Posts Tagged ‘Disaster’
Love Grows Greater
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places. But there is still much that is fair. And though in all lands, love is now mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps the greater.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
The world is indeed full of peril, and there are many dark places within it. We find this to be true every time we turn on the news. Stories of displaced people, violence and natural disasters pepper our screens in a staggering display of devastation and loss.
Ebola has, once again, threatened the health of thousands throughout the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Last spring, Cyclone Idai wreaked havoc across Malawi, and in the fall, Hurricane Dorian killed thousands more in the Bahamas. Ongoing conflict in South Sudan has forced millions to seek protection in camps encircled by barbed wire, with little hope of returning home. Yemen has become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis according to the U.N., with three-quarters of the population requiring basic assistance and protection. Renewed fighting in Syria has left 140,000 men, women and children displaced, and hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya people have fled violence in Myanmar to nearby Bangladesh, where they are still living in tent cities under leaking tarps and battling rampant disease.
The magnitude of this darkness, pain and loss can feel overwhelming. We weep at the suffering, injustice and pain felt by so many — the hatred, dehumanization and abuses of power that keep so many from achieving their God-given potential. We lament recent developments within our own country that have made it harder for those seeking refuge to find it.
Yet, we still have hope because there is still so much to hope for. One of the many miracles of this life is that what seem to be mutually exclusive states of being, actually mingle together to create an intricate web of human experience: joy and sorrow, light and darkness, hope and despair. Out of the greatest tragedies rise stories of love that defy all hatred. Despite all odds, hope still flourishes and love endures.
Together, we are bringing the love of Christ to suffering families around the world. We are witnessing love grow greater through the joy and hope provided by the thousands of World Relief partners, local church leaders and volunteers giving of themselves every single day.Â
Love is growing greater in South Sudan as tens of thousands of displaced children receive medical care, education and relief from malnutrition.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, volunteer trainings on health and hygiene are helping prevent the spread of disease in areas affected by Ebola.
In Turkana, Kenya, where one of the most hostile climates in the world exposes people to repeated droughts and famine, lessons in raising drought-resistant livestock and crops are enabling families to break the cycle of poverty and dependence in their community.
In Yemen, where millions of people are at risk of illness and disease due to ongoing conflict, thousands of vulnerable families are receiving lifesaving emergency provisions of clean drinking water and learning about cholera prevention and treatment, sanitation and hygiene promotion.
In Malawi, 650 families received livestock and farming materials and are now rebuilding their farms after Cyclone Idai’s devastation.
And in the United States, God’s people are fighting back against the rising tide of fear and division in our nation, building welcoming communities of love and refuge where vulnerable immigrants can begin rebuilding their lives and homes.
Love grows greater when we respond to God’s leading. It grows greater when we share stories of faith, endurance and sacrifice and stories of God doing impossible things. For every story of darkness we hear, a story of faith, hope and love springs up beside it. This is God’s tender mercy at work — His light dispelling the darkness. In the midst of disasters, injustice and conflict, “these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
A Truth We Cannot Keep for Ourselves
Keeping a Secret
Theo was keeping a secret from Lydia, his faithful wife of four years. He’s a good and decent man, an employee at World Relief Rwanda. He’s a dynamic communicator, a man committed to his church, his work and his wife. So what was Theo hiding?
It wasn’t an infidelity or even an indiscretion. He hadn’t lost money gambling or stayed out too late with his friends. He hadn’t disrespected his wife in any blatant sort of way, so what was this secret he was keeping? What couldn’t he bear to share with his wife? It’s likely not something you ever would have guessed.
You see, Theo’s secret was that he was attending a class — a training at work on gender equity — designed to help our Rwandan staff gain a biblical understanding of how men and women are created equally and can, and should, lead together. The training is one of the many tools we use in our work against violence and oppression across the world to emphasize the truth that all people are created in God’s image.
Gender Equity and Biblical Truth
Even though gender equity is biblical, in the countries where we work, most people, like Theo, believe that women are not created equal to men and that only men are qualified to hold leadership positions. This makes it difficult to talk with local church leaders about the importance of including women in leadership roles, and even harder to encourage women to take on these roles in our programs given many of them hold this same view themselves.
