Grants available for Older Adult Ministry

Grants not exceeding $2500 are now available for older adult ministries from the United Methodist Committee on Older Adult Ministries. The purpose of the grants is to help annual conferences, districts and local churches develop intentional, innovative and creative ministries with older adults. In 2002, 22 grants for older adult ministry were awarded for a total of $42,500. In 2003, applications will be accepted until June 30. To request funding, grant applications must be completed and submitted with a postmark no later than June 30, 2003. For applications, contact: Terri Kline, Assistant to the Director, Center on Aging & Older Adult Ministries, General Board of Discipleship, PO Box 340003, Nashville, TN 37203. Phone: (615) 340-7177. Fax: (615) 340-7071. E-mail: tkline@gbod.org.

Lambuth Fraternity Launches New Children’s Reading Program

Lambuth University believes service to the community is a way to develop the person as a whole. So, beginning in February, the Epsilon Psi chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity will launch a new Children’s Reading Program with the mission of enhancing a child’s love of reading in a positive environment. The program has been developed for children of all ages and will be presented each Saturday from 1:00 - 2:00 PM on the second floor of the Luther L. Gobbel Library. The fraternity will participate in games with the kids and read from fairy tales and other assorted books. Refreshments will be provided. For more information or to sign up, contact Justin Johnson at 731-426-7767 or 731-608-1496.

LAMBUTH STUDENT WINS DESIGN COMPETITION FOR INTERNATIONAL ROCK-A-BILLY HALL OF FAME LOGO

Lambuth University and the International Rock-a-Billy Hall of Fame, Inc. announced the selection of a new logo designed for the Hall of Fame by Lambuth student T. J. Powell. The logo was selected from dozens submitted as part of a competition organized by the Hall of Fame and Lambuth Professor of Art Lendon Noe. Henry Harrison, President of the Hall of Fame, said, “Lambuth has always provided an outstanding art education experience. With this competition, the faculty and students had an opportunity to take what they learned and apply it in a way that helps them, the university, and the Jackson community.”  Mr. Harrison commissioned Lambuth’s Lendon Noe to produce two ‘larger-than life’ portraits of Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. The Hall Of Fame attracts visitors from all over the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Students win Loans, scholarships for 2002-03

Listed below are the Memphis Conference students who received loans or  scholarships from the General Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry for the 2002-2003 school year:

Steven Callicoatt II - Adamsville First

Jared Canada - Henderson First

Brittany Carr - Reidland UMC

Monica Clayborne - Golden UMC

Emily Connor - Holly Springs UMC

Margaret Cooper - Henderson First

Harry Durbin Jr. - Collierville UMC

Gary Elrod - McKendree UMC

Laura Finnern - Bartlett UMC

Clifford Hathaway - Capleville UMC

Lewis Kizer - Milan First

Vickie Lawson - Camden First

Tiffany McGee - New Life UMC

Jacinda McGuire - Bemis UMC

Linda McKnight - Christ UMC

Sarah McNeal - Covenant UMC

Kristin Melvin - Christ UMC

Charles Overton - Union Grove UMC

Jessica Ramer - Jackson First

Justin Ramer - Jackson First

Jenny Redding - Jackson First

Jonathan Rhodes - Texarkana First

Sarah Roper - New Liberty UMC

Rebecca Russell - Martin First

Rebecca Stephens - St. Luke’s UMC

Craig Tate - Schoolfield UMC

Meredith Taylor - Mullins UMC

Whitney Ward - Henderson First

Kenneth Weatherford - Christ UMC

Jennifer Williams - Asbury UMC

Robyn Wilson - Collierville UMC

Church agency fights slavery in Kosovo

UMCOR rescues Eastern European young women from underworld

 Murals in the town of Gjilani express thanks to the United States for the many programs developed by the U.S. and by the UMCOR-NGO unit in Kosovo. The UMCOR programs include one for helping women and children from Eastern Europe who have been kidnapped and forced into prostitution.

