Christian Groups Partner in Comprehensive Tsunami Aid Effort
by Jenni Parker and Allie Martin
January 11, 2005
(AgapePress) - Christian relief organization leaders report that, although the devastation in Southeast Asia in the wake of the recent tsunami is impossible to describe, God is definitely moving in the aftermath of the tragedy.President George W. Bush has included representatives of a number of Christian relief organizations in his briefings on assistance efforts for victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. According to Associated Press reports, Bush stated that he was pleased to learn that "faith-based organizations have been working in these regions for decades." Jules Frost of World Vision says she and other aid group leaders told Bush that logistical coordination between private, governmental and military teams was among their greatest needs.
Relief, Comfort, and the Means to Rebuild
Another prominent Christian ministry, Focus on the Family, has announced its plans to join the tsunami effort as well. Capitalizing on its insights into the needs of families worldwide and its ability to meet them, the Colorado-based ministry hopes to raise a million dollars in relief effort funding, and will provide extensive grief, counseling and family resources for survivors.
Focus plans to use its ongoing partnership with World Harvest Indonesia and its connections in India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia to deliver resources directly to those affected by the disaster. The initial money raised will go toward distribution of relief packets containing food, water, medicine, and materials to address victims emotional needs. The ministry is inviting constituents to help by contributing funds. In his January newsletter, Dobson noted that, should donors help Focus exceed the goal of raising $1 million for tsunami relief work, "we will, of course, expand our efforts."
Focus has opened its phone lines domestically at 1-800-A-FAMILY to offer grief support, prayer, and answers to those troubled by the disaster and asking questions such as "Where is God in all of this?" and "What do I say to my children?" Personal contact and counseling will be offered internationally as well, where available.
Meanwhile, New Directions International, a global missions and relief organization based in Graham, North Carolina, and Winston Joseph LLC, a leading information technology consultant with offices in India and China, have joined forces to help tsunami survivors. This partnership, dubbed "Operation Fisherman's Project," has set its own $1 million goal to raise money for the purchase of food, water, and new fishing boats that will allow disaster victims in the hardest hit areas to provide once again for their families.
Latest estimates indicate that more than 150,000 families lost property when the great wave hit, and close to 90 percent of those households made their living from fishing. Over 30,000 boats were either lost or damaged. Operation Fisherman's Project is designed to help the local fisherman replace their lost boats and gear. An estimated $2,500 can purchase a boat, motor, fishing nets, and other equipment needed to rebuild these fishermen's way of life, thus helping to restore the local economy.
Those interested in giving to Operation Fisherman's Project can do so at New Directions International's website, selecting "Winston Joseph Fisherman's Project" as their Gift Category Description.
International Aid Offers Help, Healing, and Hope
International Aid, a Christian global relief, training and development organization based in Spring Lake, Michigan, has also gotten involved in Southeast Asia. The nonprofit agency, which pursues its biblical mandate by providing and supporting healthcare solutions and engaging local churches in programs of compassion, has mobilized its people in the region, from the ministry's base in Jakarta to the epicenter of the tsunami disaster in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
International Aid's president, Myles Fish, is coordinating relief efforts in Indonesia for the ministry. Having recently returned to Jakarta from Banda Aceh, he says he and his team were emotionally drained, but even more resolved to remain focused on the hope as the relief efforts progress.
One hopeful aspect of all that has happened, the ministry leader notes, is that the area hardest hit was a fairly closed society until recently. Now, however, he says the disaster has opened parts of the region to the gospel that had been blocked otherwise.
Also, Fish adds, countless numbers of people from different countries with whom International Aid has partnered and traveled are working side by side with them towards the same goals, to offer assistance and comfort people with the hope that lies at the heart of their faith. The shared aspiration of involved in the relief effort, he says, is "that they'll be able to first demonstrate their love for Christ, in the hope that one day we might also be able to articulate that hope."
Nevertheless, as International Aid strives to get medical supplies and other relief to Southeast Asian tsunami victims two weeks after the disaster, the ministry spokesman says the scope of the tragedy continues to shock. Clean water is slowly becoming available and refugee camps are becoming better organized, but on every side there is evidence of destroyed homes, lost livelihoods, and shattered lives.
"Nothing that I had seen or read or heard before I got there prepared me for the magnitude of the devastation," Fish says. "I guess when you see a photograph or a video of it, you're only looking in one direction. But when you stand in the middle of what used to be a city and look in all directions, 360 degrees around, and see nothing but just devastation -- it's totally overwhelming. That entire place has just been leveled by a force that's absolutely incomprehensible."
As relief workers strive to meet the tsunami victims' physical needs, Myles urges prayer, and not only for the survivors. He says the relief teams also need to be supported with prayer as they offer the kind of assistance and comfort that will point disaster victims to the source of ultimate hope, and facilitate the healing of emotional and spiritual scars that can only be touched by the love of God.