It’s for this very reason that we piloted the training on biblical gender equality with our Rwandan staff this year, and why in 2020 we are rolling out gender equity training to all of our staff. We train our staff first because we know that God’s word can’t be powerful through us until it is powerful within us. And we also know that if we are asking our staff to help people break free from damaging cultural norms and behaviors, we have to arm them with God’s truth — the truth that all people are equally deserving of worth, dignity and respect.
For Theo, this truth led to a difficult realization as he began wrestling with the idea that his long-held cultural beliefs about women didn’t hold up in the light of God’s word, neither at work nor within his home.
Like most men in Rwanda, Theo believed that he was meant to be in charge at home and that his wife was meant to serve him. He controlled all of the money and made unilateral decisions. Lydia often had to beg Theo to give her money to buy propane for cooking, which was humiliating for her. On the few occasions she spoke up with an idea or questioned one of Theo’s decisions, he rebuked her for not being submissive to his leadership.
A Marriage Renewed
But after attending and reflecting upon the training, Theo decided to make some changes in his marriage. At first, he was too embarrassed to tell Lydia why he was making these changes. He felt ashamed of how he had been treating her and wasn’t sure how to bring up these new ideas.
So, Theo started helping Lydia in the kitchen. He began asking her opinion about household matters and inviting her to make decisions with him. Theo even learned how to make tea for visitors and began cooking for their son. And while all of these changes surprised Lydia, nothing shocked her more than when Theo began to wash the dishes. Never in her life had she seen a man do dishes!
That’s when Theo knew he had to tell Lydia the reason for all of these changes. He told her about the training and about how God had opened his eyes to new truths and convicted him that the way he had been treating her wasn’t how God intended a man to behave. Then Theo took a giant leap of faith — he invited Lydia to join him at the next training so she could learn this truth for herself.
“The best thing Theo did was invite me to the training,” Lydia said. “I learned that we are equal and we have been created equally. This truth has liberated me.”
Jesus promised that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. That’s why we use God’s word as the basis for all of our programs at World Relief. We have seen time and time again what happens when the truth of God’s word penetrates people’s hearts. Deep and lasting change occurs within individuals, it overflows into families and changes entire communities, just as it did with Theo and Lydia.
Both Theo and Lydia agree that they can’t keep their newfound knowledge to themselves.
“I think we need to share our testimony and knowledge with other couples,” Lydia says. “It is a truth that we cannot keep for ourselves.”
A Future of Flourishing
As the truth of biblical equity takes root in more people’s hearts and minds, more women are empowered to rise up within their communities and lead within our programs. And when women are able to take on leadership in areas like health and nutrition, savings, agriculture and church empowerment, holistic transformation begins.
Men stop beating their wives. Young girls stay in school and avoid early marriages. Women gain access to capital to start their own businesses and become self-sufficient. And survivors of rape receive help and support rather than being shunned by their communities.
What’s more, a generation of young girls sees a new way of existing, encounters role models and gains a vision for what their lives could mean. The cycle of oppression begins to break and women and girls are ushered into the fullness of life that God intended for them all along.
At World Relief, we know that this fullness of life is available to all people — regardless of their gender, skin color, country of origin, tribe or faith — when they are viewed as image-bearers of God.
Every day, we have the privilege of watching the radical concept of Imago Dei transform broken relationships and end violence & oppression in so many of the communities where we work. Individuals change. Marriages improve. Families stabilize. Peace descends. Communities thrive. Churches flourish. And through it all, God is glorified.
Mary Milano serves as the Director of Fundraising Content at World Relief.
Rebirth and Renewal
In the Path of the Storm
It was late May in 2004 when torrential rains hit Mapou, a small village nestled within the La Selle mountain range in southeastern Haiti. This nameless storm dumped water on Mapou for three consecutive days, killing over 432 people in Mapou and another 800 in other villages throughout Haiti. Mapou, among several other villages, was left under a lake of water, and more than 31,000 people across Haiti were left without homes.
