JDC Receives Overwhelming Response to Plea for Aid to Rwandan Refugees

After only one week of fund-raising efforts, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has received over $300,000 in donations to aid refugees fleeing strife-ridden Rwanda.

The overwhelming response both in volume and sum of contributions surpasses the results of previous “open mailbox” funds, according to JDC spokesman Amir Shaviv.

He attributed the response at least in part to two full-page ads placed by the JDC late last month in The New York Times.

More than 2,500 individual donations have been received from Jews and non-Jews. The largest single contribution was $10,000, made by a Washington law firm.

“The victims are so innocent, so helpless, and the tragedy has been delivered to American living rooms by the media,” said Shaviv, speculating on what he called the “amazing” success of the effort.

For many donors, the plight of the Rwandan refugees evokes memories of their own suffering.

One Holocaust survivor recalled the second chance he was given due to the kindness of others. “I was helped by JDC after World War II in Europe (and) when I came to America,” he wrote, thanking JDC and urging the group to “please help the Rwandan people.”

Similarly, a former Cambodian refugee wrote, “I know exactly how they need help. I was myself a refugee in Thailand before coming to the United States. I was crying out for help.”

Shaviv suggested that the partnership forged last month between black and Jewish organizations to provide relief to the refugees helped broaden the spectrum of contributors, because people recognize the endeavor as “a real human effort.”

The JDC is working on this effort with the African-American Institute, a multiracial, multiethnic organization that specializes in creating mutual understanding between the United States and Africa and developing human resources in Africa.

COORDINATING WITH 15 BLACK ORGANIZATIONS

Some 15 black organizations are participating in the project under the coordination of the institute.

A JDC medical team that was previously operating in Ethiopia is now at work in Zaire, where many of the Rwandan refugees have fled. The group is conveying to JDC officials here what the greatest needs of the refugees are so that the funds can be spent appropriately.

In a statement, the JDC quoted Dr. Rick Hodes, who heads the five-person medical team, describing the situation in the refugee camps.

“Imagine a Woodstock lasting 50 miles; over a million refugees living over 20 miles from a water source, the stench of dying bodies, cholera,” said Hodes.

One of the most critical needs of the refugees is purified water, according to Hodes. Several water points have been established by the Red Cross and other relief organizations, but hundreds more are needed.

Hodes stressed that saving a life is often as simple as giving some fresh water or administering I.V., but that many still die because helping hands and materials are so lacking.

Upon request of the medical team, JDC is purchasing, among other medications, Cypro, a strong antibiotic which is sometimes called the “wonder drug” because of the broad range of conditions it can treat.

Hodes said that each doctor on the JDC team saves 15-30 people a day “who would otherwise die where they are.” But because doctors in Zaire are limited, the doctors can only see to the sickest people. Two more biomedical units are expected to be sent to Zaire, so that more lives can be saved each day.

500 tents have been purchased by JDC and will be shipped to Rwanda this week. The tents will service refugees who are saved at rest and shelter stations on their way back to Rwanda.

Tipper Gore, wife of Vice President Al Gore, who is currently visiting the area to witness first-hand the situation and volunteer her help, spent an hour with the JDC medical team in Goma, Zaire, on Monday.

JDC President Milton Wolf welcomed Gore’s visit as “an important indication of the sensitivity of the American public to the terrible plight of the Rwandan people.”