http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/ News and features about the work of United Methodist Women in mission.en-us Mon, 01 Jan 1900 05:00:00 GMTTue, 09 Feb 2010 20:00:47 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=32360Action Alert: Cancel Haiti's Debt Both before and after Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake, Jubilee USA Network worked with the office of Congresswoman Maxine Waters - a longtime champion of debt relief - to lead the call for cancellation of Haiti’s debt. On Feb. 2, Congresswomen Waters introduced a bill calling for Haiti’s debt cancellation. A collaborative partner of the United Methodist Women’s Division, Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 religious denominations and faith communities, human rights, environmental, labor, and community groups working for the definitive cancellation of crushing debts to fight poverty and injustice in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. With the Latin America Working Group, another United Methodist Women partner and one of the nation's longest standing coalitions dedicated to foreign policy, Jubilee USA has now issued a global call to seek not only a reconstruction of roads, buildings, and institutions, but to “break the cycle of fragility and poverty” that has prevented Haiti’s sustained national development. Hayley Hathaway, a Jubilee USA Network spokesperson, noted: “In the wake of Haiti's unimaginable tragedy, one obvious and simple step toward a just recovery is for the international community to cancel Haiti's $1 billion debt. Even before the earthquake, Haiti suffered from an extreme poverty exacerbated by the combined effects of the food, fuel and economic crises, a series of natural disasters, and legacy of unjust debt. For decades the country was forced to divert tens of millions of dollars in debt payments from investments in hospitals, schools, or other infrastructure--resources that could have helped in the aftermath of the earthquake. This cycle begins with Haiti's independence and continues through their history. Shortly after Haiti won independence from France and abolished slavery, France threatened to reinvade and re-establish slavery unless Haiti paid "reparations" for the loss of the "property", including slaves, forcing Haiti to pay the equivalent of $21 billion today. More recently their debts increased under the brutal dictatorships of the Duvaliers, who spent aid money on lavish parties and brutal militias. Jubilee USA Network, a coalition that includes [partners of UMW], has worked for the cancellation of Haiti's unjust debt for many years. We celebrated last June, when Haiti finally received cancellation of $1.2 billion of its debts owed to the IMF, World Bank, and the US and other governments. Now, we must continue our work and ensure that Haiti's $1 billion remaining debt is cancelled swiftly and without conditions. We must also work to make sure that Haiti doesn't get back into the chains of debt--aid should be in the form of grants, not loans. Yesterday, however, the International Monetary Fund approved an additional $102 million loan to Haiti. While the IMF Managing Director has stated his intention to work for Haiti's debt to be cancelled, we clearly must keep up the pressure.”   A petition drafted by The Jubilee USA Network urges Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “to announce [his] full support for Haiti's debt cancellation and work with [his] counterparts so Haiti can begin its recovery without the burden of debt.” “Haiti needs all of its resources for recovery and reconstruction, not debt repayments.” Haiti’s lenders - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank - made presentations at a recent conference on Haiti held in Montreal. Haiti owes an estimated $1 billion in debt: $214 million to the Paris Club. Nearly $300 million owed to Haiti’s top lender, Venezuela, expects to be forgiven as announced by President Hugo Chavez. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has voiced support for forgiving Haiti’s debt saying, “It is just unrealistic to think that Haiti would ever, in the far foreseeable future, be able to repay.” “Going forward, we’re going to need your voice to make sure that our government and the international community take the necessary steps to support Haiti as it begins the long road to recovery.”  ACTION   Break the Cycle of Poverty! Drop Haiti’s Debt Now! Sign The Jubilee USA petition "Drop Haiti's Debt Now and No More Debt for Disaster." Contact the office of Congresswoman Maxine Waters to follow the Haiti Debt Cancellation legislation as it moves through Congress. [The bill has not yet been assigned a number] Call 202-225-2201 or visit http://waters.house.gov/ for details. Call your representative at 202-224-3121, and ask them to co-sponsor the bill. Let them know you are a United Methodist Woman. For more information, visit the Jubilee USA website: www.jubileeusa.org or call 202-783-3566. Visit Latin American Working Group’s website: www.lawg.org or call 202-546-7010. Read the Book of Resolutions (BOR 2008 ¶4054, Pathways to Economic Justice) which states, “Support Jubilee USA and Jubilee Debt Campaign through living out their spirit and principles in the life of the community.” (See BOR 2008 ¶4054, page 580).  Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:00:54 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31813Haiti Updates Tuesday, February 2, 2010 The following testimony comes to us through Serna Samuel, United Methodist Women Regional Missionary for Haiti.  