Relief Groups Gear Up to Aid Thousands in El Salvador

The Christian Post reports that Christian relief and aid groups are working fast to find survivors of El Salvador's recent floods and mudslides. At least 130 people have died and at least 60 are still missing after heavy rains triggered disasters on Thursday. "We're gearing up to respond to the aftermath of the hurricane by sending staff out to the worst-affected sites to look at the damage and limit further risks," said Wilfredo Ramirez Escobar from Caritas El Salvador on Monday. The country has declared a national emergency. Children's aid groupCompassion International says at least 21 of its child development centers have been affected by the crisis. The group is working to provide immediate assistance to those areas. Almost 7,000 people have lost their homes or been displaced by floodwaters after a low-pressure spinoff from Hurricane Ida blew through the area.

Indonesians Responsive to Quake Relief

Baptist Press reports that Christian relief volunteers inIndonesia have found a surprisingly open audience. "And so, this is what He is up to on our island ... taking a tragedy and opening up a door for seeds to be planted," a Christian worker in Indonesia wrote following the magnitude 7.6 earthquake on Sept. 30. The worker, along with a team of 23 national believers and U.S. volunteers, took supplies to a remote village of nearly 3,500 people in Western Sumatra. The team held medical clinics and distributed tents, blankets, food and water. When they arrived in Indonesia, the volunteers were surprised by the friendly reception from villagers. Community leaders opened the mosque for their use. The village, previously a difficult place for Christian workers, joined the team in their prayers and openly talked about their experiences.

Philippines: Typhoons Knock Churches' Relief Work

Christian Today reports that disaster recovery in the Philippines keeps getting knocked off its feet. After the fourth storm in four weeks hit the Philippines, relief groups have had to extend their initial efforts beyond their normal scope. "Four weeks after a typhoon we are usually heading toward the rehabilitation phase," reported Minnie-Anne Calub of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines. "This is the first time we have had a series of typhoons," she added. "We thought we would be terminating the relief phase after two or three weeks but because of the continuous typhoons, rains and floods, the water won't subside and people can't go home." The last storm, Mirinae, also hit Vietnam on Monday, forcing more than 80,000 people to evacuate.

Relief Volunteers 'Mud Out' Manila, Share God's Love

Tess Rivers

October 26, 2009

MANILA, Philippines (BP) -- Mud. Hunger. Garbage. Mud. Poverty. Sewage. Mud.

These were the sights and smells that greeted 30disaster relief volunteers from Kentucky, Oklahoma and Texas in mid-October when they arrived in an area of Manila, Philippines, hard-hit by two typhoons.

The group worked with local church members andSouthern Baptist missionaries serving in the Philippines to help residents of metro Manila recover from the flooding that covered nearly 80 percent of the city when Typhoon Ketsana struck Sept. 26. Weeks later, parts of the area that weren't still underwater were covered in mud.

"This is Katrina times four," said Larry Shine, who directed the team's efforts. Shine serves as the Southern Baptists of Texas task force director for cleanup and recovery.

According to reports, more rain fell in six hours than the city normally receives in the entire month of September. As the water began to rise at an alarming rate, residents began scrambling for safety.

At the height of the rains, floodwaters reached the top floor of a three-story building that houses Nangka High School. The building is situated in an area of squatter homes and shanties along the banks of the major river system in eastern Manila.

"We were not prepared for this disaster," said Angie Tan, director of a vocational school for youth and adults that holds classes in the building's basement. "Usually when the river overflows, it only rises to table level. My staff was working to move the small items in the baking classroom onto the big oven. But when the water reached their necks, they had to escape."

In the week following the disaster, 42 families sought temporary shelter on the building's third floor. As the water began to recede, the second and third floors were cleaned for some classes to resume. Meanwhile, the basement remained full of mud.

The Southern Baptist volunteers helped city workers clean up those basement classrooms after the volunteers mudded out the homes of two Filipino pastors and assisted with food distribution the week before.

"I am very glad to say thank you," said Vilma Rollado, a Nangka community leader and staff member at the vocational school.

Rollado learned the Baptist disaster relief teams were available through Mac Reyes, youth pastor at International Baptist Church of Manila.

The Nangka community has no evangelical churchpresence. Just three days after the flood, Reyes worked with Southern Baptist missionary Shirley Seale to distribute food purchased with Southern Baptist world hunger funds to 300 people in a three-alley section of Nangka. Church members helped clean the vocational school and plan to provide medical clinics and post-traumatic counseling for flood victims.

"Our goal is to empower the local church to minister to the local people," Shine said.