Box:  “Tatiana,” 16,  was kidnapped from her village in Romania by a group of men who forced her to work as a prostitute. When she tried to refuse, she was beaten and burned with cigarettes. She was kept in a house with other girls who were also forced to work in the bar. They were given almost nothing to eat and got little sleep. The owner regularly threatened to beat her again if she didn’t do what the clients asked. After two months, Tatiana managed to run away.  She slept one night outside and then the next day was able to stop a car and get a ride to the police station. When she arrived at the UMCOR shelter, she was very thankful for the support, and appreciated what a warm and friendly place it was, in great contrast to the bar where she had been held. Most of all she was relieved that she would be able to return home.

By Gretchen Ansorge

Women’s Program Manager, UMCOR-Kosovo

Young Eastern European women kidnapped into slavery and prostitution are being rescued by the United Methodist Committee on Relief in Kosovo.

One woman from Moldova who received assistance from UMCOR tells the following story:

“Many young women from my town were travelling abroad for work. I thought working abroad was also my chance to earn some money. A woman I knew from the town was organizing all those trips. I asked her to help and she promised she would. She swore on her children’s lives that I would work as a cleaner or a waitress but not as a prostitute. She helped me to get a passport. She introduced me to a man and said he would take me to Italy. After we passed the border to Romania, he told me he had bought me from her. I was shocked and scared. From that moment on, I was passed from hand to hand. Men bought and sold me, moving from apartments to houses to hotels, crossing borders illegally. Eventually I arrived in a bar in Kosovo, was locked inside and forced into prostitution. My passport was taken away long before, the traffickers passing it from one to the other each time I was sold. In the bar, I was never paid; I could not go out by myself.”

Over the past decade, increasing numbers of women and children from Eastern Europe have been brought to Kosovo by international criminal networks for the purpose of sexual exploitation. 

Estimates are that each year hundreds of women are kidnapped, tricked, or forced to come to Kosovo. The victims are most often from rural areas in Eastern Europe, such as Romania and Moldova.

In many cases, the girls are approached by a woman who promises them work as a waitress or cleaner somewhere in Western Europe. Living in economically depressed areas, they see this as an opportunity for independence and financial security.

Through agents and brokers who arrange the travel and job placements, the women are forced to surrender their passports and are “escorted” to their destinations. Some women then learn that they have been deceived about the nature of the work they will do. Most have been lied to about the financial arrangements and conditions of their employment. All find themselves in coercive and abusive situations. 

Traffickers use coercive tactics to control their victims. With little chance to escape, they are held in unsanitary conditions in bars and private homes and are forced to engage in unprotected sex with clients.

These women suffer unfathomable physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their captors and are denied basic human rights. They have little to no freedom of movement and are further isolated because they are unable to communicate in the local language.  The threat of reprisals against them or their families and the lack of identity papers prevent many of the victims from escaping.

The international community has worked to respond to this problem, but at the same time is contributing to it.  Kosovo is currently administered by the United Nations. KFOR soldiers from around the world, including the United States, are stationed there to provide security. The UN police force regularly raids the bars, and when they identify possible victims of trafficking, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is contacted.

In cooperation with UMCOR and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), IOM offers assistance to the women so that they might return home. 

However, the women who have been trafficked report that many of their clients are UN soldiers. Efforts are being made to raise the awareness of the soldiers, as well as the general public, about what trafficking is and the conditions in which these women are being forced to live, but the problem remains and more must be done to discourage the patronage of such institutions.

In July 2000, UMCOR-Kosovo opened the only shelter in the area for international victims of trafficking. 

The Crisis Shelter for Trafficked Women has since that time received and hidden more than 250 women and children who stay there while arrangements are made for their safe return home.

During their two to three week stay, the staff works with them. A medical officer ensures that they receive medical care and a psychologist meets with them each day to help them deal with the traumatizing events of their past. They are  also offered information on reproductive health and training in basic computer skills and English language classes. 

In addition, the staff arranges for social activities. The aim of the shelter is to create a home-like environment where the women spend time with one another, helping with the cooking and cleaning and sharing their meals together.

  The number of women and girls trafficked in the Balkans continues to rise.   The Crisis Shelter is in critical need of additional funds to remain open.  UMCOR calls on members of the United Methodist Church to support the Crisis Shelter, the only shelter in Kosovo for international victims, so that it may continue to serve these women and children.  

Donations can be made to the UMCOR-NGO Advance #982353-7 with the designation “Kosovo Crisis Shelter.”