CHURCH WORLD SERVICE: EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM
CWS EMERGENCY APPEAL: EMERGENCY ACCOUNT # 6441
Liberia Emergency Relief
CWS goal: $50,000
February 5, 2002


SITUATION: The fighting between the Liberian Army and rebels in Liberia's
Lofa County, bordering Sierra Leone and Guinea, continues and has caused
mass migration throughout the region. Fighting in November caused
thousands to evacuate an IDP camp; people who had been in that camp, as
well as residents in nearby communities have been fleeing.

Among the crises caused by the fighting has been rape and other forms of
sexual abuse of women and children by men fighting the war.


RESPONSE: Concerned Christian Communities (CCC), a member of the Liberia
Christian Council (LCC), a CWS partner, is responding to the psycho-social
needs of women and children who have suffered sexual abuse in the ongoing
fighting in the North West county (Lofa) of Liberia.

The assistance will include basic emergency health care to the rape
victims, material assistance and also small grants for income generating
activities to enable them re-establish their livelihood. The completion
date of this project is Dec. 31, 2002.

Specifically, CCC will work with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in
Sawmill-Tubmanburg, where more than 15,000 persons sleep in an open field.
Sawmill is the nearest "safe" city to Gbarpolu County where fleeing
civilians could reach without much difficulty.  CCC is assisting with
psycho-social assistance for female Liberians and refugees who were raped
or harassed while fleeing the military activities in the North West county
(Lofa) of Liberia as well as to conclude the work with Refugees in Cape
Mount.

This includes counseling services to women and girls in target response
locations; emergency health care to female victims; craft-training for
rape survivors; the provision of small grants, seeds and tools to
traumatized victims undergoing counseling to enable them re-establish
their livelihood; the eradication of prostitution and idleness among
target beneficiaries.

The targeted beneficiaries include women and girls from the IDP and
refugee camps along with the elderly victims of the military activities in
Liberia. All targeted beneficiaries are rural farmers.


For more specific information, including budget information, contact CWS
ERP. Or go to the ACT web site: www.act-intl.org

CHURCH WORLD SERVICE, Liberia Emergency Relief, #6441, P.O. Box 968,
Elkhart, IN, 46515. Phone pledges or credit card donations:
1-800-297-1516.

On-line contributions to: www.churchworldservice.org

Call the CWS HOTLINE for updates: (800) 297-1516.

For further information about disasters to which Church World Service is
responding, contact CWS Emergency Response.

Telephone: (212) 870-3151
E-mail: donnajderr@aol.com
After-hours emergency pager: (800) 780-0853
Web site: www.cwserp.org



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