Rev. Edwin González-Castillo

‘Just because you don’t see it in the news doesn’t mean it’s not happening’

While the misery and devastation millions of Ukrainians are facing currently dominate the headlines, broadcasts and many podcasts, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, who coordinates Presbyterian Disaster Assistance response in Latin America and the Caribbean, continues to see the long-term effects of natural disasters and the spike in refugees that’s resulted.

Climate change webinar focuses on disasters

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has seen weather patterns change during this era of growing concern about the impact of climate change on the planet.

The Christmas season is far from over

Growing up in Puerto Rico, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo recalls Los Posadas and Three Kings celebrations where he and his friends would awaken people at 3 o’clock in the morning — even their favorite teachers weren’t exempt — with celebratory music of the season. Amazingly, those aroused from their slumber would in turn feed the revelers.

When home is a world away

At first, nothing about Stillman College reminded Johnykqua Bevans and Rayondre Roberts of their home on the tropical island of Grand Bahama: not Alabama, not the food, not their classmates and not the as-yet unfamiliar Presbyterian tradition in which the college is steeped. But then there was the choir.

Frank discussions of gender-based violence in English and Spanish

There has been a lot of talk in the past year about twin pandemics and multiple pandemics, including the COVID-19 virus, extrajudicial killings of people who are Black, poverty, and other societal ills exacerbated by the circumstances of the 2020s, thus far. But one of the quietest pandemics has been gender-based violence, particularly violence against women.

‘Every day they have to fight’

David Guervil, who’s been consulting for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in Haiti throughout political unrest, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Saturday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake and the tropical storm that followed, told an online gathering Thursday that most Haitians survive “on a daily basis. Every day they have to fight. Every day they struggle for the next day.”