Church body appeals for help for victims of fighting

Church World Service (CWS), a US-based relief agency, has appealed for US $55,000 for a programme to help displaced women and children subjected to sexual abuse in Lofa County, northern Liberia, scene of fighting between government and rebel forces. The money will go to basic emergency health care for rape victims, material aid and small grants for income-generating activities, according to CWS, which is the relief agency of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the US. The organisation said its Liberian partner, Concerned Christian Communities, had started providing the target group with psychosocial assistance. The Liberian NGO is also providing craft training for rape survivors, along with seeds and tools for traumatised victims undergoing counseling. It is also trying to eradicate prostitution and idleness among target beneficiaries, CWS said. The programme, due to end on 31 December, is being implemented among internally displaced persons who fled Lofa and neighbouring Gbarpolu County because of the fighting, and sought refuge in Bomi County, which is south of Gbarpolu. [For more information see http://www.cwserp.org/reportview.php3?entry=264 ]