Churches and related organizations are at the forefront of help for rural communities devastated by Britain's foot and mouth disease crisis.
Gordon Gatward, director of the church-backed Arthur Rank Center, a key support organization for farmers, says he has seen "grown men crying—they don't know where to turn."
Counseling telephone helplines run by the Samaritans, which has links to the Befrienders international movement, are receiving rising numbers of calls from farmers in despair or tempted to commit suicide. Even before the crisis, suicides among farmers in England and Wales averaged more than one a week, according to a Samaritans spokesperson.
Foot and mouth disease has already produced more than 600 outbreaks in the U.K., mainly among sheep but also affecting cattle and pigs. The crisis is not expected to peak until May. More than 600,000 animals have been condemned for slaughter. Many of them are healthy and are being culled in a bid to put "firebreaks" around diseased stock.
The disease is also prompting a growing political crisis in London, with accusations both here and abroad that Tony Blair's government has mishandled the situation. The government faces a general election within the next year, and reports that the prime minister wants polling day to be set for May 3, despite the foot and mouth crisis, are causing deep unease in some quarters. However, a number of influential newspapers are urging the prime minister to hold a May election.
Foot and mouth cases apparently connected to Britain have been reported in Ireland, France, and The Netherlands.
Thousands more animals in disease-free flocks and herds cannot be moved or sold, measures which in any case mean financial disaster for farmers. On the Duke of Westminster's estate in Cheshire, northern England, three farm workers were reported to have been locked into a barn with prize pedigree bulls to reduce the chances of the foot and mouth virus reaching the valuable herd.
The crisis has also sharply affected rural tourism, particularly because two of Britain's main tourism areas—Devon and Cumbria—are among those worst affected by foot and mouth disease. The countryside is closed to tourists in many areas because of the risk of the airborne virus being carried out on clothes and shoes.
Churches all over the country are contributing to a relief fund for farmers and farm workers. The fund is being administered by the Arthur Rank Center, based at Britain's permanent agricultural showgrounds in Warwickshire, central England.
Gatward, a Methodist minister, says the fund had already collected 500,000 pounds (US$725,000), which it is paying out in amounts of up to 2,000 pounds ($2,900) each to help with immediate needs like animal feed and cash for freelance workers with no work.
With farm incomes likely to be affected for months, Gatward acknowledged that these small grants would be needed repeatedly.
"How confident am I of the fund coping?" he said. "People are very generous. We go by faith."
The fund is certain to be boosted after the Church of England's two most senior bishops, Dr George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Dr David Hope, Archbishop of York, called on Anglicans to use Mother's Day (celebrated in the U.K. March 25) as a special opportunity to help those in need in rural areas.
They asked congregations to pray for the affected communities, and to hold special collections at the end of services.
"The church, with its network of parishes across the country—in urban and rural areas alike—can play an important role in fostering that sense of shared commitment and concern," the archbishops said. "For parishes in country areas, the church has long been a focal point of community life and activity. There are church networks—formal and informal—that have sought to help rural communities through recent farming crises—and once again we know they will do all they can to offer succor and support."
Bishop Peter Smith of East Anglia, chair of the Catholic Bishops' Department for Christian Responsibility and Citizenship, expressed solidarity with the farming community.
He said: "Lent is a time when we turn aside from selfishness and express our solidarity with those in difficulty and distress. Let those involved in the foot and mouth crisis, either directly or indirectly, be assured of the support and prayers of Catholic congregations throughout the country."
David Emison, chairman of the Methodist Church Cumbria District—one of the worst hit areas—called for a day of prayer for farmers and all those affected by the foot and mouth outbreak. He urged people to pray every hour on the hour throughout the day.
The Samaritans, founded by an Anglican clergyman, announced that their organization was providing extra resources to rural communities because of the crisis. Rhian Thomas of the Samaritans told ENI: "We don't keep records of calls but, anecdotally, many of our centers are reporting an increased volume of calls from rural communities."
The Samaritans and the Arthur Rank Center are among six charities to share another 500,000 pounds sterling ($725,000) given to help with the foot and mouth crisis by the Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne. The prince's donation was matched with an equal amount from the Duke of Devonshire, one of the country's richest landowners.
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The Samaritans said the prince's support would enable the charity to target its awareness specifically to help farmers and rural communities experiencing emotional distress. It could develop its Web site links with other rural community organizations.
Chief executive Simon Armson said: "Many people in rural areas are experiencing a deeply traumatic time in the face of this latest crisis. The Samaritans is dedicated to being there at any time of day or night for anyone feeling overwhelmed by difficulties."
The government pays compensation at market value for slaughtered animals, and has promised additional support for farmers and for people running rural tourism businesses, who in many cases have been as hard hit as farmers.
However, there is no automatic payment for other losses suffered by farmers as a result of the disease, such as being unable to move and sell stock. These losses can be covered by insurance, but only one British farmer in 10 has insurance against foot and mouth disease.
Critics blame modern rearing and marketing methods for the rapid spread of the foot and mouth outbreak countrywide, unlike Britain's last outbreak in 1967, which was limited to a few areas. The closure of many local abattoirs and markets means that animals may be driven almost anywhere in the country to be sold or slaughtered.
Helen Szamuely, director of the campaigning organization Honest Food, said: "The large-scale closure of small and medium-sized abattoirs has been caused by inappropriate regulation regimes and shockingly high inspection charges. These closures have lengthened the journeys that animals have to make to slaughterhouses, greatly increasing the possibility of cross-infection."
Christians are among those who have spoken out against what they see as the unethical way in which animals are left unprotected against foot and mouth disease, which has led to the present mass cull.
A leading Catholic publication, the Tablet, quoted Deborah Jones of the Catholic Study Circle of Animal Welfare as saying that animal welfare was being sacrificed to economics. Animals could be inexpensively inoculated against foot and mouth disease, Jones pointed out, but this had been avoided so that the country could claim a clean bill of health for exports.
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Jones was pleased, however, that the crisis had at least provoked a debate "at long last."
John Oliver, Anglican bishop of Hereford, in the west of England, has urged the British government not to hold elections in May. Describing the fate of rural communities, Bishop Oliver told BBC radio that many rural people would not be able to vote if the general election was held soon. He added: "The sense of isolation is terrible. We are doing what we can in the churches to make contact with people and send messages of good will, but I think [delaying the election] will be helpful to those caught up in the crisis to feel that they are being taken seriously. The postponement of the elections would be a recognition of just how serious the position is."
The Samaritans site offers news and links regarding the outbreak.
One of the hoof-and-mouth-oriented prayers offered by the Church of England begins, "Eternal God, our loving Creator, look with compassion on those whose life's work is in ashes and all who are caught up in the crisis affecting our farming communities."
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