Nicole Eliassaint, a local resident in Mapou, recalled the terror that consumed her village.
“No one could go out to see their relatives or ask for information,” she said. “We faced a situation of helplessness… some of us had to cling to trees or stay on our roofs for days to avoid being swept away by the waves.”
The storm hit outside the regular storm season, the devastation highlighting how vulnerable Haiti is to natural disasters. The country sits in the middle of an aggressive pathway for tropical storms and hurricanes and also straddles a major faultline. Geography, however, isn’t the only factor that has left Haiti vulnerable to natural disasters.
A Complex History
In 1804, Haiti proudly became the first black republic in history after a successful, slave-led revolution. The war for independence, unfortunately, also destroyed many Haitian plantations, leaving the economy in a fragile state. As a result, Haitian leaders were forced to purchase the recognition of Haiti as a legitimate sovereign nation. In exchange for access to trade markets, they took on massive debt, further crippling the nation’s economy and leaving it prone to political hardship throughout the mid-20th century. This storied history of exploitation and corruption has left the country with a feeble infrastructure and weak economy, making it difficult for Haiti to rebuild the foundation needed to defend against disasters.
Consequently, Haiti has remained locked in a cycle of unhealthy dependence on foreign aid each time disaster strikes. Even with these aid efforts, international relief often struggles to reach the remote areas like Mapou, and little to no system has been developed for warning residents of coming storms.
In 2016, many communities, including Mapou, were still recovering from previous storms when Hurricane Matthew hit. The storm killed 546 people and caused $2.8 billion in destruction. Farms and livestock were destroyed, leaving many Haitians without a source for food or an income.
Catalyst for Change
In his book, The Upside of Down, author Thomas Homer Dixon writes that even the worst catastrophes can be a catalyst for change.
“Catastrophe,” he says, “can create space for [the kind of] creativity that helps build a better world for our children [and] our grandchildren…”
“Breakdown,” he adds, “can shatter the forces standing in the way of change.”
Such is the case when disasters strike, leaving gaping holes in the vulnerable communities that endure them. Buildings crumble, lives are lost and a deep chasm is left in the foundation of the affected society. But what if, as Dixon writes, this catastrophe could make way for creativity that leads to change, and what if this change could be generated by the local church?
Dixon’s words truly come to life in the example of the church in Haiti. In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, church leaders in the Sud, Grand Anse and Nippes regions came together with World Relief to bring aid to people in their communities. Initially, each pastor involved thought they were coming to World Relief to receive food and aid only for themselves, their families and their church members. But after attending a World Relief training, they began to see the bigger picture of what God was calling them to — to come together as a whole church in order to serve the most vulnerable people impacted by the storm.
Church leaders were trained on how to identify problems, mobilize volunteers, write proposals and submit requests for aid. After their requests were approved, churches in Haiti came together with more frequency than ever before, and through their collective efforts, more than 6,000 people received immediate aid in the form of food, water and sanitation supplies. Thousands more received seeds, farming equipment and thorough agriculture training to rebuild their farms and restore their livelihoods. While World Relief Haiti provided the resources for this project, church leaders were co-managers of the project, ensuring equitable distribution as well as a number of volunteers who made the scaling of the project possible.
Local Solutions
In Mapou, World Relief worked alongside church leaders from Bell-Anse, which included pastors from more than 75 churches in the Pichon & Mapou villages. The group came together to brainstorm ways to build resilience and better prepare their communities for natural disasters. Historically, people living in the mountains would try to warn people living in the plains of coming storms by blowing into conch shells — a method that was often too little, too late.
After some deliberation, leaders came away with a plan to implement an Early Warning System using appropriate technology (a system not reliant on electricity that can work no matter what the weather).
Over the next two years, World Relief worked alongside community leaders to implement a system of warning flags and hand crank sirens. Pastors and local leaders trained their congregations and communities on the system’s procedure so they could be ready to act should disaster strike. Country Director, Joseph Bataille, believes that with a little more coaching, the community will be ready to carry the program on their own.