The words of YWCA of Haiti Board member Rachel Coupad speak to her strength and resilience in the midst of trouble.  The Haiti program of the Worldwide YWCA is a long time partner of United Methodist Women. To All,   Today, I finally decided to take a few minutes to myself, to drop all else and write down a few words. It took me 15 days because in a matter of 35 seconds, not only did my country change, but so did my universe. I wish to start by thanking each and every one of you who care, pray, wrote, and took action for us Haitians. I will not relate in detail the horrors I’ve witnessed, nor the feelings of despair, hopelessness and fear one experiences in such a situation.   I was lucky enough to survive with little damage occurred - in comparison to most - so now I choose to talk about the beauty I’ve discovered in all of this. *** I was sick in bed when it happened.  I did not realize the magnitude of the disaster at first but within an hour, after hearing from my immediate family members, I put on my tennis shoes and walked to a nearby maternity to offer my help.  What I saw there cannot be put in words… the despair of kids dying in the hallways and of people with open wounds I had only seen in war movies. I left the clinic at midnight, went to my parents’ home so we could all be together.  The next morning, I went to volunteer in another hospital in the neighborhood and quickly realized that the horror of the night before was just a preview of what was to come.  With the lack of staff, a friend and I found ourselves acting as an assistant/nurse in the O.R. for an amputation and for a liver operation! How did I get there, you ask??? . But at that point, I chose to see the beauty in the midst of the chaos, as I learned that some choose life over all… The woman whose operation I assisted had one leg chopped off. When I stopped for a while and decided to compliment her on her strength, she answered: “I choose life over legs, I have 2 daughters to raise.” How could she smile and actually thank the team who took away this big piece of her body? She simply chose life, she said… I spent 5 long days at the community hospital and many long nights hosting visiting surgeons.  What films and pictures do not show are the emotions, the pain in the voices and the agonizing smell of bodies slowly decomposing on the grounds.  But on the other side of the slide, I saw beauty… Indeed, in the midst of it all, I saw everyone giving a hand in a way or another; I saw foreigners whose names I will never know save lives of people whose names they will never know; I saw a nation devastated, but its citizens taking the next step by simply choosing to survive and helping others do the same.  I saw young, not so young, rich, not so rich, poor, black, white, literate and illiterate, Haitians and foreigners acting as one! I saw the universal language of hope, survival, love, strenght, determination and solidarity.   THIS, I choose to remember and learn from. Many days later, I thank the Lord for my blessings.  My worries are the same as everyone else’s: What comes next? What will we do? Where will we start? but I said to a friend, we already started. Now it is for us to decide on the type of Haiti we want, the type of nation we will become and the kind of individuals we will be.  It took me the same 35 seconds to be reminded that no matter where we stand from, no  matter how different our journeys are LIFE and LOVE are what matters the most. Again, I thank each and every one of you for the support.  In these tough times, knowing one cares is enough to keep another going in the right direction.   Your messages arrived from all over the world and my wish is that you keep praying for Haiti and its citizens as we have never been so vulnerable. Again, thank you.   Rachel Coupaud   Monday, February 1, 2010 NEVERTHELESS Glory E. Dharmaraj “God’s Yes is a Nevertheless” Karl Barth I am still struck by a lingering question over the tragedy in Haiti: “Why?” Answers are not easy to find during tragic times. But we ask questions, nevertheless.  I have heard the “Why?” questions in my life from those who have lost their children, spouses who have lost their dear ones, children who have lost their parents and people who have witnessed and experienced tornadoes, floods and tsunamis. I have never able to give them an answer at such times. I still do not have one. It is natural to ask questions in times of loss and tragedies. Our forebears have asked such questions too. The Book of Job in the Bible has over 330 questions in its 42 chapters. More than any other book in the Bible! The reason The Book of Job has so many questions to ask God and others is that the book deals with a horrible tragedy. Job was a righteous man. Suddenly, without warning, in a blink of an eye, he lost everything – his possessions, his children and his health. All was lost. Everything that had meaning in his life vanished. He felt barren. It was quick. It was so swift. It was unwarranted. In many ways the events of this past week in Haiti seem eerily echoed in the story of Job. We all love our family. We all want security. We all want a home. When the primary delight from our life is taken, what do we do? We simply mourn. It is o.k. to lament. It is o.k. I mourn over the deaths of my colleagues, Rev. Dr. Sam Dixon and Rev. Clint Rabb. These were tireless, dedicated advocates for Christian mission of mercy around the globe. To resort to past tense when I refer to them grieves me. I also heard fearless statements of faith uttered by the Haitian survivors. One woman said, as she was rescued, “I was not afraid of death.” Many in make-shift churches and in open air lifted up their hands in faith and had services. The suffering Christianity’s deep faith statements are a challenge and inspiration to me.  