Potter's House serves a free, well-balanced, nutritious meal each day to an average of 350 guests. The meal is served between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm. For many in our community, this may be the only nutritious meal they receive that day.

Life is transformed--particularly for women and girls--when a community builds a sand dam and gains ready access to safe water, with support from Church World Service. Produced by RippleEffectImages.org.

Before the war in Bosnia, Mehmed Hadjic built a pretty white house with a red tile roof in the village of Sevarlije. When the war came, the Hadjics, along with many others, were driven from their homes. When the conflict ended, the Hadjics were among the returnee families. But, the sight of nearly total destruction was too much for Mehmed; his heart literally could not bear it.

His widow, Alma, and their children now live in a rebuilt house in their old village, and continue to survive these hard times. Most of the returning families have no dependable source of income and lack access to seeds and tools necessary to work the land.

Church World Service and our local partner have distributed seeds, tools, and machinery that years of war have made scarce. This helps the families have enough food to eat and a surplus in order to retain seed stock for the next growing season. The surplus produce is also sold in the market, generating income for the families and revitalizing the local economy.

Now Alma and her family are growing and harvesting vegetables from their garden and fruit from their orchard again. Through the “give back” process, they are giving a portion of their harvest to be used by soup kitchens in nearby towns.

“I have three teenage daughters, and I don’t want to take any risks,” says Muheha. “We put the blankets on the ground and try to sleep. It’s not easy and we’re very tired during the day. It's worst when it rains. We try to protect ourselves with the banana leaves, but we still get wet and cold.”

Long-running military conflicts between rival militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to threaten civilians in some areas of the country, while in other areas families are beginning to restart their lives.

In the northeastern part of the country, many displaced people have returned to their villages. Church World Service is supporting partner efforts to help these families restart their life.

Efforts include assisting 1,200 people with seeds, tools, small breeding livestock, agricultural technical assistance, and reconstruction of a vital farm-to-market road.

Mohamad Siraj is a welder today, with his own shop in Dhodial, Pakistan, thanks to Church World Service-supported vocational training.

A farmer before, Siraj lost his home and his livelihood in the October 2005 earthquake in northern Pakistan. The quake left him, his wife, and their three children in a camp for the displaced. Siraj says he spent months doing nothing, just sitting around in front of their tent. Then came an opportunity to join the CWS training program. At his graduation, CWS provided him with a complete set of welding equipment.

“There’s no end to the work to be done, and I work every day, making shutters, doors, gates, and grills,” says Siraj. “I’m making money, taking care of my family, and looking at where we can build a house.”

More than 1,700 quake survivors are taking CWS-supported
construction trade courses. CWS continues to assist quake-affected communities with shelter kits, food packages, water and sanitation, basic health services, psychosocial care, and more than 100,000 native trees for reforesting denuded hillsides.