ACT Assembly - Page 7 of 11

Goat rearing brings hope in South Sudan

ACT member the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) is active in South Sudan, working to address the needs of conflict-affected communities, returnees and vulnerable groups through various projects to enhance the provision of basic services and sustainable livelihoods. One such programme is UMCOR’s Food Security Project which supports and empowers families to engage in sustainable agriculture and food security programmes.

Achol Dut Lual is a resident of Gok Machar which is located in the Aweil North region of the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State of South Sudan. Achol Dut Lual is one of the 116 people supported by UMCOR’s project. The project is supported with funds from the Global Board of General Ministries.

Since her return from Darfur, Achol has lived with her son and his wife and their 5 children. The couple made their livelihood selling logs and grass at the market. However, a government ban on logging and grass-cutting has interfered with the family’s source of income. Achol and her family relied on their neighbors for food but the increasing costs of living made it difficult for their neighbors to continue to support an additional family. Achol began to lose hope that she would live to see a better future.

Through UMCOR’s Food Security Project, Achol was given five goats to help her and her family to be able to provide for themselves once again. “My sons,” Achol said to UMCOR food security staff, “look at me, you can see from my appearance that I have suffered. I feel weak and tired. I last had a meal yesterday morning but I remained hopeful even though I did not know where help would come from next. I don’t know how I can thank your organization for this support.

“You have rescued me from poverty and I will take care of these goats with my life. Today my pain has been turned into happiness and my tears have been dried. I thank you,” she continued.

Achol has named the male goat after the Founding Father of South Sudan Dr. Garang Mabior. “I have named this goat after him because just as he has delivered South Sudan from oppression, I believe that this male goat will deliver me from poverty as it will reproduce to bring me more goats,” she said.

Achol intends to sell one goat to purchase food for her grandchildren, “they have gone through so much and it pains me that as their grandmother I have not been able to provide for them,” she said. Achol hopes to eventually have enough goats to be able to sell a few to start a small business for her son.

“I am too old now and I cannot work, so I want to help my son to support me. He has seen our suffering and I know that he will work hard to make all of us comfortable. My grandchildren will now also be able to get books and school uniform,” she said.

“Because of this support I have hope in life and my future looks brighter. Thank you for bringing back hope to me when I had lost all hope and thought that nobody cared. I know it will not end all my problems, but I believe that with hard work and good care of these animals, it can make my life and that of my family better,” she continued.

List of Swedish Schengen representations

Within the framework of the Schengen cooperation regarding visas, Sweden is represented by other countries in a number of places. Similarly, Sweden represents other Schengen states in a number of places.

Application for Schengen Visa

Fill out this form to apply for a Schengen visa. It has been partially filled in for you. Please note that the column on the right (marked “for official use only) is filled out by your embassy.

Scope of travel insurance coverage

This document contains information on the scope of travel insurance provided by If insurance, and the maximum compensation per person and incident.

Insurance information for foreign visitors

Insurance information for the foreign visitor to The Church of Sweden’s activities in Uppsala, including the ACT Assembly.

Church of Sweden Travel Medical Insurance Certificate

Participants in the ACT Assembly who do not have their own travel and medical insurance will be covered by the Church of Sweden insurance. If Insurance, the travel medical insurance, is valid from the time you leave your house or place of work in your country until you return to one of these sites. Important to note is that only travel in direct relation to/from these locations is covered by the insurance. If you make other stops to other countries this insurance is not valid in those countries.

Visa application process

This document contains information on how to apply for a visa for business and for conferences in order for you to attend the ACT Alliance 3rd General Assembly in Uppsala, Sweden. A visa application should be submitted as soon as possible but no later than two months before departure, i.e. August 26.

Wefood: An innovative contribution to food-waste reduction

While 800 million people around the world suffer from hunger, Danish households dispose of over 700 000 tonnes of food every year. In response, ACT member DanChurchAid (DCA) launched Wefood, Denmark’s first chain of shops selling surplus foods in February, 2016.

Dented cans, bananas with brown spots, and olive oil that is close to its best-before date are some of the items that can be found on the shelves of Wefood since its launch two years ago.