The Acts of the Apostles comes alive to me. We, as faith community members, are reminded that the Church of Jesus Christ has been built upon the sacrifice and death of the faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Tertullian, an early Church leader, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” This saying has a depth of insight which is still alive. The word martyr comes from the Greek word marturos which means the one who witnesses. I saw many of the suffering Christians in Haiti witnessing to their faith even in the face of death and loss of their limbs. Those who walk through the valley of the shadow of death in their every day existence of poverty, disease, and despair, and yet witness to their faith in Christ in the midst of it all, are the martyrs of Christ today. The witness of my colleagues, by their deaths, and the innumerable witnesses of the sisters and brothers in Haiti, are the seedbed of the Church in this first decade of 21st century.  Let us not despair. The God who was with our forebears is with us too. Our God does not intend for every Christian to be martyred. Yet, it is no disgrace to live a life of radical commitment to the gospel. Karl Barth, a well known theologian of 20th century, once said that God’s YES is a nevertheless. He also reiterated that everyday is a day of our death. It is a day of suffering, whether that suffering is merited or unmerited. But Barth affirmed that everyday is the day of Jesus Christ. Everyday is the day of his presence. Everyday is the day of his speech. Everyday is a reminder of his coming again.  Let us then practice a radical commitment to the gospel, and be tireless and generous advocates of “the...Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:58:46 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=32142Action Alert: National Coalition for Burned Churches Visits Washington It has been noted that Dr. King “took his stand … ‘because of my love for America and the sublime principles of liberty and equality on which she is founded. … to transform the jangling discords of our Nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.’” From Proclamation 5431, signed by former President Ronald Reagan for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, January 18, 1986. The Women’s Division joined 28 delegates from seven states representing the National Coalition for Burned Churches (NCBC) at the 12th Annual National Church Burning Status Conference. And on December 10, the Women’s Division accompanied NCBC delegates to a meeting with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. The Director of the Civil Rights Division expressed his deep sadness that church arsons still take place in the US. While church arsons receive sparse media attention, the burnings have not decreased. Multiple burnings of the same churches and cluster burnings (many churches in one area being burned) were two of the issues highlighted at the meeting. Other issues stressed by the NCBC include increased awareness, education, and programs for church arson prevention. The NCBC requested reestablishment and permanent funding of the National Church Arson Task Force. The National Church Arson Task Force (NCATF) had its origins more than thirteen years ago, when it was established with passage of the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 (PL 104-155). This collaborative task force combined resources from The Departments of Justice and Treasury, the FBI, ATF, CRS and FEMA. The Church Arson Prevention Act passed after a particularly damaging year when over 400 churches, largely of African-American congregations, burned nationwide. In response to these hate crimes, the government allocated $50 million in federal and private funding towards prevention, prosecution, and rebuilding of church burnings. By 1998 however, that funding was depleted. And under the Bush administration, the task force was no longer a priority. Currently, the NCBC has documented 3000 arson-related incidents over the last twelve years. This record-keeping constitutes an important facet of the Coalition’s mission, as it confirms the ongoing threat of church burnings across the United States. The NCBC’s visit to Washington served as reminder of this persistent threat to our nation’s places of worship. The Church Arson Prevention Act enabled the Federal government “to prosecute and bring to justice people who burn, desecrate, or otherwise damage religious property”. The NCATF’s three-part approach aimed to: 1) investigate and prosecute arsonists; 2) assist rebuilding efforts for burned places of worship; and 3) establish a clearinghouse for church arson prevention resources through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The NCBC’s Reverend Rose Johnson-Mackey asserts that “Today, there exists a unique opportunity to build upon the extraordinary gains made since passage of the Church Arson Prevention Act. Our hope is that we can work more aggressively to protect the right of congregations to worship in peace.” In addition to the Women’s Division, the NCBC delegation met with Mr. Thomas Perez of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. The delegation stressed hopes for renewed diligence and aggressive prosecutions from the Department of Justice. Permanent Funding for the NCATF should be a crucial first step towards accomplishing this goal. The Coalition also met with representatives of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership. The