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The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund

Newsletter - January 2012

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 Receives Maternal Health Funding  PWRDF Responds to Tropical Storm Washi  Farmers’ Markets and Patio Gardens in Cuba  Hope for the Future in Haiti  Expectant Mothers’ Houses – Mozambique  Fast for Change – Canadian Foodgrains Bank  Canadian Foodgrains Bank Youth Study Tour to Nicaragua Reflections:  In Loving Memory – Tim Grew Staff Comings and Goings:  Zaida Bastos – Bangladesh  Jeannethe Lara – South Africa  José Zárate and Simon Chambers - Mexico  Sheilagh McGlynn – 50 Leaders

PWRDF Receives Maternal Health Funding Journal staff

Midwives learning about traditional herbs. Photo: Zaida Bastos The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) will be contributing $452,147 to PWRDF’s maternal and child health work in Bangladesh. The funding will be received over three years as part of the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. “We are very pleased to be able to continue our decades-long relationship with CIDA,” says Zaida Bastos, CIDA program coordinator for The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF). The program will train 650 midwives who will work with 63,000 mothers and 94,500 children under the age of 5 in 130 villages in Bangladesh. The midwives will provide education as well as pre- and post- natal care. “These villages currently do not have health clinics or trained health workers,” Bastos explains. “Trained midwives who can provide education about health issues as well as access to basic health care will help to save the lives of mothers and children in the villages.” PWRDF will work with long-term partner UBINIG to implement this program. UBINIG is the Bangla acronym for Policy Research for Development Alternative, which is responsible for setting up one of the biggest community seed banks in the world. Farida Akhtar, one of the founders of UBINIG, is executive director of UBINIG and a former member of the PWRDF Board of Directors. For more information, go to: pwrdf.org/2011/pwrdf-receives-government-of-canada-funding-for-maternal-and-child-health-project- in-bangladesh/

PWRDF Responds to Tropical Storm Washi Simon Chambers PWRDF, as a member of the ACT Alliance, is responding to the destruction caused by Tropical Storm Washi in the Philippines. ACT member organizations in the Philippines are assessing damage by the storm, which hit northern Mindanao. Washi caught thousands of people unaware as they slept, as the course of the storm followed a more southerly trajectory than most….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2011/pwrdf-responds-to-tropical-storm- washi/

Farmers’ Markets and Patio Gardens in Cuba November 9, 2010 Martin Luther King Day is observed on the third Monday of January. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation and his struggles for racial equality in the United States. It seems appropriate to look back at a PWRDF partner story from 2010 about an organization that exemplifies the spirit of Martin Luther King and that bears his name. The Rev. Raul Suárez, founder and director of the Martin Luther King (MLK) Centre in Cuba, is a man who speaks passionately about community, spirituality, economics, and ecumenism. Suárez recently visited the offices of the Anglican Church of Canada, where he talked….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2010/farmers-markets-and-patio-gardens-in-cuba-1320683257/ Hope for the Future in Haiti Simon Chambers Building a new church in St. Matthieu. Photo: Simon Chambers

David Korpela was Finn Church Aid’s country representative in Haiti from a week after the January 2010 earthquake until the end of November, 2011. When asked how he was able to keep going in the face of all the difficulties that have faced the nation in that time: the earthquake, hurricane Tomas, cholera, etc. he replied, “It is about having hope.” PWRDF will be working with Finn Church Aid and other members ….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2012/hope-for-th-future-in-haiti/ Expectant Mothers’ Houses – Mozambique Christine Hills Zaida Bastos, PWRDF CIDA Program Coordinator, visited Mozambique recently and interviewed Mariamo Canhunha a birth attendant who took part in PWRDF’s health promotion training through PWRDF partner SALAMA. Men and women from fifty-seven villages took part in the trainings that were aimed at communities that lacked health services and education. The curriculum was designed in collaboration with the District Health Department and nurses and trainers from this department provided oversight during the sessions. Mariamo talked to Zaida about the Expectant Mothers’ Houses Program and her job as a traditional birth attendant. She had just arrived having accompanied a client to the Expectant Mothers’ house next to the clinic in Malema.

Before, I would deliver the babies in the homes of clients. I did not know that I needed to boil water and have clean, disinfected instruments like soap, gauze and alcohol and all the other things that one needs to prepare for a safe delivery. I learned the profession from my mother who had learned from her mother. The training that SALAMA (Associação de Saúde Comunitária) gave me opened my eyes. I still care for my patients, but I give them advice that they need to go to the hospital for the delivery. They need to visit the clinic before and after the delivery to make sure that everything is fine. They need to have a good diet to be strong and healthy and to deliver healthy babies. Before, pregnant women could not eat eggs, rabbit meat and other foods. The tradition did not accept that. Now people are accepting that a pregnant woman can eat many things. They are eating eggs, rabbit and fish. Everything! Sometimes a client cannot come to the hospital because everything goes too fast. When it happens and I have to deliver a baby, I know how to take all precautions to prevent infections of the baby and the mother. I have a kit with soap, rubbing alcohol, disposable gloves, scissors, gauze, cotton, a couple of clean towels and I boil and disinfect with rubbing alcohol all instruments that I use during the delivery. I also make sure that within a day or two after delivery, the mother and baby can see the nurse at the clinic. The bicycle ambulances help us a lot because we can transport the mother and the baby to the clinic.