For many years, DCA has prioritized issues of food security worldwide. Wefood allows DCA to tackle this issue at the national level by selling surplus food items that retail stores choose not to sell. Surplus food items are safe to eat in accordance with Danish Food Legislation and include foods that may have passed their best-before date, been labelled incorrectly or are in damaged or dented packaging.

Wefood sells surplus food items at a price that is 30–70% lower than the original selling price. The profits are allocated to tackling famine in countries that DCA works including South Sudan, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.

Inside the Wefood store — Credit: Jan-Martin Mikkelsen

“Just as with our second-hand shops, Wefood is dependent on passionate volunteers who will dedicate their time and energy to battle food waste and at the same time generate funds for people in need,” said Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, General Secretary of DanChurchAid.

To this date, Wefood has generated a turnover of over 540,000 euros and over 3,000 Danes have bought shares in Wefood. As interest and support for Wefood continues to grow, DCA has opened another surplus food store in the city of Aarhus this year, where 100 volunteers have signed up to support the running of the store.

Føtex, one of Denmark’s largest supermarket chains has supported Wefood since the beginning. An agreement between Wefood and Føtex, has encouraged a mutually beneficial collaboration contributing to overall food-waste reduction.

“In Føtex we have set ourselves very ambitious goals to reduce food waste. We actually aim to halve the amount of food waste by 2030. From time to time – at the end of the day – we have food we cannot sell because of limited shelf life. In those circumstances, it is good to have a business partner like Wefood to ensure the food will be eaten. It is a win-win situation for the food, for the climate and for DanChurchAid’s work to help people in need,” said Thor Jørgensen, Managing Director of Føtex.

Security Briefing for Participants

The security risk assessment conducted by the ACT Secretariat and the Church of Sweden for the assembly generally rate the risks as low or very low.

“Violence shall no more be heard in your land”

The following blog was adapted by a homily delivered by Jørgen Thomsen of DCA in Copenhagen Cathedral during the ACT Governing Board meeting.

The prophet Isaiah offers a comforting vision to the Israelites: “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, (nor) devastation or destruction within your borders” (Isaiah 60, 18). Inside this magnificent neo-classical cathedral that was rebuilt in 1817, we may tend to forget the deeper meaning of these words. But 10 years before the reconstruction of this cathedral, in 1807, on a dark September night, people here in Copenhagen knew very well the meaning of Isaiah’s talk of ‘violence’, ‘devastation’ and ‘destruction.’

England was at that time afraid that Denmark would join the French/Russian alliance during the Napoleonic Wars. To prevent that, an English army and fleet had assembled outside Copenhagen and besieged the city. They were all around the city – with guns, canons and rockets. They started a very heavy bombardment. For four long nights it went on and on and on.

During the night of September 5^th one of the new powerful weapons, a ‘Congreve rocket’– invented only 3 years earlier– hit the bell tower of the predecessor to this cathedral (from 1738). A fierce fire started and finally the burning tower collapsed into the main part of the cathedral and everything went up in smoke.

Big parts of Copenhagen were destroyed, over a thousand buildings burned, and many civilians lost their lives. Historians have called it the first ‘terror bombardment’ in modern history. And we know it was not to be the last ‘terror bombardment’.

Later followed London, Leningrad, Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

And as ACT people – who in recent decades have often been part of the humanitarian response – we know that many more followed: Sarajevo, Gaza, South Kordofan, Homs and Aleppo.

Always the same story: indiscriminate bombings of soldiers and civilians alike – regardless of international ‘rules of engagement’ and the ‘obligation to protect’.

With the words of Isaiah’s hope and vision in the back of our heads, we are now including – in the new ACT strategy – a new programme focused on ‘peace and human security’ – in humanitarian response, advocacy on high as well as low levels and long-term reconstruction, reconciliation and reintegration.

We do so, because our experience tells us that there is a need for it.

We do so because the Christian Gospel compels us, ‘hope in action’; compels us, to engage. In word, in deed and in prayer. And we do so in gratitude for all the other people of good will with whom we can join hands to try and realize Sustainable Development Goal 16.

And we do so, with the words of another great prophet in our ears: St. John of Patmos. In Revelations, the last book of the New Testament he follows in the footsteps of Isaiah when he speaks of ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ that has come and is coming through Jesus of Nazareth:

“Look! (he says in chapter 21) God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” … “I am making everything new!” (Rev. 21.3-5)