The following are selected highlights from among IOCC's projects.
HAITI
Tamara gave birth to a baby girl after being rescued from the rubble of her destroyed apartment building in Port-au-Prince. Pictured with her is the nurse who attended her labor, Anne Blaufus with Medical Teams International (MTI), one of IOCC's key partners in Haiti. IOCC and MTI delivered $2.2 million in critically-needed medicines and hospital equipment that benefitted 45,000 patients, including Tamara. Since the January 12 earthquake, IOCC has delivered a total of over $3 million in aid including delivery of water purification and sanitation equipment, wheelchairs and crutches, tents and shelter materials, hygiene kits, fuel, food, blankets and mattresses. Thousands of IOCC volunteers throughout North America assembled the hygiene kits for Haiti's survivors.
ETHIOPIA
Thousands of Ethiopian children are afflicted with a dreaded disease called podconiosis, which involves the grotesque swelling of limbs. The disease is contracted by walking barefoot in alkalic clay soil that causes open sores and ulcers. Fortunately, the disease is preventable. With the support of the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, IOCC is working to give hope to affected individuals by distributing shoes and providing training to prevent and treat this painful condition. Since 2004, IOCC has been involved with a number of health initiatives for Ethiopia including HIV/AIDS prevention and care program that has reached 9 million Ethiopians through a partnership between IOCC and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
GAZA
Whether training women to create farming cooperatives or assisting families who were cut off from their farmlands by the West Bank Barrier to grow vegetable gardens, IOCC's assistance to the people of the Holy Land emphasizes self-sustaining initiatives that address poverty and promote economic independence. Today, IOCC is giving beleaguered families in Gaza a chance to work and to recover from the 2008 conflict through a $2 million program that will provide jobs to nearly 1,700 people including the digging of agricultural water catchments and the recovery of farmland and general clean-up. In addition, children and youth who sustained war trauma will receive therapeutic activities from counselors provided by IOCC.
UGANDA
The St. Mary Parish of the Uganda Orthodox Church in the village of Katente provides a haven for orphans and vulnerable children to get food and education. IOCC is helping to support St. Mary's primary and secondary school through a new agricultural project. A poultry farm and corn mill being constructed by IOCC at the school will provide students with a marketable skill. Local villagers will also benefit from the ability to mill their corn crop locally instead of incurring the expense of milling in the capital city of Kampala. And the school will be able to provide more children with a chance at an education because of the costs it will defer through the income brought in by the project.
For information about other countries where people have been served through IOCC, please use the drop-down box:
