Responding Holistically to Human Need

Thursday, May 25, A.D. 2006

One of the aspects of Week of Compassion’s ministry that I am most proud of is our commitment to respond to the whole person. Long after many other organizations have left a crisis situation, we do our best to remain present long-term. For example, with deep pride I can boast that we are still actively working through our partner agency, Church World Service, in the Balkans. Even though the war officially ended with the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995, much healing, reconciliation, and sustainable development is needed in Bosnia and Serbia. We have accompanied all the peoples of the former Yugoslavia as they struggle to rebuild their post-war lives. From relief aid in the form of food, health kits, and blankets to the resources necessary to regain their livelihoods and emotional health, we have been faithful to our commitment to respond to their ever-changing needs.

We do not respond with material resources alone. In the face of disaster, the spiritual and emotional needs of human beings are just as critical as the basic necessities of survival. It is one thing to survive a war and lose one’s earthly possessions and quite another to survive the trauma and emotional devastation that such a situation causes. For this reason, we support psycho-social services and care in places like the tsunami-affected areas of southern Asia, the war-torn areas of the Mano River Region in West Africa, our own Gulf Coast, and the Middle East.

Together with Global Ministries, we help to support a program in the West Bank coordinated by two of our missionaries in Palestine. The program trains therapists to provide psychological treatment to children and young adults in the West Bank who have experienced very serious cases of trauma. In addition to providing professional training to mental health therapists in the West Bank, the program aims to aid in the development of a Palestinian training team that would provide ongoing training in mental health and post-traumatic stress disorder. In this way, Week of Compassion is responding in a holistic way to the diverse human needs created by natural disasters, war, and severe economic hardship. We do not abandon people once the emergency is over, but remain for the long-term, accompanying communities as they restore their lives. The road to sustainable development and self-reliance is often long and hard, but just as the Israelites “journeyed in stages” through the wilderness, so do we journey, slowly but surely assisting those on their way to self-sufficiency.

- Amy Gopp

Map for Congregations

For congregations using the interactive map/poster, this has been another very busy week of responses - 7 disaster response and/or recovery requests and 10 development appeals. Visit the WOC website: www.weekofcompassion.org for the complete list. A complimentary map/poster for your congregation is available from WOC - just call Elaine Cleveland (317.713.2442) or email her at ecleveland@woc.disciples.org.