Skip to main content

Twenty Villages Washed Away

“Severe Flooding in Karonga, Malawi”, according to Action by Churches Together International (ACT)—an information network serving the humanitarian community. Twenty African villages near where CitiHope delivers food and medicine, have been washed away by the January floods. Here’s the story:

Geneva, 26 January 2007 - Flash floods have left thousands of people homeless and crops washed away in the Karonga district, about 300 km north of the capital Lilongwe, Malawi. According to KarongaDistrict Commissioner, more than 20 villages have been completely flattened by the floods.

In Karonga-Nyungwe, an area where ACT member Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP)Development Department of Synod of Livingstonia is present, more than 400 mm to 500 mm of rain fell for 10 hours non-stop from 22 to 23 January. Rains started at around 9a.m. from the eastern side to 1p.m. on 22 January. This was followed by a second phase of heavy downfall from the western side of the area, the Nyika highlands, causing the highlands to release a heavy flush of water flowing at avery high speed towards the affected villages. The flash floods have destroyed crops, houses,bridges and livestock.

A preliminary assessment by the ACT member in the affected villages in the area - Mchekacheka, Kaswera 1 and 2, Mlongoti, Mdoka, Maulunge and Masoyafwire - revealed that those whose houses have been destroyed are now homeless and have lost all their property including food, kitchen utensils,clothes and blankets. According to the assessment, the floods have destroyed approximately 77 hectares of maize fields.

The floods have also severely damaged rice and cassava fields. Households in Mchekacheka, forexample, have lost livestock such as chickens, pigs and cattle. It was difficult to have exact figures from other villages as roads linking to those villages are not functioning due to broken bridges caused by the floods. To date, affected families have not received any assistance apart from their neighbors helping them evacuate.

CCAP Development Department of Synod of Livingstonia intends to accompany the affected families in this time through the provision of food, inputs to replace the lost crops, shelter and kitchen utensils. CCAP Development Department of Synod of Livingstonia is further assessing the needs following the flood and has indicated that a Rapid Response Fund request may be submitted within the next few days.

Popular posts from this blog

Mother Shalom

South Central, Los Angeles, was the neighborhood in the city where Communities of Shalom began in 1992. I met Marx Gutierrez from El Salvador who was there attending High School at the time. He remembers what happened at the corner of Florence and Normandy Streets in South Central, LA, when Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck and beaten while the crowd looked on and the police did nothing; and how the Rodney King beating resulted in a not-guilty verdict for the police and resulted in a major, 3-day uprising in the neighborhood, until the National Guard came in and finally imposed law and order. He can still remember the fires, the bright orange night sky, the mass looting, 45 unsolved killings, the social chaos...And how the United Methodist Churches responded by creating a zone of shalom in 7 neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Today, Marx is a community organizer, and married to Jennifer Gutierrez, Conference Shalom Coordinator in the Calif-Pacific Annual Conference, and Rev. Vilma

First Generation Lambs Club Reunion

Fifteen of us gathered Saturday night at the Lambs Club for a 35 th year reunion of those who helped start the Lamb’s Church in Times Square in the mid to late 1970’s, including: Rev. Paul S. Moore , Founder of the Lamb’s Church of the Nazarene, and his wife, Tamara Dr. Michael J. Christensen , charter member and former associate pastor, and his wife Dr. Rebecca Laird Fr. William (BJ) Webe r, former Associate Pastor and Director of the Lamb’s Residency, and his wife Sheila who lived at the Lamb’s Jim and Dustee Hullinger, who were on staff together and made the Lamb’s their home for over 25 years Effie Canepa , who was the church pianist under 3 pastors, and her husband Peter Shirley Close, who attended the Lamb’s in the late 1970’s while studying, performing  and teaching music and voice Carl "Chappy" Valente , former associate pastor Rev. Bob DiQuatto , lead singer of the Church’s “Manhattan Project” and staff member of the Lamb’s, and his son Jason Rev. Gabriel

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue

Liberation Spirituality: Henri Nouwen and Gustavo Gutierrez in Dialogue Lecture Notes: Presented by Michael J. Christensen, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor in the Practice of Spirituality and Ministry,  Drew University;  and  International Director, Communities of Shalom, The United Methodist Church Introduction “There is a little man in Peru, a man without any power, who lives in a barrio with poor people and who wrote a book.   In this book he simply reclaimed the basic Christian truth that God became human to bring good news to the poor, new light to the blind, and liberty to the captives.   Then years later this book and movement it started is considered a danger by [the USA, or Rome], the greatest power on earth.   When I look at this little man, Gustavo, and think about [the President of the US, or the Pope], I see David standing before Goliath, again with no more weapon than a little stone, a stone called A Theology of Liberation (Henri Nouwen