Iraq Aid Planned With Local Churches in Jordan, Iraq and Syria

Baltimore, December 19, 2002 — Lutheran World Relief is making emergency preparations with partners in Jordan, Iraq and Syria in case the current crisis over Iraq slips into war.

Preparations are intense, if limited. Actions include setting up 16 aid centers with parishes in Iraq and pre-positioning relief items for refugees in Jordan including a stockpile of nearly $500,000-worth of LWR health kits, school kits and quilts for 22,000 people.

Also, some 50 Iraqi, Jordanian and Syrian church workers and volunteers are taking emergency response training. The first workshop was completed last week in Jordan.

"We are not going to be surprised this time – like during the Gulf Crisis of 1990 – by the size of the humanitarian emergency," said Edmond Adam, coordinator in Jordan for a Middle East Council of Churches program that is a long-time partner of Lutheran World Relief. LWR is also working with the American Friends Service Committee in Jordan and other groups. Action by Churches Together, a worldwide alliance that includes LWR, is mobilizing its members for this aid to Iraq.

Despite the preparations, funds available to an agency like Lutheran World Relief for the Iraq crisis emergency fall far short of likely needs. Adequate aid work will require substantial donations from church members and the public. LWR is requesting contributions.

Church workers in the region still hope that a peaceful and lasting solution to the crisis is possible, but say a sense of inevitability already hangs over the region. "As far as war goes," said Adam, "the feeling here is that it is not if, but when."

The humanitarian dimensions of a war are daunting because of geography and politics. While Jordan is at the center of these church-related efforts, it is Iran and Turkey that figure in United Nations estimates of refugee flows. More than one million Iraqis could flee a war to closed areas of Iran and Turkey. An estimated eight million people may be forced to flee their homes within Iraq.

To contribute: Donations may be made by credit card via 800-number, on-line or by check. You may designate your gift: "Iraq/Mid-East Crisis." Please consider making an unrestricted donation, which will enable LWR to use your gift where it is needed most.
Lutheran World Relief
P.O. Box 17061
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832
1-800-LWR-LWR-2
www.lwr.org

LCMS World Relief
P.O. Box 66861
St. Louis, MO 63166-9810
1-888-930-4438

ELCA World Hunger Appeal
P.O. Box 71764
Chicago, IL 60694-1764
1-800-638-3522