Because of the efforts of disaster relief volunteers, Luzon Baptist Convention is interested in starting its owndisaster relief program, and International Baptist Church is leading the way. Shine and Reyes visited a basketball court serving as home to 500 people who lost their homes in the flooding. Shine helped Reyes assess additional needs that can be met by local churches and additional BGR volunteer teams over the coming weeks.International Baptist Church leadership also hosted a disaster relief training program for area churches.

"We bring leadership, equipment and know-how," said Miguel Tello, a Baptist Men's disaster relief volunteer. "We want to leave the equipment and the knowledge with the nationals. If we just come and clean up, that's not as effective."

By training nationals to set up their own programs, Tello believes local churches will be better prepared to respond when the next disaster strikes.

But training programs are not the only positive results from the teams' visit to Manila.

"The highlight of the trip for me was the six professions of faith in Pastor Rico's church," said Jimmie Eisenhower from Oklahoma's disaster relief team. Eisenhower was part of the team that mudded out the home of Roger and Rosie Rico.

"Rosie had been praying for them for a while, and the disaster brought them to the church," Eisenhower said. "It was just so good to see the Lord at work in the midst of adversity and to know that these six will be discipled by Roger and Rosie and will grow in their faith."

Dovie Smallwood, a Kentucky disaster relief volunteer, had the opportunity to share Christ with one of her roommates.

"I rented bed space in the hotel, so there were about six others sharing the room," Smallwood explained.

A Filipina who works in a Middle Eastern country was in the bed beside Smallwood. Although she claimed to be a believer, the woman said Christ could not accept her because of her lifestyle.

"I told her that God loved her and that He could release her from her bondage," Smallwood said, "and I led her in a sinner's prayer."

Within days after Typhoon Ketsana struck, International Mission Board workers Greg and Jill Harvell and theirhouse church had distributed 400 bags of food purchased with Southern Baptist world hunger funds. Four volunteers from Texas helped pack and distribute an additional 400 bags. In total, the house church has distributed 3,600 bags of food.

House church member Priscilla Divas received a text message from her cousin, a doctor who is providing medical services to people suffering from the flooding in the Bulacan community. She expressed appreciation for her pastor and the relief team, noting that seven people had accepted Jesus as an offshoot of their generosity.

Relief Agencies Work Multiple Disasters in South East Asia

Christian Today reports that humanitarian groups have only begun to provide relief in South East Asia, where disaster after disaster has rocked the region. According to Tearfund, in some Indonesian villages, 90 percent of houses were destroyed, leaving thousands homeless. "They are eating food that they can find from within their collapsed houses or what we are giving them," said Ranto Sibirani, Executive Director of Tearfund's partner agency KOTIB. "The mosque is currently the food distribution centre because that is one of the few buildings that has not collapsed. There are still some people buried in houses but many areas are inaccessible by vehicle because of the many landslides, especially in the hill areas away from the coast." The agency is working alongside Cafod, Christian Aid and World Visionin the region, which includes disasters in Vietnam and the Philippines.

Christian Relief Groups Tread Carefully in Indonesia

Russ Jones

October 8, 2009

It is a centuries-old debate, dating back at least to the 16^th century when the Jesuits and Franciscans argued over the best means for religious groups to provide humanitarian aid. One side wants to turns a blind eye to the indigenous religions while the other seeks to take advantage of the crisis to spread its message, typically the Christian Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

Christian relief agencies are now faced with this longstanding debate as they attempt to help victims impacted by two massive earthquakes that crushed western Indonesia last week.

Humanitarian groups such World Vision, Samaritan's Purse, Open Doors and World Help all have teams on the ground in the aftermath of the earthquakes, which measured 7.6 and 6.6 magnitude. World Help, a Christian relief agency headquartered in Forest, Virginia, reports that more than 700 were killed in Indonesia. More than one thousand people are still missing.

As the death toll continues to rise, Christian relief agencies face steep challenges as they try to meet the demands of several natural disasters throughout Indonesia. One of these challenges is balancing faithfulness to the Great Commission and humanitarian aid.

In 2004 the largest tsunami in history tore through theIndian Ocean, killing tens of thousands in its path. Christian groups and private relief organizations sprang into action, but then were asked to cease their work in the ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh. Government officials accused some relief groups like Samaritan's Purse for targeting Muslims for conversion.

The recent disasters in Indonesia have opened the nation to accept at least aid from Christians and Christian nations, and perhaps an opportunity for sharing theGospel of Christ.

Relief agency executives, however, say a balance is necessary when working in areas that may impose religious restrictions.

"It isn't necessarily helpful when a ministry spokesperson gets on television and spouts off about the Gospel," said Rusty Goodwin, Director of Communication for World Help. "Sometimes you have to work in stealth mode and be sensitive to the culture - to achieve long term success."

