August 13, 2003

Liberian bishop seeks peace, relief for country in need

By United Methodist News Service

International peacekeepers are beginning to arrive in Liberia, but the United Methodist bishop there says his country still desperately needs relief.

"People are starving. Children are dying. Medication is not available," Bishop John Innis said, communicating from Worcester, Mass., shortly after arriving in the United States Aug. 4. The Liberian bishop has been living in exile in Ghana for safety reasons, as violence in his West African homeland has escalated. The pastors and lay people of the church in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, and Buchanan City have been without food for weeks, the bishop said.

"How to get funds to Monrovia is very difficult," said the bishop, who is also acting president of the Liberia Council of Churches. "I hope with the peacekeepers moving into Monrovia, there can be ways to get money to my family and our suffering pastors and lay people."

The bishop visited the United States to seek aid from United Methodists. He had originally hoped to return home from Ghana, but a close adviser in Monrovia urged him to seek humanitarian aid from his denomination in the United States.

Catastrophic humanitarian problem

"This is to inform you that the current fighting in Monrovia has caused a catastrophic humanitarian problem," the Rev. John S.M. Russell wrote to the bishop July 29. "Scores of civilians are dying daily. Homes are being looted and destroyed. Thousands of persons are being uprooted from their homes and are being displaced in churches, schools, orphanages and other areas."

The people of Monrovia are experiencing an acute shortage of food, water, medicine and fuel in and around the city, Russell said. In addition, outbreaks of diarrhea, cholera and other diseases have claimed many lives, he added.

Innis left a nephew in charge at the episcopal residence, where 17 people are living. The nephew has said they are out of food and have no way to get more.

While in Ghana, Innis continued working for peace.

"I briefly met with the president of Ghana, appealing to him to make every effort to ensure that there is peace in Liberia." Innis explained. "Peace in Liberia means peace in the whole of the West African region." He noted that the Ghanaian president is the current chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, which is providing peacekeepers to Liberia.

A seven-member team of U.S. Marines landed in Monrovia Aug. 6 to provide support to the West African peacekeepers, who began arriving a few days earlier.

In Ghana, the bishop also met with representatives of the government and of two rebel groups fighting against Liberian President Charles Taylor's government. Taylor, a former warlord, has been indicted for war crimes by a United Nations-backed tribunal.

UMCOR responding

Meanwhile, the United Methodist Committee on Relief has been responding to the need for humanitarian aid. The agency, part of the church's General Board of Global Ministries in New York, also wants to support work in Liberia by two ecumenical partners: Church World Service and the Action by Churches Together, said the Rev. Paul Dirdak, who heads UMCOR.

UMCOR already has contributed to Church World Service airlifts into Liberia, and it is packing a container of supplies at its Louisiana warehouse for shipment. Dirdak is raising funds to support an outpatient clinic for the next three years, following the destruction of the church's Ganta Hospital. He said UMCOR also hopes to open a maternity clinic at the site.

UMCOR's foreign staff in Liberia, which had evacuated the country, is ready to go back in with staff of the U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Dirdak said. Both groups are waiting in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Dirdak cited Sierra Leone as an example of a country where peace efforts are working in the wake of civil war.

"The peace process has worked very well in Sierra Leone," Dirdak said. "As soon as the British made a very modest contribution of support to the United Nations forces in Sierra Leone, things in Sierra Leone started getting better right away, and they've never stopped getting better.

"That kind of intervention from a closely related outside nation has been proven to work in a number of cases - and worked very effectively," he said. He supports a similar intervention in Liberia by the United States.

Contributions to the relief effort may be designated for UMCOR's Liberia Emergency, Advance #150300, and placed in church offering plates or sent to UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Credit-card donors can go online to http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/Liberia.stm or call 800-554-8583.

Volunteers needed to help July flood survivors

By Hoosier United Methodist News

Volunteers are still needed to help survivors affected by the July 4-11 week floods, according to the Rev. Paul Wohlford, North Indiana Conference Relief coordinator.

"We still have homes in Kokomo that have not had water and debris removed from basements. I need groups as small as two to whole churches to help. If you are willing to help let me know," said Wohlford.

The clean up is ending at most sites, he said. Kokomo relief work should be finished by next week. Wohlford said he is in need of groups to drywall and other carpenter jobs." If you can help call Wohlford at 765-860-2949 on his cell phone and at 765-644-6442 or 644-2721,or by email at paul@wohlford.net.

Wohlford said: "Last night a local pastor called me to see what help we [conference] could provide. His church has a budget of a little more than $20,000 and the estimate for repairs from the flood was $37,000.

"We still need money, lots of it," he said, "but we need YOU!"

Send contributions to North Indiana Conference of The United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 869, Marion, IN 46952. Make checks payable to North Indiana Conference" with a memo to "Flood Relief."

UMCOR training dates set for Aug. 20 and 21

UMCOR has set the following sites and times for the two separate Case Management Training to be held in North Indiana Conference on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at the Kokomo Sports Center, 111 W. Southway Blvd. (just west of St. Luke's west of US 31 Bypass) and Thursday, Aug. 21 at First Christian Church, 4800 S. Calhoun, Fort Wayne. Training at both sites begins at 9 a.m. and end at 5:30 p.m. with a working lunch included.

This will be a power point presentation by Barbara Tripp, case manager of the North Carolina floods following Hurricane Floyd. The class will cover:

Why do case work,
General description of role,
Interviewing,
Developing a recovery plan with a client,
Record keeping, and
General disaster information.

Participants will receive a copy of the UMCOR Case Management manual. This training also is good for any type of case work, including those who might have an emergency outreach ministry. Reservations at the door.

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