Baptist Global Response

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A powerful earthquake struck the Caribbean coast of Honduras May 28, killing six people, injuring 40 and damaging homes and buildings across the northern stretch of the country. A Southern Baptist relief response is not expected, however.

Tremors from the 7.1-magnitude quake also were felt in neighboring Belize, El Salvador and Guatemala, said David Brown, Baptist Global Response area director for the Americas.

“Fires were reported in and around San Pedro Sula and there is significant infrastructure damage in the earthquake area,” Brown said. “Traffic in and out of El Progreso is hampered because of damage to bridges.”

Damage on the resort islands off the coast, which were over the quake’s epicenter, was not as severe as expected, Brown added. The airport in San Pedro Sula is open.

Emergency services officials said the number of deaths and injuries could rise as reports come in from poor villages in the mountainous area along the coast, the Reuters news service reported.

Brown said he is receiving reports from the area through local pastors and Southern Baptist field partners. Once he has a more complete picture of the scope of the need, a decision will be made about whether an assessment team should be sent in.

“A Southern Baptist response is probably not planned, since most of the damage was to infrastructure and buildings,” Brown noted. “That could change, however, as we receive more reports. An assessment team, as of today, will probably not be needed.”

Brown asked for prayer on behalf of people who live in the disaster area.

“Although the death toll and reported damage do not appear to be massive, the impact on the lives of people in the quake zone still will be very serious,” Brown said. “Loved ones have been lost or injured. Homes have been damaged or destroyed. Livelihoods have been seriously disrupted.

“When a disaster like this strikes, people need to experience God’s love and comfort,” Brown added. “Pray that in the midst of this great difficulty, God’s people would demonstrate the love of Christ for people in need.”

Further reports on the situation in Honduras — and whether a Southern Baptist relief response is needed – will be posted on http://gobgr.org.

Several thousand of the estimated 2.2 million people driven from their homes by fighting in Pakistan’s Swat Valley are receiving desperately needed help because Southern Baptists gave generously to their World Hunger and General Relief funds.

The massive displacement of families raises the specter of a humanitarian crisis rivaling the refugee exodus during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, relief workers on the ground in Pakistan say.

On-site assessments and media reports on the needs of “internally displaced people” indicate a lack of food staples, cooking utensils, bedding and shelter, reported Francis Horton, who with his wife, Angie, directs work in South Asia for Baptist Global Response. The relief effort will provide 1,000 families with food, blankets and cooking utensils. This effort follows close on the heels of another initiative that addressed the needs of 75 families.

The vast majority of the people fleeing Swat and two adjoining districts in northwest Pakistan are staying with relatives or renting a place to live, rather than enter government camps, Horton said. The largest percentage of refugees appear to be women and children.

The exodus from northwest Pakistan began April 26, when government troops launched an assault on Taliban fighters in the Swat Valley. The government had signed an agreement with the Taliban in February that would allow the Taliban to implement Sharia law in Swat in return for ending their year-long insurgency. Taliban militants, however, quickly moved into surrounding districts as close as 60 miles to the capital and even made shows of force in the Karachi area, some 700 miles away. The government responded with an offensive that it says has killed an estimated 1,190 Taliban and 75 government soldiers.

Pakistan faces a humanitarian crisis on a level the world has not seen since millions of Rwandans fled the 1994 genocide in that country, said one relief worker in the area. Many are arriving with little more than the clothes on their back after a dangerous journey. 

 “Men, women and children fled the violence in buses, taxis, trucks, carts and on foot,” the worker said. “Few people were afforded the luxury of bringing their belongings with them. Most escaped with only the clothes they were wearing and possessions they could carry in their hands.

“Upon reaching ‘safety,’ these refugees stumbled into hastily established tent camps, which were inadequately prepared to deal with the barrage of refugees who arrive in greater numbers every day,” the worker added. “Food supplies are inadequate. The lack of sanitation facilities and crowded conditions proliferate infections and disease. In an effort to avoid theses conditions, families seek shelter in apartments with relatives, with 20 or 30 people vying for space in small rented rooms.”

Besides needing the bare necessities of daily survival, women are struggling in the crowded conditions, the worker noted. “Many of these women have spent their entire lives observing ‘purdah,’ the practice of seclusion from men who aren’t close relatives through wearing a ‘burqa’ or remaining inside the confines of one’s home,” he said.

“I have remained within the four walls of our house since the day I was married, 35 years ago,” Zuqaina Bibi told another relief worker. “I have left it and our small courtyard on only a few occasions.”

