Dear Friends,
Many of you know that I took a sudden and unexpected trip to India and Sri Lanka in January to see if WMF could do something to help with the tsunami relief efforts.
To my surprise, doors seem to open quickly and WMF was able to contribute an immediate $22,000 to a few friends and co-workers in the region helping with the relief efforts.
In addition to that, we are planning on initiating a WMF Sri Lanka Tsunami Relief project on February 14. We will have some of our South Asia regional staff relocate to Galle on the southern coast of Sri Lanka to establish a development project that will help in securing housing for the homeless and displaced. Please pray for us, the project is initially set for 6 months, but we are open to a potential long-term WMF presence in Sri Lanka .
I wanted to send you some of the reflections from the trip. Much of the following text is posted (along with photos) on the WMF website
Like a giant hand sweeping communities and villages off the map, the tsunami that hit South and Southeast Asia on December 26, 2004 brought unparalleled destruction. It leveled trees, homes and any structure in its way.
Two weeks after its waves crushed the shores of India and Sri Lanka , Christian Gray (WMF US Field Director) and I arrived in Chennai. A week later, we made our way down to Colombo . As we met with relief workers and those involved in the efforts to bring hope and peace to the millions affected by the disaster, our hearts were broken by the stories, images and needs in what is already one of the world's poorest regions.
In South India , we met with an old friend whom a church called upon to collect nearly 300 bodies strewn about its campus. He showed us the photos of these men, women, boys and girls who had been caught off-guard by the waves. Other images showed the bloated corpses loaded onto the beds of pickup trucks, laid to rest in mass graves or cremated on the same beach they had died.
Thankfully, the WMF children's homes were completely unaffected by the tsunami. The children are happy and safe. We spent time at each of the two WMF children's homes and are happy to report that the children and staff are doing very well.
The losses were even greater in Sri Lanka and the death count is still unknown. Over 2,000 more bodies were discovered the day before we arrived in Sri Lanka –nearly three weeks after the tsunami.
We heard stories about how the first wave from the tsunami hit Sri Lanka and within nine minutes had drawn the coast line more than a half mile into the sea. As people ran onto the newly exposed beaches to collect fish, the second wave (much larger than the first) came crashing in with untold destructive power. The waves moved as fast as an airplane from the epicenter of the originating earthquake in Indonesia . The waves hit the beaches of Sri Lanka two hours after the earthquake; by this time, they were as high as 40 feet and crawled two miles inland. Trains, cars, buses and homes became watery graves as thousands of victims drowned within them. Most of the victims, we were told, were women and children–those too weak to fight the power of the waves or unable to hold on to anything stable enough to withstand the force and power of the vicious undertow.
The day after we arrived in Sri Lanka , we walked up and down the beaches of Dehiwala. A year earlier, I had celebrated with friends on the sands of this beach as the clock struck midnight and ushered in the year 2004. Twelve months later, we grieved as we witnessed families combing through the wreckage of what was left of their homes and business. 2004 will be remembered as a dreadful year for local inhabitants.
As we walked the beach, I paused and caught the glance of a three or four-year-old Sri Lankan girl, hair in braids and wearing a little yellow dress. She stared back at me with a hollow gaze. Twenty feet away, her grandmother sat on the piles of timber planks that must have once been their house. What hope do the elderly and children such as these have lost the men and fishing industry that once sustained them?
The purpose of our trip was twofold: first, to identify partners with whom WMF could collaborate in the relief efforts and secondly, we aimed to identify opportunities for the WMF South Asia communities to respond with hands-on aid.
Fortunately we did identify a number of grassroots works in India and Sri Lanka with whom WMF is now partnering to bring immediate relief. We have also committed to working together toward building better lives for the victims as the relief efforts move into development. As of January 19, WMF has distributed $22,000 Justice Fund monies to help secure emergency food supplies, clean drinking water, nets for fishers who lost everything, and even homes for families that are now displaced and homeless. The funds were given to the following works:
Mr. V. Samuel Peter (current WMF India General Body Member as well as former WMF India Board Vice-President) and Mr. S. Irudayaraj with Habitat for Humanity India. Immediate relief (food, clean water, recovery of bodies) and long-term housing solutions for displaced and homeless families.
Rev. C.S. (current WMF India Board Member as well as former WMF India Board Chairman) Dhas and Mr. Atul Meshramkar with the Compassionate Ministries of the Nazarene Church. Immediate relief through local churches in South India .
Rev. S. Thankappa (current WMF India Board Vice-President) with Christian Outreach for Mission and Evangelism Trust. Helping fishing communities buy nets, boats and other supplies and equipment necessary to restore income options.
Tony Senewiratne with Habitat For Humanity Sri Lanka. Focusing on housing, both immediate short-term emergency housing as well as long-term housing solutions for displaced and homeless families.
Needless to say, the trip to Asia was intense. Seeing God move in the community and give us vision for response was invigorating.
I got back to Omaha with 30 hours to spare before leaving again for Bolivia and Brazil . Sadly, Phileena and I had to leave Omaha at 5:00 a.m. to get to Miami and then were forced to wait until 11:00 p.m. for our flight to South America .
You can imagine the jet lag and the long day that was. When we nearly at the end of ourselves we found out that due to riots in Bolivia our flight had been cancelled.
It was only for a day, but that day seemed to last forever. Anyway, we're now safe in Bolivia and out of harms way. It's great being with the staff here, they have established a drop-in center for commercial sex workers in the city of El Alto . Their lives and ministry is incredibly inspiring and hope-giving. I am continually amazed as Phileena and I hear testimony after testimony of women whose lives have been changed because of Andy and Andrea and the teams they've had here.
>From the devastated beaches of Sri Lanka to the brothels and red-light
districts of Bolivia , I see God at work in the world today. His love and His presence are embodied in the WMF community. Thank you for your prayers and for helping make all this possible.
Humbled before the King,
Chris Heuertz