Food For All DC

Food for All is a non-profit organization that strives to provide emergency food to those who are in temporary situations of need. Our clients are generally elderly citizens, handicapped, or single mothers with young children. Each week we accept referrals from social workers who have been contacted by individuals, and in some cases, we receive calls directly from individuals in need. Read more

Safeguarding lives of women & children

AMURT’s model of community-based collaborative healthcare in Nigeria has proven effective, with over 1965 successful births taking place in 2016 in the seven AMURT-supported health centers in three local government areas in Ebonyi state. In Offia Oji alone, 85% of the women are coming to the health center for delivery. This is remarkable given that previsouly the vast majority of women were giving birth at home or with a traditional birth attendant, a risky endeavor if faced with any birth-related complications. Read more

Syria Refugee Crisis

AMURT has been active in Lebanon since 2012 supporting Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese host communities. Since 2015 the focus has been creating a pathway to education, providing psycho-social support and giving youth a chance for self-expression and supporting their struggle for livelihoods. Read more

Nepal earthquake response 2015-2017

AMURT has been instrumental in normalizing school life for over a thousand students after the traumatizing 2015 earthquake. The initial focus was to make the schools useable again, so AMURT retrofitted 25 damaged classrooms, and rebuilt four new classrooms, in 13 schools. Read more

Mama D’s Feed the Homeless Los Angeles

AMURT has been involved with the hunger problem amongst the poor and the homeless in Los Angeles for the last 25 years. Our breakfast feeding through Mama D’s Kitchen is legendary amongst the folks of Skid Row. It makes a huge difference in their lives. The program is maintained entirely by volunteers and public donations. Read more

Kenya health and education programs

AMURT is establishing a number of regional hubs in Kenya that will serve as engines of development into the foreseeable future. These development centers reflect AMURT’s commitment to long-term dialogue and action with local communities to support their efforts to improve life. Read more

Haiti: Hurricane Matthew

Haiti: Hurricane Matthew

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The most powerful Hurricane in the Caribbean in a decade passed over Haiti with devastating results. Violent winds and heavy downpours have deeply affected the country that has not recovered from the mega earthquake in 2010 and remains the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

We evacuated all the kids and staff at our center in Port au Prince the day before the storm hit, (no easy feat!).  We were especially concerned for our center/school/children’s home, worrying the retaining walls would not hold up and we would lose everything to the force of the river.  We monitored the storm all day, and were able to stay in touch with teams around the country via skype and whatsapp. The hurricane ended up bearing more west than initially predicted, sparing Port au Prince from being flattened. There was localized flooding, loss of homes and a number of bridges were washed out, but our center was still standing when the storm moved on.

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All our kids and staff have returned and the school is open. Our team in the Southeast experienced tremendous amounts of rain and some flooding, but our school and all the programs are safe.

Unfortunately other parts of  Haiti were not so fortunate.  In the southeast, many villages have been devastated. The town of Jeremie in particu;ar was hit hard. In a recent report from a pilot doing a fly over he states: Jeremie, “It’s wiped out. Barely 1 percent of houses are standing. The people are alive … they survived. But soon, they may starve. They’re cutoff.” He went on to say here are some villages where they still haven’t been able to hear from a single person.

The Anse Rouge district in the northwest was badly affected as well. We have sent in a small team to do an assessement in the southwest and will follow up with aid. Here is an excerpt from the repost sent by our team coordinator in the Anse Rouge area in the NW:

“The heaviest impact has been felt in the coastal villages which have been battered by 10′ high waves and 75 kmh winds, destroying houses and roads.  The main connection between Gonaives to the south and Anse Rouge has been cut off.  The % of houses damaged moderately to severely is still being assessed, but it is already clear that the heaviest impacted areas have been Anse Rouge, Coridon, Point des Mangles, and Gran Savan.  Fishing boats and equipment have been destroyed in virtually all the coastal villages.  The extent of the damage reaches the mountainous areas all the way up to Commune Terre Neuve, with reports coming of farms and roads washed off and livestock lost.  As of today heavy rains continue, the dry rivers in the area have cut off connections between villages, making thorough assessment in the entire Commune more difficult at this point.