In addition to the community-wide warning system, World Relief also helped families develop Household Emergency Plans, partnered with the Haitian Red Cross to train 25 community members in First Aid and assisted farmers in reducing erosion and planting cyclone-resistant crops.
Nicole said that the training she and her team received along with the implementation of the early warning system has “completely transformed the way they prepare for natural disasters. Information flows better… [and] everyone knows what to do in advance to protect themselves in the event of a flood.” She added that people feel more confident when cyclones and natural disasters hit because they know how to better protect themselves.
Lasting Change in Haiti
The increased frequency in storms and natural disasters in Haiti and other similar nations makes it clear that immediate relief alone won’t solve the disaster problem. But bolstering local churches and community leaders with the tools they need to cope with disasters can. Investing in warning systems and resiliency training can reduce the impact of natural disasters before they ever occur and make way for the strength and beauty that has historically defined these nations to be restored.
The most beautiful part of this story is that in the wake of disaster, local churches in Haiti have become a catalyst for restoration and renewal. Led by trusted community leaders who have the ability, authority and permanency to do far more than any government institution or non-profit organization ever could, local churches have become the hands and feet of Jesus in their communities. Not only that, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, these churches are restoring hope and igniting spiritual renewal right alongside the physical rebirth happening as their communities rebuild. Several congregations reported growth as a result of the relief and resilience work they have done in their communities.
Restoration and renewal are possible, even in the darkest of circumstances. As Christians, that truth is at the very core of everything we believe, and at World Relief, we believe that it is through the church, and God’s people, that we’re able to bring holistic healing and create lasting change, even in the path of a storm.
Rachel Clair serves as a Content Writer at World Relief. With a background in creative writing and children’s ministry, she is passionate about helping people of all ages think creatively and love God with their hearts, souls and minds.
When the Waves Are Silent: 10 Years after the Aceh Tsunami
10 years ago today, Candra had no idea that his life was about to be forever changed. Candra and his fiancé were visiting friends and family in a small village two kilometers (1.24 miles) from the coast in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. They were planning to spend an enjoyable Sunday at the beach. While they waited for friends, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake tore their world apart, releasing destructive energy equivalent to 1,500 atomic bombs. Unfortunately, the earthquake wasn’t the worst thing that would happen on December 26, 2004.
Shortly after, Candra and his friends saw crowds of people running from the coast. When they asked what was happening, those running by told them of an approaching wave. Candra and his friends laughed in disbelief. They decided to watch the canal to see what kind of wave could come two kilometers inland.
Fifteen minutes later, Candra and his friends saw something that most of us have only seen in movies– a gigantic wave overwhelming everything in its path, washing it all away: cars, buildings, electric wires, buses, and people. Children. Then they began running for their lives. Candra and a few others squeezed into the back of a truck already full of people. But the tsunami was faster than the truck. It caught the truck and lifted it high above the ground, carrying it until it collided with the roof of a house. The people crammed inside the truck immediately jumped out and waited for the water to recede, talking frantically, planning, praying and wondering if this was the End of Days.
Aceh immediately after the Tsunami
After the wave washed back out to sea, Candra and his friends began running for safety again. They ran another mile through the mud and destruction, and the people frantically searched for lost family members, trying to get to the high water mark and what they hoped was safety.
One of the deadliest natural disasters on record, the Aceh Tsunami devastated Indonesia and surrounding countries. Candra and his fiancé survived, but more than 230,000 of his fellow Indonesians did not. The scars of this traumatic experience run deep. The tsunami broke families apart, destroyed businesses, ruined homes. Those who survived are still healing from the psychological, physical and emotional wounds.
More of the destruction the Aceh Tsunami left in 2004.
Candra ended up joining World Relief in its efforts to restore Aceh. Motivated by that disaster, he studied disaster risk reduction and is still working today for World Relief as a Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist. It is his job to empower local churches and organizations to help vulnerable communities prepare for future disasters. When asked why he works for World Relief, Candra’s response is simple. “We are building the people, not just the houses”. Anybody can build a house. But building a person, empowering a community, seeing real transformation in all areas of life is something special.
To learn more about World Relief’s current programs in Indonesia, visit https://worldrelief.org/indonesia.