123 Somewhere Street, Anywhere, Ontario
Dear Mary Smith, Too many people close their eyes when disaster strikes somewhere in the world. They change the channel, toss out the paper, or surf to a different page. It’s not necessarily that they don’t care. It’s just that they’re overwhelmed by a feeling that they can’t do anything to help – and so they turn away. Not you. If flood washes away crops, or drought dries up the land, or war and conflict terrorize the innocent, you don’t turn the channel: you turn toward disaster, and stand shoulder to shoulder with people you’ve never met, and probably never will. You’re someone others can count on. You are someone answering Jesus’ call to care for the poor. Because of that you’ve made a difference for people affected by disaster around the world. But there are two very serious disasters happening right now in Africa. And that’s why I turn to you today. Hunger is holding an estimated 20 million people captive in East Africa. There’s been no rain. It’s as if the land was squeezed dry. CRWRC has helped feed 69,000 Kenyans in the last six months using donations to our Canadian Foodgrains Bank account and with a generous donation from the United Church of Canada. But a reduction in funding has forced CRWRC to cut its food aid by one third. This means that people who depend on CRWRC for food will lose the equivalent of one meal a day. Please give as generously as your current situation allows to ensure that every one of those 69,000 people continues receiving the food they so desperately need to survive. The Canadian government will match your donation to help make that possible. Amid the hunger in East Africa there is hope: the short rain season has begun in East Africa. This means that Kenyan farmers are now planting crops in anticipation of a January harvest. Please pray the land is healed by the rains and made fertile again. Close by, thousands of people in the south of Sudan are on the move. Over 300,000 people have returned to Southern Sudan from neighbouring countries since the north and the south Sudanese regions signed a peace agreement after 23 years of civil war. Southern Sudan, unlike Kenya, is rich and fertile, particularly along the Ugandan border; God has planted hope right there in the ground. Unfortunately, most of those returning home have lost the farming knowledge of previous generations, and have no tools, seeds, or equipment to begin farming. Without the knowhow and the tools, all that fertile land may as well be as dry as the land in Kenya.
Southern Sudan, unlike many CRWRC disaster response projects including Darfur, is not using any money from our Canadian Foodgrains Bank account. That’s because the needs in Southern Sudan go beyond just food: after years of civil war, communities need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Your gift – whether it’s prayer or financial donation – will mean so much to people in Kenya and Southern Sudan. Thank you for your ongoing support that enables CRWRC to serve as living witness of God’s compassion.
In His service, Ida KaastraMutoigo, CRWRC director
P.S. Please mark your cheques “East Africa Drought 2009” or “Southern Sudan”. You can also phone in your gift at 18007303490 and ask for Chinyere. Or if it’s easiest, you can make a donation via our website at www.crwrc.org.