Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) Blogs

Together for Justice

International Development and Advocacy

The Beginning of Joining Hands

Reflecting on a 20 Year Journey By Lionel Derenoncourt | The former PHP Associate for International Hunger Concerns In 1993-94, the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP) was drowning in international funding requests. We were receiving hundreds of requests from groups unknown to us. Dozens of applications were submitted twice a year from countries like India, Sierra… Read more »

A Prayer for Haiti

Haitians strive to regain balance 10 years after massive earthquake By Cindy Corell | Mission Coworker Loving God, we pray in this moment for all who suffered through the earthquake that struck Haiti at 4:53 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010. Those seconds that counted less than a minute destroyed lives. More than 200,000 people… Read more »

Fifteen Years of Land Rights Work in Sri Lanka

Praja Abhilasha network has been fighting alongside communities to regain lands taken during wartime and after the tsunami By Raajan Francis | Praja Abhilasha On December 26, 2004, a powerful tsunami waves devastated the Sri Lankan coastal areas around the country destroying fishing villages, flooding rice fields and plantations and sowing grief among rural and… Read more »

Twenty Years of Work for Transparency in Mining, Oil and Gas

RELUFA advocates for improved policies on transparency in revenues from the exploitation of natural resources By Jaff Bamenjo | RELUFA The Joining Hands Initiative (JH) was launched 20 years ago by the Presbyterian Church USA through its Presbyterian Hunger Program, marking a new approach to its hunger ministry. The approach is anchored on the understanding… Read more »

Anglophone Crisis Pushes Young Girls into Prostitution for Survival

Armed conflict in Cameroon leaves displaced families desperate for food and shelter By Chi Nixon and Savannah Smith | RELUFA, interns The “Anglophone Crisis” in Cameroon has morphed into an armed struggle. Over 2,000 people have been killed and over half a million people have fled to other cities within Cameroon or foreign countries including… Read more »

Churches Unite in Defense of Earth

Red Uniendo Manos Peru helps organize Peru Node of Churches and Mining By Jed Koball | Mission Co-worker Peru ¨We need a change of paradigm in all our economic activities, including mining. ¨ With these words, the Peru Node of Churches and Mining publically launched its effort to motivate the universal church to stand with… Read more »

Haiti’s violent protests rooted in years of injustice

FONDAMA continues fight for a better future By Cindy Corell | Mission Co-worker Haiti One in three people in Haiti have no idea how to find their next meal, a decline from already dire statistics of hunger. That conclusion was reached by researchers for the United Nation’s World Food Programme, studying data in October as… Read more »

FONDAMA celebrates 10 years amid chaos

Joining Hands Haiti continues to fight for peasant farmers as political and economic instability grow By Ernst Abraham | FONDAMA, Joining Hands Haiti The 10-year anniversary of FONDAMA, the Joining Hands network in Haiti, has come at a difficult time for the country.  All citizens are protesting. As the population took to the streets, the… Read more »

Fires in Indonesia and Beyond

Palm oil industry fuels land grab, deforestation and climate change By Eileen Schuhmann | Presbyterian Hunger Program Imagine looking straight ahead and seeing a perfectly straight line of oil palm trees. Everywhere you look, to the left, to the right, at every angle, a perfectly straight line. This is what it is like in an… Read more »

Asking for Prayers for Haiti

By Cindy Corell | Mission Coworker Haiti Our neighbors in Haiti, so accustomed to dire poverty, are once again under the fire of deadly crises. Violent protests and rampant criminal activity have locked down most urban centers and villages across the country. Protesting deep corruption and embezzlement of billions of dollars from a fuel program,… Read more »