Friends and colleagues of a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance employee who died this month are celebrating his life with kind words and remembrances.
PDA was notified last week of the sudden death of Sheku Sillah, its Regional Project Manager for Africa and Asia, who passed away after experiencing chest pains.
A virtual discussion exploring the connection between poverty and global debt systems will be held noon Eastern Time on Thursday, Nov. 3, by various ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency and their partners.
On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria’s devastation to Puerto Rico, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance personnel on Tuesday were describing a different scene despite the record rainfall that Fiona brought to the island over the weekend before turning toward the Dominican Republic and smaller islands in the Caribbean.
Two-thirds of the way through Wednesday’s session of CPJ Training, moderator Christian Brooks of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness turned the conversation to today’s headlines.
While the misery and devastation millions of Ukrainians are facing currently dominate the headlines, broadcasts and many podcasts, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo, who coordinates Presbyterian Disaster Assistance response in Latin America and the Caribbean, continues to see the long-term effects of natural disasters and the spike in refugees that’s resulted.
Growing up in Puerto Rico, the Rev. Edwin González-Castillo recalls Los Posadas and Three Kings celebrations where he and his friends would awaken people at 3 o’clock in the morning — even their favorite teachers weren’t exempt — with celebratory music of the season. Amazingly, those aroused from their slumber would in turn feed the revelers.
At first, nothing about Stillman College reminded Johnykqua Bevans and Rayondre Roberts of their home on the tropical island of Grand Bahama: not Alabama, not the food, not their classmates and not the as-yet unfamiliar Presbyterian tradition in which the college is steeped.
But then there was the choir.
There has been a lot of talk in the past year about twin pandemics and multiple pandemics, including the COVID-19 virus, extrajudicial killings of people who are Black, poverty, and other societal ills exacerbated by the circumstances of the 2020s, thus far.
But one of the quietest pandemics has been gender-based violence, particularly violence against women.
Two-and-a-half weeks after a 7.2- magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) partners in the country are working to meet basic needs and looking to the future, supported by gifts from Presbyterians across the country.
