Posted on 05/16/2008 9:03:55 AM PDT by Gamecock
All, Mission To The World, the PCA's international ministry, has issued an appeal for funds to aid in the relief of Myanmar cyclone victims. I know that most of us have heard stories about countries and large relief agencies having their hands tied, but God will provide a way for His church to break through manmade barriers.
Horrifying and harrowing stories are emerging in the aftermath of the catastrophic tropical cyclone that devastated much of already poverty-striken Myanmar. Reuters News is reporting as many as one million people left homeless. No one really knows how high the death toll may rise, but estimates are still being revised upwards, possibly in excess of 100,000. The military government has not responded quickly, and relief agencies are frustrated by delays in receiving emergency visas. Assistance has only begun to trickle in. We are grieved at early reports from survivors that describe terror and devastating loss of loved ones. The urgency of the crisis increases almost hourly.
The area hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis is Myanmar’s fertile Irrawaddy delta known as the Rice Bowl. Of course, this means that the rice crop, upon which the country depends, is almost certainly lost. So, even those areas of Myanmar that did not take a direct hit from the storm will be deeply affected, possibly catastrophically. And as is always the case, children and the elderly will suffer the most from lack of shelter, water, and food. If circumstances continue unchecked, disease is sure to follow, driving the misery and the death toll even higher.
Our assessment team will leave whenever visas are issued, and after that we hope to move quickly with disaster response teams followed by longer-term assistance. The crisis will not pass quickly.
MTW’s national partner, with whom we have worked for the last ten years, lives in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) which, though it is outside the hardest hit area, also suffered significant damage and loss of life. It has been difficult to communicate so far with this valued partner, but we do know that he is well and that he has expressed willingness to work with MTW in the relief efforts.
Sincerely in Christ,
Paul D. Kooistra, Coordinator
I'm sure other Protestant churches are working on ways to provide relief. If you are aware of information on such efforts, please feel free to post a link.
All are welcome to post here if you don’t make snide comments and stay focused on the topic at hand.
By now, millions of survivors are forced to dring contaminated ditch water.
The results are going to be horrific.
This is typical of the great work MTW does and the huge support it gets from the Presbyterian Church in America. (Don’t confuse the conservative PCA with the liberal PCUSA!) I’m proud to have found Christ at a PCA church, Cornerstone Presbyterian just outside of Columbia, SC.
}:-)4
No kidding!
Our faith as a family took a huge leap forward at when we were at Northeast Pres on the other side of Columbia!
I don’t know that we ever went to Northeast...it would’ve been shorter than driving from our apartment at Crowne Lake (just off the Trenholm Road Extension between Decker and Two Notch) all the way out to Irmo every Sunday. But my wife’s family had attended Cornerstone since they landed in Columbia years before, so there we went, and I never regretted it. We’re not attending regularly right now...we’ve gone a few times to a PCUSA church not far up the road from us here in Durham, but it’s just not the same. Too much social justice, not enough Christ.
These double disasters in Burma and China are probably going to put a huge strain on all of the aid organizations, both religious and secular. I pray there’s no severe hurricanes this year, because after these horrific losses of life and property in East Asia, I don’t know how much is going to be left to handle anything else.
}:-)4
I’m on the Mission committee at my church (PCA), and we have been raising funds and supplies ever since this happened.
CC&E
CC&E
God bless all who are reaching out to the victims in Myanmar. May God guide and bless your work done for the Glory of His name and to show the power of Christ’s love in a fallen world.
Given the government of Burma, I’m not optimistic about the ability to actually deliver the relief to the folks with the need.
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