OFBNP attendees at this meeting represented the departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture and Health and Human Services. This session addressed a variety of focused concerns within the broad issue of burned churches. These include analyzing the impact of acts of terror on communities, and community building in high-risk areas where these crimes can often recur. During its advocacy visit to Washington, the Coalition’s delegation convened a National Church Burning Briefing at the Cannon House Building in Washington, updating members of Congress, staffers, and the public on the status of church burnings in America. Our partnership with the NCBC is critical to our mission of supporting women and children and to ensuring all people live free from hate. Of all the victims of church burnings, children are perhaps the most seriously affected. In 1998, Jim Johnson, co-chair of the NCATF, spoke about the effects of church burnings on children. He told the story of the Attorney General directing the Office for Victims of Crime to work with the South Carolina Burned Churches Coalition, “they had a two-day conference attended by 150 kids…[t]he conference was well received by the youngsters. Talking about it was, for some, cathartic.” Johnson’s story highlights a case where the healing process was directed from the highest levels of government. Even though today’s burnings attract less media attention than the cases immediately before and after 1996, outreach to victims - particularly children - is an important element of our pursuit of justice. Joining the National Coalition for Burned Churches during its annual conference reflects our continued commitment to work against church burnings and bombings nationwide. Working with partners that form a multi-racial, interfaith coalition of churches and organizations, the NCBC acts to protect the right to peaceful worship. Through research and documentation, support of victims, church rebuilding, as well as programs to build community capacity and involve youth, the NCBC demonstrates that we must be forever vigilant to ensure that Dr. King’s “beautiful symphony of brotherhood” is realized.   ACTION     Tell your legislators to support church arson prevention!   Contact your Representatives at  202-224-3121  202-224-3121 , or at their district office, and tell them how important it is to stop acts of hate. Call the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division at202-514-4609, U.S. Department of Justice – Civil Rights Division, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Main, Washington D.C. 20530. Urge the department to enforce the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 (PL 104-155) and to reestablish and provide permanent funding for the National Church Arson Task Force.   Read the BOR, which states, “The United Methodist Church must be proactive in resisting hate and teaching all members how to live in our diverse social world without passively accepting the rise of hate and bigotry. When church members do nothing about hate language or horrifying atrocities, we participate in the social support of hate.” (See Grieving and Repenting from Acts of Hate and Violence BOR 2008 #3421, page 500).   Learn more by contacting the National Coalition for Burned Churches at 678-971-4422, or through its website at http://nomoreburnedchurches.org/ January 2010               UNITED METHODIST WOMEN’S ACTION NETWORK Women’s Division – General Board of Global Ministries Susie Johnson, Executive Secretary for Public Policy 100 Maryland Avenue, NE Suite 530 – Washington, DC 20002                             Tel. (202) 488-5660 * Fax (202) 488-5681* www.umwmission.orgWed, 27 Jan 2010 20:48:26 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31668Haiti: United Methodist Women Stands with the People   ▲ Two girls walk to school in the Haitian village of Foret des Pins. Photo by Paul Jeffrey.       United Methodist Women members are responding to needs since the Haiti earthquake. The first line of response is prayer. We continue in prayer for the people of Haiti, their families around the world and for our own mission teams and General Board of Global Ministries colleagues who have not been heard from at the time of this report. United Methodist Women members and staff also have family members whom they have not been able to contact and they are very present in our prayers.   United Methodist Women members are also on the move. Women are giving to the Advance, (#418325) as United Methodist Women supplemental giving. Members can also designate supplementary giving for our work with grassroots partners like MADRE or MUDHA (Mujeres Dominico Haitianas). MUDHA will be entering Haiti through the Dominican Republic.   In the urgency of the moment, recovery funding can bypass grassroots women who are critical long-term partners to the success of relief efforts. Our support of local women’s organizations can help them be at the table when recovery efforts are being planned.   In the coming weeks and months we will also be working with coalition partners to seek Temporary Protection Status for Haitian people living in the United States. This would provide temporary immigration status. While this was not offered following the 2008 hurricanes, it appears that the scale of devastation from the Jan. 12 earthquake will make the United States’ granting this status even more urgent.   Another welcome response by members of United Methodist Women is the assembling of kits to replace those in United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) depots that will go to Haiti right away. Your work in this area allows UMCOR to respond immediately when disaster strikes.   