Fast for Change – CFGB Hunger in a world of abundance is unacceptable. A billion people are chronically malnourished. The coexistence of abundance and poverty implies change is necessary. As Christians, we are called to create change through prayer and action. To fast means to hold firm to an observance. Will you hold firm with us? Fast & Pray Gather with others and fast or give something up, however you can, in ways that fit with your personal health, and reflect on the issues of hunger and injustice. Show your support! Sign on to Fast for Change and order free materials to create your own event! You can also fast from other things - whether they are connected to injustice or activities you need to let go of for a short time to focus on God. Who knows? Some of your actions may lead to new and improved habits that add to quality of life! Fast & Give However you fast, you can connect this with a donation to Canadian Foodgrains Bank. You could, for example, decide as a group you will give up coffee or chocolate or some other item of comfort and share the value of this in solidarity with people affected by hunger. Fast & Advocate Act in solidarity with people who experience hunger by changing the rules. Join Canadian Foodgrains Bank's advocacy campaign. Gather people together to write personal letters to you Members of Parliament that help to change policies on behalf of those who are affected by hunger. There are many biblical examples of how people who spoke out held some kind of spiritual observance in connection with their message.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank Youth Study Tour to Nicaragua Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 churches and church agencies working together to end global hunger. PWRDF is a CFGB partner. Are you between the ages of 18 and 25? Are you passionate about ending hunger around the world? Are you interested in putting your faith in action? Do you want to learn more about the causes of hunger and poverty? Do you want to meet people who are working for a better future? Canadian Foodgrains Bank is excited to announce that it is accepting applications for a Youth Study Tour to Nicaragua in May, 2012. Read more: http://www.foodgrainsbank.ca/upcoming_food_study_tours.aspx

Reflections: In Loving Memory – Tim Grew Timothy A. Grew was born in Saskatchewan in 1939 and was raised in Ottawa and King City. He earned degrees in Theology and education and held many positions and represented many bodies over the course of his 72 years. He combined his passion for social justice in these two callings spending two years in Venezuela participating in an Anglican Church of Canada community development program, spent 13 years as a teacher and guidance counsellor in Manitoba with First Nations Communities and two years as executive assistant to the Minister of Northern Affairs in the NDP government of Howard Paully. In 1995 he returned to parish work in Ontario and retired in Belleville in 2002. Since then he has been active in his community and been involved with many organizations. One of Tim’s last roles was confirmed when Bishop Michael Oulton appointed him as the PWRDF Diocesan Representative for the Diocese of Ontario in November 2012. In his eulogy, Bishop Oulton highlighted Tim’s passion for social justice and spoke of his dedication to all around him. Tim attended the PWRDF Diocesan Form in 2012 and his enthusiasm and commitment will be remembered and celebrated by all who were present. Tim died of complications of pancreatic cancer on January 15 2012. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, daughter Claire, son Jason and their families.

Staff Comings and Goings: Zaida Bastos – PWRDF CIDA Program Coordinator Zaida is travelling to Bangladesh to initiate the implementation of the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Project funded by CIDA in Bangladesh. The Project will provide maternal and child health services to 130 villages in 13 districts and train 650 midwives and community health workers to open 35 Maternal and Child Health Centres.

Jeannethe Lara – Africa Program Development Coordinator Jeannethe is in South Africa to attend the Canadian Churches in Action (CCA) Gender and HIV training session in Johannesburg January 23-27 which will identify CCA HIV and AIDS specific initiatives for 2012- 2015. She will be exploring a joint collaboration with the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) and will visit their project. Jeannethe will also be monitoring programs at Temba House, the John Wesley Centre and with partners from Burundi who will be attending the CCA training. They will be looking at program proposals from PWRDF’s 2012-2015 strategic plan.

José Zárate - Canadian Indigenous Communities & Latin America-Caribbean Development Program Coordinator and Simon Chambers – Communications Coordinator Jose will travelling with Simon and meeting with partners, monitoring projects and looking at PWRDF policies and procedures with partners. Simon will be meeting the partners, learning about the programs and telling the stories of the work of PWRDF partners in the Juarez and Chihuahua regions, as well as the work of K'inal Antzetik in Chiapas and Guerrero. Simon will be blogging as regularly as possible and these stories will appear on the PWRDF website in the news stream.

Sheilagh McGlynn – justgeneration.ca Program Facilitator Candidates for PWRDF’s 50 Leaders program will be meeting at the Sorrento Centre January 27-29, 2012. This meeting will be led by justgeneration.ca Facilitator Sheilagh McGlynn with support from PWRDF Board member and 50 Leaders Chaplain Laura Marie Piotrowicz, former Youth Council member Melissa Green and Sorrento Centre Director Chris Lind. The weekend will gather young people from across the country so they can discern their leadership abilities to then take on a leadership project to be implemented in their local community. This is the third intake of youth for the program.