The main type of assistance which we can foresee being most useful is unconditional cash vouchers to support families in shelters and those most vulnerable, house reconstruction/construction, livelihoods assistance (primarily fishing and salt livelihoods), and seeds/tools.  We will be meeting with our traditional partners here in Haiti and will let you know what kind of emergency programs will be activated here in Haiti.  I will be present at the National Emergency Coordination meetings in Port-au-Prince and will share all relevant information as well. Please do not hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, and we’ll greatly welcome any news of possible assistance for this emergency effort”

A big concern now is to make sure that people get safe drinking water and safe water for washing as the threat of a major cholera outbreak is very real.  The doctors in Haiti are saying “though the storm has passed, experience tells us that the worst is yet to come.”

If you would like to be part of this relief effort, please consider making a tax- deductible donation now.  Thanks much.

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Haiti: Hurricane Matthew

The most powerful Hurricane in the Caribbean in a decade passed over Haiti with devastating results. AMURT has a large team in Haiti who from the first day fanned out to remote communities to assess and assist. You can donate for these efforts here. Read more

Romania: Familia AMURTEL’s newest arrivals!

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After a long bureaucratic struggle – four new children at last arrived in Familia AMURTEL. They are from the same family, but had been separated when taken into protective custody. Two were in foster care, and two were in a large state institution.  Thanks to the efforts of Corina, our dedicated case manager, and our whole Familia AMURTEL team, they have finally been reunited and are settling into their new home at Familia AMURTEL Panatau!

They are delighted to be together and are bonding with the older children and our house-mothers. Their birth mother lives in a nearby village, and is able to visit them on weekends, which is another reason why the case manager from the Child Protection Department wanted them to be with us.
It is lovely to have the house filled with the laughter and happy noisy sounds of small children again!  Our older teenagers are enjoying the opportunity to be big brothers! It is a historic moment for everyone.  ◆

Canada: New Life for Syrians

 

Hundreds of refugees have been positively overwhelmed by the warm welcome from the Canadians, many who greeted the newly arrived Syrian families with balloons and flowers at the airport.  What a sense of relief to finally have a chance to put down roots and settle into family life.
Initially Amurtel offered free English classes to the women living in the temporary housing set up by the government. These were met with tremendous enthusiasm. After a month or so, the families were moved to permanent housing, and our team continues to visit with individual families, providing support in learning the ropes of living in a new city/country/culture. Many families do not yet speak enough English to get by and so rely on the Amurtel volunteers to help sort out bills, navigate school enrollment forms for their kids, etc. Team members also find much needed supplies for each family, helping them create warm and cozy homes. Maher, a man stricken with polio as a young boy, had been dragging himself around with crutches, something that was both painful and debilitating. He and his family were ecstatic when Amurtel delivered an electric wheelchair. He said he felt his whole life had just opened up for him.
Many of the families Amurtel works with speak of the grueling last few years with fear and sadness.  They have recounted to us the terror they experienced as their homes and neighborhoods were bombed while they huddled with their children in basements; the long and dangerous journey to flee the battles, trying to protect their children as best they could. These people were nurses, engineers, teachers, farmers in Syria, living normal family lives in close knit communities. And then the war came to their towns and they were forced to flee with whatever they could carry. Slowly those memories are being balanced by ones of their children excited to make new friends and learn a new language, of making new friends themselves, both within the Syrian community and with the Canadians who have stepped forward to welcome these new neighbors. It is wonderful to see the healing and transformation a hand extended in friendship can bring to an otherwise bewildering and often scary journey.

Right now there are more people fleeing their countries than at any time over the past 50 years; people desperate to escape violence, famine and persecution, seeking a safe place to raise their children.  The United Nations High Commission for Refugees 2016 Global Appeal projects there will be approximately 60 million refugees and internally displaced persons each year from 2014 through 2017.  That is one person for every 122 people worldwide.  Service in this area is desperately needed and currently Amurtel is working with Syrian families in Ottawa, Canada and Athens, Greece as well as Dominicans of Haitian descent seeking safety in the Anse Pitre area of south east Haiti.