Asian Disasters: July 31st 2008

The two huge disasters that struck Asia in May this year claimed many lives and caused unbelievable devastation. Burma’s cyclone killed approximately 100,000 people in an instant while the Sichuan quake killed 80,000 and left at least five million people homeless. AsiaLink friends have been exceedingly generous in helping with these needs and we wanted to give you a progress report of help so far given.

Since that time, we have been helping the efforts of our partners. In Burma they have been delivering food, medicine and clothing as well as drilling wells and helping rebuild homes. Meanwhile, in China, four container loads of food, water, medical supplies, plastic sheeting for temporary shelter, blankets, and other necessities have been delivered.

In China, towns near the epicentre of the earthquake were completely obliterated, and about 5 million people are homeless as a result. At Mianzhu, every single member of three house churches (approximately 100 believers) were killed by the quake. They were among 80,000 people who perished.

We immediately got in touch with friends in this part of China. Over the years we have seen that the best way to help in such situations is to network with other members of the Body of Christ who are able to help most effectively. Our contacts launched a programme to provide “Emergency Aid kits” to people in the worst-affected areas. The kits include a 9 square metre tent, torches, cooking utensils, blankets, first aid supplies and other essentials. The assistance is now moving more towards helping the people rebuild their homes and lives.

So far more than 1,000 Emergency Aid kits have been provided. This work is spearheaded by Chinese house church leaders, many of whom travelled to Sichuan in response to the compassion of Christ in their hearts. By demonstrating the love of God in such a practical way and by boldly sharing their faith, we have received a report that more than 3,000 people have bowed their knee to Jesus Christ! A coworker reported that when they delivered supplies to one village, an evangelist remained behind and preached the Gospel.

He wrote, “Every person present at the meeting, which appeared to be the entire village, received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour! The man who first received a tent, now uses that tent as the location of the church meetings.”

Over the years we have responded to numerous emergency situations brought about by natural disasters in Asia. In all of these disasters we have seen that people’s hearts become open to the claims of Jesus Christ and many people have met the Lord for the first time, while tens of thousands of precious people have been able to survive and restart their lives.

Thank you so much for your part in this. We remain in close contact with those working on the ground and look forward to bringing you further news from Burma and China. Meanwhile, let’s keep praying for a positive response to all the work being done in Jesus’ Name. We want Him to be glorified in the lives of many who still know nothing of the Good News.

Sichuan: June 30th 2008

So, off with two jeeps we bulldozed through barriers where “angels fear to tread.” Villagers waved to us saying there was no road, red-guards waved to us saying we could go no further, but this did not stop us, not even a huge rock stood in our way blocking our passage. We drove through valleys and rivers and when the big rock blocked out way, we saw villagers taking bags of rice and water on their backs, going on foot over the landslide rocks, we too unloaded our supplies from the jeeps and tracking behind them into a village which was trapped by the landslide and separated from the outside world for the last ten days. In fact according to the villagers, the passage was just open shortly before we arrived! We brushed shoulders with some red-guards with shovels on their shoulders, and when asked they responded that they just buried 18-19 death bodies in the village.

Climbing these huge rocks was indeed a big challenge for me, the 2nd oldest in the team. One other member in the team is a year older than me. It might have taken the villagers 20 minutes to get through but it took me 45 minutes and we first cross the river on foot then this climb sure was an exciting adventure when it was over! Then we took another 30 minutes hike up the mountain route to reach this isolated village. Though casualties were not too much, their houses are 99% collapsed and unlivable.

As we came in the red-guard already set up their first two tents, one for themselves and the other as the village clinic to help those with bruises and cuts. One lady, crying on my shoulder, told us that she lost her two teenage children at the school collapsed in the nearby county. She and other ladies that surrounded us said that they could handle the loss of material needs, houses or even food but not their future generation. Their material needs came in the minutes the passage was opened, but what they hungered after was someone that was willing to sit down to hear them out and counsel them. They asked if I was the counselor. We sat down and comforted them, later on I was taken even further uphill to their home, which was just a pile of rubble.

There she told her neighbour that I am a Christian, coming to hear them out, and within minutes I was surrounded by another new crowd of villagers wanting to share their stories and have me comfort and encourage them and pray for them. A precious moment for me was to hold this a 4-month old orphan girl. She was buried under the rubbles for days before the red-guard found her and pulled her out. She had a cell phone in her clothing. In it was a text message saying “Darling, if you make it through life, please know that mummy loves you very much!” Oh, how I wish I could take her home with me. But I do understand the precaution the officials are taking over this issue. There are over 4000 orphans created through this quake and many Chinese people wanting to adopt them, but I understood that preference will be given to those who had lost their children during the quake. May these orphans find the right family.

Burma: May 29th 2008

We have had an astonishing response to the current challenge in Burma and want to thank you for your generous giving. From the moment Cyclone Nargis crashed through the country, pastors, evangelists and students we have been working with over the years immediately set about a local relief operation.

Your gifts are already in their hands, providing the basic necessities for those who survived. As we share the news we receive back, we hope you will also sense the depth of gratitude from those involved.

This is the story of one of the trips made by our friends in Burma:

We drove for five hours until we reached a port. We were able to rent a motorboat and filled it with 7.5 tonnes of rice, one tonne of lentils and 20 bags of clothes as well as water and tarpaulins for temporary housing.

We had the privilege of serving four villages. In two of these, it turned out that we were the first team to arrive there with any aid at all. We were quite a distance from Yangon and from other relief efforts.

The village chiefs provided records of the villagers, of deaths and of other information we needed. They were extremely grateful for the help we brought them. All they had now was their lives and the clothes they are wearing. We saw the tears in people's eyes as they received the gifts. It was a very emotional experience. We also had a privilege of preaching in several of these villages, places where no Christian has preached the Gospel in living memory. It was just a blessing for us to bring relief as well as to be able to share the Good News

One man, who is 32 years old, told me what had happened. His story was heartbreaking.

"It was night time and suddenly we heard a rushing sound and in no time our house was filled with flood waters. It was thundering and the rain was pouring down, our fires were extinguished and it went pitch black. The water was very muddy and salty and made our eyes sore.

The waters begin to fill our house and toss it from side to side.I grabbed my eight year old daughter and held her as tight as I could. The wind was strong and we were thrown all over the place. We hit a tree and heavy objects crashed into us. By this time our house was completely gone.

The next morning, I found myself several miles from our village. My daughter was nowhere to be seen. I made my way back to my village and began searching for my wife and daughter.They had both died. Then I looked for my in-laws, my nephews and cousins who had all lived with us. I still haven’t found them and it’s now been almost three weeks. If they are alive, they should have made it back to our village by now.

I lost eleven members of my family. One night you are happy all together. Suddenly something happens and your family is gone.”