that
highlighted ongoing work of the Alliance as well as how the Anglican Church of Canada might continue
to build and strengthen effective partnerships. The Rev. Rachel Carnegie, named as joint executive
director in 2013, spoke with Church House staff members as part of a “lunch and learn” event
discussing the Alliance, which was established in 2011 to bring….read more:
http://www.anglican.ca/news/anglican-alliance-director-strengthens-partnerships-at-lunch-andlearn/3004166/
ACT member CASM Receives Alliance's 2015 Climate Award
ACT Alliance is a coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organisations working together in over 140
countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized people. PWRDF is a
member of the ACT Alliance.
Members of the community now use fuel efficient wood cooking stoves, reducing deforestation and saving around
4,200 trees per year. Photo: ACT/CASM
ACT member 'The Mennonite Social Action Committee (CASM)' in Honduras has won the 2015
ACT Alliance Climate Change Best Practice Award for its programme to reduce environmental
and social vulnerability as drought led to corn and bean crop failures of 40-60% in areas.
2014 Drought
The country's 2014 drought’s knock-on effect saw steep rises in costs for basic grains, and with
fewer families….read more: http://www.actalliance.org/stories/act-member-casm-receivesalliances-2015-climate-award
Climate Change Behind Brutal Winter, Says Christian Scientist
By Debra Fieguth
Debra Fieguth is a journalist living in Kingston Ontario and a former member of PWRDF’s Board of Directors
Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist and devout
Evangelical Christian, has been on a mission to convert climate change deniers. Photo: Mark Hauser
In a winter when much of Canada has endured frigid temperatures and heavy snowfall, it may
be hard for some to take climate change seriously. But the deep freeze many of us have
experienced this winter, said renowned climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, is actually
connected to the overall warming of the planet. “Massive snows are a symptom of climate
change. A warmer planet increases the risk of heavy snowfall too,” Hayhoe told about 140
people who gathered on Feb. 19 to hear her speak at St. George’s Cathedral….read more:
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/-climate-change-behind-brutal-winter-says-christian-
scientist?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=ffdff27259Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&u
Earth Day Resources
Earth Day is celebrated on April 22
Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies
working together to end global hunger. PWRDF is a member of CFGB.
Earth Day points us back to the Creator in our work and worship. The resources in the Creation
Covenant package will call your church into a time of praise and thanksgiving, and also invite your
worshipping community to respond with ways to be good stewards of the earth. The covenant we have
with….read more: http://foodgrainsbank.ca/product/earth-day-2015-creation-covenant/
http://www.earthday.ca/
PWRDF News
Sharing Bread – Cuba
Sheilagh McGlynn and Suzanne Rumsey are leading a PWRDF delegation to Cuba, March 14-March 21,
for the second half of PWRDF’s food security learning exchange, “Sharing Bread” that began in Sorrento,
B.C. last summer.
The delegation includes:
Tessa Dudley – Youth Council, Vancouver, B.C.
Peter Goodwin – Diocesan Representative, North Vancouver, B.C.
Frances Stewart – Diocesan Representative, Dauphin, MB
Don Dewar – Grain farmer, Dauphin, MB
Rosemary Parker – Youth Council, London, ON
Greg Smith – Diocesan Representative, London, ON
Valerie Maier – Diocesan Representative, Ottawa, ON
Jordan Waterbury – Youth Council, Kentville, NS
Chris Pharo – Diocesan Representative, Kentville, NS
The delegation will be spend time with PWRDFpartners, the Episcopal Church in Cuba and the
Sustainable Development Program of the Cuban Council of Churches, looking at their food security
projects and meeting with the participants in their training programs.