“These women have never shopped or used local transportation on their own, the relief worker said. “This is the first time many of them have left their village. These women face tremendous difficulty even in simple tasks such as shopping and transportation. They do not speak the national language and they have very little money left to buy food.”

The Southern Baptist relief initiative is being conducted in partnership with national partners, including Christians and a team of men who were helped by Southern Baptists after an earthquake devastated their homes in 2005, Horton said. Those men have already been helping in the assessment effort at their own expense.

The relief supplies being distributed involve food rations – including rice, flour, salt, sugar, powdered milk and cooking oil – as well as cooking and eating utensils. The project also will address the need for clean water and will provide tents, sleeping mats and blankets where those needs exist.

The initiative is being funded with $56,500 from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund and $43,000 from the General Relief Fund, Horton said. The cost per beneficiary is approximately $16.50. The earlier project was funded with $3,000 from the World Hunger Fund and $2,000 from the General Relief Fund.

Reaching out to people in this crisis will help them experience God’s love for themselves and could open the door for future community development initiatives that would help them greatly improve the quality of their lives once they are able to return home, Horton said.

“These people will have the opportunity to meet Christians who care about the crisis they are experiencing,” Horton said. “Experiencing God’s love firsthand through this outreach will give them an opportunity to understand God’s love and his desire for them to have meaningful lives filled with purpose and hope.”

Christians involved in the relief effort asked other believers to specifically pray that:

– The government of Pakistan will respond quickly and with integrity during this crisis and that God would raise up faithful leaders who will act righteously towards the people.

– Adequate provisions will reach the needy, medicine will reach the sick and justice will be administered to those who take advantage of the poor.

– Opportunities would arise for ministering through distribution and education and that national partners would come alongside to help with the effort.

“Please pray for our teams as we have an opportunity to share the love of Christ and be his hands and feet here,” the worker said. “As we supply food, water, bedding, cooking items and educational support, pray that we would be Christ to these people.”

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Your gifts to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund make projects like this possible. For information on giving to the World Hunger Fund, please visit our Giving page.

Jeff Palmer is posting some intriguing thoughts on the topic of “Six models of Kingdom community in the Bible” at http://kingdomcommunities.blogspot.com. He is working his way up the list toward #1 and has three installments posted: #6 – the New Heaven and New Earth; #5 – the Body of Christ; #4 – the Community of Israel. They have profound implications for how we do both church and missions.

Hundreds of disadvantaged villagers among the hill tribes of Thailand have an opportunity to escape the vicious cycle of poverty, thanks to a “community transformation project” funded by Southern Baptists.

Read more here

New Jeff Palmer blog post: “The word ‘community’ in the Bible” http://bit.ly/lZ9VB

A Southeast Asian Christian orphanage presently serves around 15 children … most of whom are from an island off the coast that was devastated by a major earthquake. The majority of the children come from poverty-stricken, nonfunctional homes due to the loss of one or both parents.

BGR field partners are helping to provide basic needs (food, clothing, etc.) as well as medical care for the children. The focus is to provide a safe, nurturing environment for them. They are taught to read and then placed in public schools. They are also taught life skills which will help them assimilate back into the community upon graduation.

Local support for the orphanage is growing. The orphanage has planted palm oil plants on their land. BGR field partners will help them produce an advocacy brochure this year. The goal is for them to be more self supporting in the future.

Ask God to continue to strengthen the relationship between this orphanage and the local community. Pray that the children will learn of God’s love for them as their basic needs are met.

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For information on how you can get involved with this project, contact BGR at info@gobgr.org.

The item above comes from “BGR to GO,” a prayer bulletin issued by BGR prayer coordinator Lori Funderburk. To subscribe to BGR to GO send an e-mail BGRtoGO@gobgr.org. A children’s prayer letter also is available. To subscribe, send an e-mail to BGRtoGOforKIDS@gobgr.org.

Baptist Global Response is pleased to announce a new blog written by BGR Executive Director Jeff Palmer  called “Kingdom Communities” at kingdomcommunities.blogspot.com. The blog seeks to answer the question, What would God’s kingdom on earth look like? It will promote and discuss the issues of community development from a Kingdom perspective.

If you care about poverty elimination, safe drinking water, fighting world hunger, or any of a host of “justice” issues, you ought to follow — and join — the discussion on this blog. You’ve never seen anything like what’s going to develop there.

You also can follow Jeff at twitter.com/jjeffreypalmer.

One year after a massive earthquake devastated China’s Sichuan province, Southern Baptist gifts are helping the region’s survivors find healing and new hope.

Read more here