News from the PWRDF
Pakistan
In mid-June of 2022, monsoon season began in Pakistan. The rain was torrential and unrelenting, with more than 60% of the country’s annual rainfall occurring in just eight weeks. This led to flash flooding and landslides and one third of Pakistan was under water.
Sindh Province was particularly hard hit, with more than 1.3 million people affected. PWRDF provided $30,000 to a food assistance project in Sindh, also funded by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and led by Presbyterian World Service & Development (a fellow member of the Foodgrains Bank). Community World Service Asia, a humanitarian and development organization head-quartered in Karachi and also a member of the ACT Alliance, distributed emergency monthly cash assistance to 2,440 families for three months. This was designed to help people in Mirpur Khas and Umerkot districts purchase food to feed their families.
PWRDF also contributed $20,000 to a flood response with three other Anglican agencies. This project will respond to the emergency relief appeal of the Church of Pakistan, a member of the Anglican Communion, to provide people in Punjab Province with food and water, tents and tarps and hygiene kits.
For more information on the PWRDF and the good work they do, visit pwrdf.org or contact Sandi Tankard, our Parish Representative.
PWRDF tops up Fiona response to $50,000
On September 24, 2022, Hurricane Fiona made landfall in the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada. More than $37,000 was donated from individuals and parishes rallying to the cause. Now, after months of consulting with representatives from all affected dioceses, PWRDF has transferred those donations, along with a $13,000 grant, to the Diocese of Nova Scotia and PEI for a total of $50,000.
Support continues for addiction recovery among Burmese refugee settlements
More than 160,000 refugees live in settlements along the Thailand-Burma border and 50,000 in migrant villages. Addiction rates in Burma’s ethnic areas range from 40-85% and 40% in the refugee population. DARE (Drug and Alcohol Recovery Education Network) is a local organization that has worked for more than 30 years in the camps. PWRDF has been in partnership with DARE since 2003, supporting this program and those who live there. Support for DARE and its innovate programs is often invited in the annual PWRDF World of Gifts campaign.
Work continues in Zambia to protect children
As PWRDF enters its third year of partnership with the Zambian Anglican Council Outreach Program (ZACOP), the development arm of the Zambian Anglican Church, real results are being achieved. The Zambian Council Outreach Program is working to end child marriages, educate young people about sexual reproductive health and rights and raise awareness about child abuse, particularly in young girls. It has resulted in a reduction of teen pregnancies from 68 cases in 2020/2021 to 24 cases in 2022. The Omleo Mumba Primary School recorded zero teen pregnancies in 2022.
Zambia has one of the highest child marriage rates in the world with 31% of Zambian girls married before they turn 18 and 6% before the age of 15. In rural areas, poverty leads many parents to withdraw their daughters from school and offer them for marriage to older men, in most cases in exchange for payment of lobola, or a dowry.