This "stealth mode" strategy could have come from lessons learned during the 2005 tsunami when World Help sought to adopt some 300 Muslim tsunami orphans. That plan was apparently abandon due to strong opposition and influence from the Islamic government.

Since 1991, World Help has served over 60 countries through its four pillars of ministry: child advocacy, humanitarian aid, bible distribution, and church planting.

"We have partners throughout the world," said Humanitarian Aid Director of World Help, Jesse West. "We support our partners with finances and relief aid. The need is more urgent during a disaster."

Indonesia has the largest population of Muslims in the world. Christians make up about eight percent of Indonesia's population of 230 million.

The country generally regards as a moderate variant of Islam, but has seen an increase of more radical Islamist entities in recent years. Recently Christians have expressed concern over new sharia-based laws passed in the Aceh province of Indonesia. The law now allows stoning to death for women caught in adultery.

According to Agence-French Press (AFP) the law, passed by lawmakers in the northern region of Sumatra Island, also allows punishments of up to 400 lashes for child rape, 100 lashes for homosexual acts and 60 lashes for gambling.

At times, the country's Christian minority has also found its religious freedom curtailed by the government, according to Compass Direct News. Just before the most recent earthquakes, Islamic organizations pressured officials to close a house church where Christians met, while other government measures have prevented the congregation from building their own church.

It's no wonder Christian relief organizations are cautious in their approach. Strict conversion laws are a growing trend of religious intolerance which can threaten disaster relief efforts in South Asia.

When governments such as the Sri Lankan Parliamentintroduce bills that would silence religious expression and criminalize conversions, new strategies are warranted. The bill, which was introduced in April, would subject faith-based aid providers to up to seven years in prison if accused of "attempted conversion" for aiding the needy while retaining their religious identities. The bill would subject those who rushed to help after disasters like theIndian Ocean tsunami to the same penalties.

Christians in Sri Lanka say elements of the bill allow vast leeway in interpretation and could result in the criminalization of most Christian activity aimed at helping the poor.

Gospel for Asia missionaries work throughout Sri Lanka. They minister to people, whose lives have been battered by a 26-year-old civil war and numerous natural catastrophes, including floods and a tsunami.

Daniel Punnose, Vice President of Gospel for Asia, says while they have no confirmed reports of religious restrictions in parts of India where they are providing relief efforts, Christian humanitarian aid often brings a change of heart.

"Any time we do relief work and people receive help - they sometimes chose to follow Christ," said Punnose. "It does stir up persecution. It is mostly out of fear because they don't understand. But the Lord promised that persecution would come as part of the price of preaching the Gospel."

Ignacio Leon, the head of the U.N.'s humanitarian agency in Indonesia, told the Associated Press that the focus has now shifted away from finding survivors and "we are supporting the government now more in the relief side."

INDIA - Relief camp bombed in Orissa.

On Sept. 27, four believers were injured when a Christian relief camp providing temporary housing for persecuted Christians in Nandarigi village, Orissa state, was bombed by suspected Hindu extremists, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. The Hindu man who reportedly set off the bomb was killed in the attack. Five days before the attack the suspected bomber reportedly threatened Christians at the camp with violence, according to VOM contacts. The man reportedly demanded food and shelter...

Read the full story here

Relief camp bombed in Orissa, India

The Nandarigi relief camp, which was recently visited by VOMC staff

A Christian relief camp in Nandarigi village, Orissa state -- where several families fled following the outbreak of anti-Christian violence in August 2008 (click here for the details) -- was bombed on September 27. Four Christians were seriously injured in the blast and the Hindu man that set off the bomb was killed. Five days earlier, the man had reportedly threatened Christians at the camp with violence, demanding that he be given food and shelter. He returned the night of the bombing and, in a heavily intoxicated state, physically assaulted two Christian boys and uttered more threats against the believers present. When the man slipped and fell, he accidentally detonated the bomb. Officials have claimed that Maoist militants were behind the attack but local Christians maintain that the bombing was planned and executed by Hindus.

Pray for healing for those injured. Pray that the displaced Christians will continue to look to the Lord as their enduring source of strength, provision and wisdom. Ask God to work in the hearts of Hindu militants targeting Christians so that they will repent and come to faith in Christ. Demonstrate your support and concern for suffering Indian Christians in relief camps by posting a prayer on our Persecuted Church Prayer Wall.

To view a video of children displaced by the violence in Orissa singing praises to God, go to www.persecution.tv. For more information on the persecution of Christians in India, click here.

http://www.persecution.net/