United Methodist Women will be at work in Haiti for a long time. United Methodist Women Regional Missionary Serna Samuel, working in the Caribbean region, is in conversation with the Methodist Church of Haiti to assess needs and help us formulate additional plans for assistance. We support this work through Mission Giving.   We will keep you up to date on these plans and by the time we study Haiti during the summer of 2011 School of Christian Mission, United Methodist Women will be in a whole new place to work with the women, children and youth of Haiti. In the meantime, let us work and pray and give generously.      Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:58:45 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31433Women's Division Welcomes Gutierrez Bill as Contribution to Debate on Just Immigration Reform United Methodist Women welcomes Congressman Luis Gutierrez's December 15 immigration reform proposal as an important first step in the upcoming legislative debate, which will be buffeted by election cycles and pressures from anti-immigrant forces in the Congress. United Methodist Women are committed to actively engaging in this debate within the framework of our core values--a human rights framework for developing immigration policy; fostering family unity; protecting the rights of workers; lifting up the particular concerns of women, youth and children; and addressing the root causes of migration. It is clear that Gutierrez has heard key voices in the immigrant and Labor communities. His bill seeks to address the concerns and needs of families devastated by our current immigration laws. Welcome proposals within this bill include   detention system reform, due process around raids, visa backlog reduction for families and employment, promotion of family unity, a visa by lottery system, new paths to legalization, and elements of the DREAM Act and AgJOBS Act. Equally welcome are proposals to strengthen workers' rights and to offer programs that prepare immigrants to become citizens. However, similar to previous policy approaches in immigration reform, Gutierrez's legislation fails to frame the issue of immigration reform as a matter of human rights and justice. Rather, the bill continues to frame immigration policy in terms of national security and the economic and labor needs of the US. Truly just immigration policy is not possible as long as elected officials and law enforcement agencies fail to recognize the complex issues that drive migration and undocumented immigration. As part of the global United Methodist Church, United Methodist Women are concerned not only for US citizens and US workers, but also for the rights and needs of peoples around the world.  Thus, migration policy that looks only at the "national security" concerns and "prosperity" needs of the US, fails to consider the rights and needs of workers elsewhere.  According to the United Methodist policy on global migration, "Attitudes toward migrants are usually conditioned today…by nation-state considerations expressed in the language of 'us' and 'them'—or 'we' the home folks and 'they' the intruder/alien.  A beneficent attitude sometimes prevails:  'We' will allow x number of 'them' to come among 'us' provided they acknowledge our generosity and become like us; so long, of course, as they do not threaten our comfort.'  In the biblical understanding, it is not about us and them, but about one people of God, called to seek justice and share equitably…Christians do not approach the issue of migration from the perspective of tribe or nation, but from within a faith community of love and welcome…" In reality, core migration issues address the livelihood needs and rights of people around the world.  This is the work of United Methodist Women —both at the level of local communities and in terms of national and global policy. United Methodist Women, a national faith-based women's organization of over 800,000 members, has been actively engaged in an Immigrant and Civil Rights initiative since 2006.  In response to this biblical mandate to treat all as neighbor, we welcome migrants into our churches, visit those in detention, provide material aid to communities in the wake of ICE raids, hold vigils at detention centers, call for an end to racial profiling by local police and border patrol, and advocate for just immigration policy. We understand immigrant rights as part of the ongoing civil rights struggle in this country. Gutierrez' proposed "Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act of 2009 (CIR ASAP) continues to accept the trade off of legalization for undocumented migrants currently in the US, with increased resources for enforcement, including border patrol and state law enforcement agencies. It would keep raids and the burgeoning detention system in place.  It would maintain existing and much-criticized guest-worker programs, while seeking to expand a flawed employment verification system.  