News: International News

ADRA New Zealand's first ADRA Connections Group, from Kindercare, have just landed in Cambodia, and are already busy bricklaying their way towards constructing a pre-school classroom. 9 Kindercare staff from around New Zealand are going to spend the next two weeks constructing the classroom as well as installing playground equipment, and sharing their skills and expertise in early childhood education in Kompong Thom Province and ADRA Cambodia staff. The Kindercare staff are excited about their once in a life-time opportunity to have a truly rewarding and enriching experience, while...

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Tropical Cyclone Evans, which at its strongest was a Category 4 cyclone, hit Pacific Islands Nations of Fiji and Samoa a week before Christmas.  Damage was extensive and people are only now moving into early recovery. Samoa The storm damaged 1,600 houses with 688 totally destroyed. A total of more than 12,000 people were affected by the cyclone in Samoa. Critical issues include water supply, where it will be up to four months for water supply to be fully restored  ADRA helped with meeting immediate survival needs in three evacuation centres i.e. water, food, emergency shelter however...

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As cleanup from Cyclone Evans is underway, ADRA workers and volunteers in Samoa are coordinating two Evacuation Centres in Apia. Supplies, funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade (MFAT), the Samoan Government, ADRA New Zealand and ADRA Australia, are being provided to survivors of Cyclone Evan in evacuations centres throughout the country. ADRA Samoa, with help from ADRA New Zealand, has provided accommodation for over 400 people in the last week. Mrs. Sua Julia Wallwork, country director for ADRA Samoa, says that relief operations are in full swing in Samoa. “We...

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In Nadi, amongst the fallen trees, dangling, broken power lines, smashed signs and destroyed homes is a little oasis of peace and tranquility. That place is Andrews Primary school atop the hill overlooking Nadi town. I entered the school less than 24 hours after Cyclone Evan left the shores of Fiji and not a branch or leaf was out of place. Children were playing rugby on the neatly manicured lawns and the place had a distinct feeling of calm productivity. As I tour the school, two people emerge as the reasons why this place is so well organized.  Josep Kotowala, 35, has worked in emergencies...

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Cyclone Evan left a path of destruction throughout Fiji, leaving thousands of people without power, water and, in many cases, homes a week before Christmas. ADRA Country Director, Mr. Save Cavalevu, says that while the cyclone has passed, response and recovery is just beginning. Such has been the extent of damage to communication facilities that information is still coming through from districts around the country regarding the extent of the devastation. “We have had two devastating floods in January and March that severely affected the Nadi, Ba and Nadroga districts. Then came Cyclone...

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Yanjaa’s first contact with ADRA was when she attended a workshop at the beginning of November 2011 in western Mongolia that was funded by ADRA NZ. The workshop explained all about cooperatives, how they work and what advantages they provide. Almost immediately Yanjaa had a vision of what could be achieved to help poor, small-scale farmers. By 30 November she had organised 30 founding members for a cooperative, had completed all the paperwork and had registered the cooperative with the government. Seven months later the cooperative has 191 members and there are 27 further applications waiting...

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Lhagva from Mongolia knows what hardship is. Many years ago her husband contracted meningitis, and as a result is unable to walk. To support her family of six children she worked long hours in a garment factory until it collapsed soon after the end of the Soviet era. She then herded 200 livestock in the harsh environment of western Mongolia, where winter temperatures regularly plummet to -50 degrees Celsius. In the winter of 2000/01 Lhagva, along with many other farmers, lost her animals due to extreme weather conditions. With little or no income she struggled to care for a sick husband and feed...

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For the last twenty years Oyunaa, with her husband, has been herding 70 animals, mostly sheep and goats, in the isolated and harsh climate of Western Mongolia. The income they earned from the wool barely covered their basic living costs. Late last year Oyunaa heard about a new cooperative scheme that had been established to help poor, small-scale farmers. After learning more about it, she decided to join the cooperative, which primarily provides a mechanism for the sale of wool. Each year Oyunaa’s sheep produce about 30 kg of wool. This is such a small amount that she struggled to sell it, and often...

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"Dalila’s eyes speak words her mouth could never utter, at least not now and not to me - the pain is still too fresh and too real. In fact it is present, even now as we sit behind her mud-brick hut.   She is a child living in an adult’s world. She is the only mother her siblings have. Her eldest brother their only father, and, here sitting amongst the red Kenyan dust, even the youngest must play a role far beyond his years." These are words from an ADRA staff members journal after he met Dalila Katike and her family during a recent trip to Kenya. ADRA workers in rural Kenya...

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SILVER SPRING, Md. - In Thailand, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is working to rescue girls from forced prostitution in the sex slave trade. The Agency has opened a shelter that houses at-risk girls from poor families, providing them with nutritious food, education, and most importantly a safe environment that shields them from harm. "Pam" was born in the northern part of Thailand in a rural region near the Thai-Burma border. Her parents, Lahu and Akha, are from ethnic minority groups that traditionally live in the mountains throughout this part of Asia. Her family...

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