The Global Food Initiative of the Church of the Brethren has made several grants in recent weeks. Among them are grants to a soybean value chain project and an orchard irrigation well of Ekklesiyar Yan’uwa a Nigeria (EYN, the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria). Other grants are going to a pig project in Rwanda,
The staff at Brethren Disaster Ministries have directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF) to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in two countries in central Africa: Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In response to the pandemic, governments all over the world are closing borders, restricting travel, and
— Gieta Gresh has resigned as camp administrator for Camp Mardela in Denton, Md., one of two camps in Mid-Atlantic District, effective the end of August. She and her husband, Ken Gresh, will move to Pennsylvania following the 2020 summer camp season. She has served in the position since April 2005. In an online post Gresh said,
“We are so excited to bring you the locations for workcamps summer 2020!” said an announcement from the Church of the Brethren Workcamp Ministry. The announcement urged Brethren of all ages to “explore the possibilities of service.” “Voices for Peace” (Romans 15:1-6) is the theme. In a new venture, Rwanda is the location for an
“The earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened…” (Matthew 27:51). NEWS 1) Planting potatoes, harvesting choirs in Rwanda2) Office of Peacebuilding and Policy signs on to letter about Syria3) EAD 2019 stirs up ‘good trouble’ for healing of national and global problems PERSONNEL 4) Gimbiya Kettering resigns from Intercultural Ministries
In 2012, the Global Food Initiative (GFI) began supporting a potato project of Evangelistic Training Outreach Ministries of Rwanda (ETOMR) among the Twa people in the village of Bunyove in northwest Rwanda.
Working through a nascent Brethren church in the region, the Church of the Brethren sponsored a capacity-building conference to bring Batwa together from Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The following is excerpted from a report by Dr. David Niyonzima, detailing the conference and some of the learnings gained from the interaction:
Brethren Disaster Ministries staff have directed grants from the Church of the Brethren’s Emergency Disaster Fund to a variety of projects in recent weeks. Among them are a bridge rebuilding project in West Virginia, assistance for refugees from Burundi living in Rwanda, assistance for people displaced by violence in the DR Congo, a Disaster Recovery Support Initiative aiding a longterm recovery group in South Carolina, food assistance in South Sudan, and aid for Haitian migrants returning to Haiti from the Dominican Republic. These grants total $85,950.
Recent grants allocated from the Church of the Brethren’s Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) support expansion of community gardening at the Lybrook Communities Ministries in New Mexico, and two agriculture projects that serve the Twa people in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These three grants total $36,180.
Grants have gone to several ministries in Africa and Haiti from two funds of the Church of the Brethren, the Global Food Crisis Fund (GFCF) and the Emergency Disaster Fund (EDF). The four grants total $49,330.