While the bill makes significant and important efforts to improve these programs, it buys in to the enforcement framework, and falls short of addressing the larger causes of massive migration flows, which will continue despite enforcement efforts, as long as people face crises in their home countries. This country's current approach to immigration reform rejects the fact that decades of US-backed corporate globalization built on unequal relations between the global North and South have devastated residents of developing nations. These unjust economic and developmental policies have in the majority led to massive unemployment, indebtedness,  food scarcity and violent conflict, which have in turn forced massive migration not only from countryside to cities within developed nations, but also from the global South to the North. Given these realities global migration, the movement of peoples, is the direct outcome of unequal historic relations and of recent policies by the world's wealthy nations that have exploited the resources of the world's poorest nations. Immigration reform that legalizes some immigrants while seeking to keep out future migrant flows through greater walls and policing is short-sighted and doomed to failure.  The US undertook such reform in 1996 (IRCA), and millions more migrants still risked their lives to come to the US for the survival of their families, despite massive militarization of the border.  Until we address the causes of migration flows—through US debt, trade, military, environmental and development policies, migrants will continue to come at any cost—and will again have to live in the shadows. The current economic crisis has brought massive unemployment, debt and foreclosures home to the US, and led to increased tensions toward migrant workers as everyone searches for work in an increasing scarce job market. Rather than seeing migrants as a threat to our economic security, we can look to this growing wealth gap both in the US and between North and South. US workers, migrant workers, and workers in the global South are all feeling the effects of a crisis that has reaped huge rewards for a privileged few. For millions of undocumented immigrants in the US, economic uncertainty is added to constant fear of being separated from their families in the name of "homeland security" or political expediency. The time has come for our elected officials to craft and enact legislation that truly reflects out country's values.  Our belief in the sanctity of human rights should guide our approach to immigration reform. We thank Representative Gutierrez for opening the way for us to have that conversation. Posted: December 28, 2009Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:53:54 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31805United Methodists Stand with Immigrants in Texas Photo by Nicole Bell   By Nicole Bell*   “When the combined force of a powerful nation and powerful commercial interests trample on human rights of the people without power, people of faith must stand up and speak out,” says Harriett Olson, Deputy General Secretary of the Women’s Division.   Dr. Daisy Machado from Union Theological Seminary in New York and Cindy Johnson, intern with the Women's Division, pray. Photo by Nicole Bell. Standing up and speaking out is exactly what a group of faith-based communities did on Jan. 9, 2010 in Raymondville, Texas. United Methodists and Pax Christi gathered with many other organizations and church communities to hold a prayer vigil and public witness at Willacy County Detention Center calling for the closure of for-profit detention centers like Willacy, which have a history of denying basic civil and human rights to immigrants. Commonly known as “Tent City,” the detention center is a privately owned entity that holds roughly 3,000 immigrants. It is the largest in the nation, operated by a Utah-based Management and Training Corporation under contract for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE). Immigrants United Without Borders, Border Ambassadors, Grassroots Leadership, WILCO Family Justice Alliance, Fast For Our Families and others took part in the vigil. Central District Superintendent Rev. Francisco Campos also attended. The center has had a series of allegations of horrendous conditions and abuse, including alleged sexual assaults on female detainees by guards, reports of detainees being fed rotten and inadequate food, and poor access to medical and mental health care. Bishop Jim Dorff, who presides over the San Antonio area of the United Methodist Church, explained in a statement read by 16-year-old United Methodist, Derek Smith, why it is important for United Methodists to be concerned about immigration issues. “Immigration is an issue of this time and of this place and as United Methodists, we are called in this time and this place to address this issue of immigration with a voice of compassion of justice,” he said. In addition to reform within detention centers, the groups say reforms need to be made in all aspects of immigration. This should include a pathway to citizenship for migrants in the US; protection of workers’ rights regardless of status; the unification of families; and human border policies that respect human rights. This public witness was a powerful testimony to United Methodist Women’s commitment to welcoming the migrant and upholding the human rights of immigrants in detention. The day began with testimony from those affected by or concerned about human rights of immigrants in detention. Sonia Cruz, President of the United Methodist Women local unit at Westlawn United Methodist Church, read a litany from United Methodist Women’s 2010 Program Book. The group marched to the gates of Tent City, led by musician, Pablo Pelegrina, a migrant songwriter from Arizona who witnessed the atrocities at the border firsthand and wrote his own music in response.   