07645
October 9, 2007

Needed: a hand, not a handout

Joining Hands Against Hunger seeks to help people in other nations have a voice

by John Sniffen

LOUISVILLE — Joining Hands Against Hunger needs partner presbyteries for its newest relationship country, Sri Lanka, Lionel Derenoncourt said during a workshop at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission ’07 conference here.

Derenoncourt, coordinator of the seven-year-old Joining Hands program, said the PC(USA) started networking with Sri Lankan religious and non-governmental organizations in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami that killed more than 31,000 on the small island nation.

Many countries and independent or church-based organizations — including Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) — provided relief after the tsunami, but some Sri Lankans began to complain that their government was stealing their land and their livelihoods.

“They said the government was taking the land along the coast and leasing it to multi-national companies for resorts for tourists,” said Derenoncourt. Traditional communal ownership of the land beneath villages and the loss of the few existing ownership documents in the tsunami have enabled this land-grab, he said.

The Sri Lankans also said fishermen are being forced to give up individual operations and instead go to work for large fishing companies.

As has been the case in the other eight countries where Joining Hands supports local networks, local churches and other organizations asked for the outside support, in this case through PDA officials doing ongoing post-tsunami relief.

Partner presbyteries in the United States have not yet been found for the Sri Lankan network. With 600 visitors from around the denomination at the World Mission ’07 conference, Derenoncourt took advantage of the occasion to make a pitch for partners.

He noted that Joining Hands Against Hunger works primarily through accompaniment and advocacy. 

In this case accompaniment involves meeting with and listening to local citizens, and standing with them as they work to get answers from government and corporate officials.

“It is a humble presence,” said Derenoncourt. “We say ‘We feel for you and we’re going to walk the path with you.’ We don’t offer solutions; we ask them what they feel are the solutions.” The process involves “shedding the arrogance of the power of our money and of our being Americans,” he added.

Advocacy involves helping local residents hold government and business leaders accountable for their actions. It is our Christian duty to alert the world about what is happening in these countries, overcoming either geographic isolation or the efforts of those in power to hide the truth, Derenoncourt said.

Examples of successful work by the program include helping spotlight deadly pollution caused by a U.S.-owned smelter operating in Peru, and damage to the environment and personal property caused by a petroleum pipeline built across Cameroon by Exxon-Mobil.

Other countries (and presbyteries) already involved in Joining Hands Against Hunger are India (Sacramento), Peru (Giddings-Lovejoy), Bolivia (Newark and San Francisco), South Africa (Western Reserve), Lesotho (Los Ranchos), Cameroon (Chicago and Twin City Area), Israel-Palestine (Greater Atlanta) and Egypt (Des Moines).

Derenoncourt noted that there is a PC(USA) mission co-worker in each of these countries who works with the network.

Participation in Joining Hands normally starts with a core group of congregations, which get the approval of their presbytery, said Derenoncourt. Individual congregations may also participate in existing networks.

John Sniffen is associate editor of Presbyterians Today magazine.