Lorenza Smith. Photo by Nicole Bell. The Rev. Dr. Daisy Machado, professor of Church History at Union Theological Seminary, and others gave strong statements about the need to change current detention and deportation policies and the need for just immigration reform in the US. When asked in an interview why she was in attendance, Dr. Machado proclaimed, “We are here to claim not only their rights as human beings but to call our nation to understand that this is an issue not just about breaking the law, about criminalizing, but it’s an issue about human rights, it’s an issue about human dignity.”  Dr. Machado announced, “We are here to say to our government, yes we can and yes we must.” Event organizer, deaconess, and United Methodist Women intern Cindy Johnson lead the call for basic human rights for all immigrants. Standing with Cindy Johnson was her father and her sister, Rev. Lorenza Smith who was a co-organizer of the event. “We call for an end to detentions and deportations until just immigration reform is in place,” says Johnson, who, earlier that week, gave a tour of the wall being built miles outside the Mexican border to student groups from Union Theological Seminary in New York and Methodist Theological School in Ohio. The students, lead by Professors Dr. Timothy Van Meter from Methodist Theological School and Dr. Daisy Machado from Union Theological Seminary, had the opportunity to see and touch the giant wall created by Elbit Systems. As United Methodists lead the way to immigration advocacy and reform, Women’s Division President Inelda Gonzalez offered in a statement hope for the future. Read by Kathy Currier, United Methodist Pastor for the West Ohio Conference and student at Methodist Theological Seminary, Gonzalez stated, “Today we are their voice and support for what the Lord laid out for each one of us. May we welcome our brothers and sisters in Christ to this great land.” *Nicole Bell is the Kyung Za Yim Intern for Immigrant Rights for Resource Development and Communications.    Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:28:11 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31594Dear John   By Dr. Gloria Scott*   Dear John,   Oh how we are motivated to write; Dear John: We must let you know tonight; that your crimes - yes crimes - of soliciting and/or using sexually trafficked women – must end!   Sincerely,   United Methodist Women   Responding to the United Methodist Book of Resolutions (“Abolition of Sex Trafficking,” ¶6023), and as women trained and certified by the FAAST (Faith Alliance Against Slavery and Trafficking), I want to offer this from the women of the United Methodist Church:   We encourage all to send in your own Dear John letter to your local areas - through the newspaper, television, Internet and local talk shows (radio and television) to serve notice that the users of the services drive the industry. No users, no industry - and millions of little girls and boys, teen aged girls and boys, young women and young men, adult women and men, would be released from the bondage of sex to provide money for the "pimps" and beneficiaries of this industry. It is clear that the users have not been targeted, but are the primary source of the problem.   A video has the voice of a policeman saying, “.... as I viewed the cars and SUVs of the johns using the services of this brothel, I noticed all of the gold fish symbols on the backs of the vehicles. I thought, I believe this is the outward symbol of Christians! Wow, there are a lot of Christians spending their money buying sex tonight." He said further, “I wonder what Christ and his father God is feeling about this.”   This crystallizes the problem. Sex trafficking has three major actors:   The johns who solicit and pay for sex The victims The sex traffickers   The money flows from the johns, through the victims, to the pimps who are the financial beneficiaries. Both the johns and pimps are the supporters of the sex trafficking industry.   It is difficult to understand how anyone having the exposure to the accurate knowledge of human sex trafficking can remain untouched and unmotivated to "do and not just be."   There are at least three major outcomes from learning more about sex trafficking:   Knowledge and understanding of sex trafficking requires a 360 degree angle of the problem. Access to the Internet has escalated the dimensions of sex trafficking globally. There is a clarion call to United Methodist Women to step out and up to lead our faith and our churches.   The call extends to other women's organizations, men's organizations, regular citizens, and very importantly, the public governmental officials and policy makers to act and make war on sex trafficking.   We strongly urge United Methodist Women in our legislative actions and social action agenda to look at HR 7311 and other legislation and get support for the implementation. We all must act - we must "do and not just be.”   Mayor Shirley Franklin in Atlanta developed and sent a Dear John letter to the users and supporters of the sex trafficking industry in Atlanta. She sounded the battle cry and we encourage every area to do the same.   People almost always ask about this as a problem only in foreign countries and are surprised to learn that it is in our own backyard.   *Dr. Gloria Scott is the social action coordinator for United Methodist Women’s Southwest Texas Conference, former president of Bennett College and former vice president of Clark Atlanta University.Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:01:40 GMT http://new.gbgm-umc.org/umw/news/news/?i=31529A Response to the United States Health Care Reform Legislation  By Harriett J. Olson*   United Methodist Women and its national policy-making body, the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global ministries has long supported efforts to extend health care to everyone, especially women and children. Our advocacy of the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in the past several decades has been an effort to see that every child has access to health care in our country. Our historical support of hospitals and clinics in the United States and around the world is testimony to our commitment to providing health care for all.  Recent legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate put forth attempts at broadening access to health insurance, which we support, but both bills are troublesome in the way they address the most vulnerable among us—women and children who are among the working poor. Those without health insurance need help to access health care in a country where the medical industry is among the finest in the world. No one deserves to go untreated, without medicine, be forced to make a choice between medicine or food, or worst, to die because they cannot afford to pay for medicines or treatment. No one. The biblical story of the “Good Samaritan” teaches us to care for everyone, even the people who might be “despised” in our own culture. Clearly, a person in need should not be left by the side of the road, or anywhere else, to suffer.  In an October 2009 policy recommendation, Women’s Division directors reaffirmed principles of the United Methodist Church and United Methodist Women to lift up health care as a human right; and the right to quality health care for ALL within our borders; regardless of age, income, race, gender or status; including coverage for reproductive health care.”   In light of this, the Women’s Division is studying the bills passed by our Congress. Of particular concern are the requirements that place additional burdens on those who can least afford to pay. A fine for people who cannot afford insurance premiums does not seem to be a reasonable way to help people whose incomes are already low and whose employers do not provide health benefits.   A second concern is about how the debate around abortion services will be resolved. Debate at United Methodist General Conferences since 1972 has shown that individual United Methodists have differing views on abortion. However, this medical procedure is legal and the United Methodist Church states, in our United Methodist Book of Discipline, that the procedure is permissible under certain circumstances though not as a means of birth control or for gender selection (see Para. 161. J).   Further, in the United Methodist Book of Resolutions (No. 2026 “Responsible Parenthood”) the Church “encourage[s] our churches and common society”… “to safeguard the legal option of abortion under standards of sound medical practice, and to make abortions available to women without regard to economic status.”     Denying coverage for abortion services for women who purchase health coverage through one of the new “exchanges” or by a provider that also has a government funded plan could cause desperate or poor women to resort to unsafe measures and to take personal medical risk—adding additional burdens to those who are already facing financial hardships.   In its October 2009 recommendation, the Women’s Division also stated, “No national health plan could be complete without providing the full range of family planning services that promote reproductive health and freedom, access to contraception, comprehensive sexuality education, and assure confidentiality so that women seek needed care in a timely way.(UMC Resolution No. 2026 “Responsible Parenthood” and No. 3208 “In Response to Hospital Mergers”) Naturally, we continue to work on issues of economic justice for women and children as well as supporting efforts to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.   A third concern is the near consensus within the House and Senate that undocumented immigrants should not receive government supported health care coverage. This challenges our church’s policy of inclusion. It poses troubling questions about our values as a nation when asking, “Who is our neighbor?” and literally considering who might live or die. It also undermines a basic goal of the health care reform bill, which seeks to insure all in the United States, by leaving out millions who would continue to rely on costly emergency care as their sole option.     Women’s Division directors affirmed the General Conference’s statement, that “no national health plan could be complete without addressing the needs of and providing access to the health care for “all persons within the borders of the United States” (UMC Resolution No. 3201 “Health Care for All in the United States”), including citizens, residents and undocumented immigrants. This is both a justice and a public health imperative. “Excluding access to health care promotes an increase in the demand on emergency rooms to provide that daily care or it forces migrants fearful of seeking medical care to live in continued pain and suffering.  The United States benefits from migrant labor, but migrants have been forced to live in the shadows, unable to fully contribute or receive appropriate care.” (UMC Resolution No. 3281 “Welcoming the Migrant to the US”)    For more than 140 years, United Methodist Women members have supported the work of improving health and education for women, children and youth around the world. We will continue to do so as we put our faith into action as members committed to health care for all.   *Harriett J. Olson is the chief executive for the Women’s Division of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries.Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:53:56 GMT