Baptist Global Response

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.

This note in from Ashleigh Campbell, one of our collegiate correspondents at Union University, summarizing what happened through the IDP camp ministries in Kenya earlier this year:

LIMURU, Kenya – Thousands of Kenyans who had to flee their homes because of the election-related violence in December 2007 are now rebuilding their lives after receiving aid from Southern Baptist workers and more than $56,000 from the Southern Baptist world hunger and general relief funds.

After the presidential elections, violence drove many minority tribal groups from their homesteads and those families looked to police camps, churches and Kenyan Red Cross centers for protection. Southern Baptist workers responded to the immediate needs of four such camps, working with the Kenyan Red Cross to provide food, water, medicine, plastic sheeting for shelter, kitchen utensils and blankets over a period of several months.

“Thousands of desperate, fearful and homeless people were coming into the camps with little to no food and only the possessions they could carry with them,” said Mark Hatfield, who with his wife, Susan, directs work in Sub-Saharan Africa for Baptist Global Response. “People were hungry but afraid to leave the camps because of the potential violence outside. Many were traumatized because of what they had personally experienced or heard others had experienced.”

Southern Baptist workers helped connect Kenyan Red Cross personnel with people who could assist with needs in the camps. They also mentored young workers who had never responded to a crisis situation before.

At first, the food provided by Southern Baptists was the only food the camps had. Clean water was delivered in a 1,000-liter tank for drinking and cooking. Plastic sheeting and firewood also were provided. When other relief efforts brought in staple foods, the role of the workers changed to providing storage areas as well as fresh food. Later on, Southern Baptist relief funds were used to have three pit latrines pumped out, greatly improving camp sanitation.

Two of the four camps are now empty, as most people have resettled locally, returned to their original homes or been transported to their tribal homelands. The people remaining were trying to resettle in the area because it is their tribal homeland. The majority of the children still in the area are in school and some of the adults have been able to find jobs in the area.

“Southern Baptists have made many friends because of this outreach. A great many people have experienced God’s love firsthand as Southern Baptists demonstrated the compassion of Jesus Christ for hurting people,” Hatfield said. “We were able to help families avert disaster and find new hope and purpose in life that they can share with others in turn.”

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For information about donating to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, please visit our Giving page.

Southern Baptist relief efforts in the Baltic Sea country of Georgia are continuing to make a real difference for families whose lives were upended in August 2008 by fighting between Russia and Georgia.

A field partner shares this update with Baptist Global Response:

“This summer Georgia underwent a traumatizing crisis. Thousands of people were left without homes, refugees within their own country. Most of these arrived in the capital city with what they could carry and the clothes they had on their backs. Hungry, shocked, homeless, despairing people, began filling school buildings empty for the summer as well as abandoned hospitals.

“Immediately churches around the world began to pray for this nation. Funds were provided for hygiene products for refugees. Funds also were allocated from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund to supply necessary food products for feeding large numbers of people in Gori.”

Within two weeks, Southern Baptist disaster relief teams from Texas, Oklahoma, and Kentucky were being organized and initially helped feed approximately 1,200 people were being fed every day. Between 400 and 500 people still are being served onsite five days a week, according to the report.

By April most of the refugees are expected to be in housing. Unemployment, however, continues to be a serious problem.

Government officials and local citizens have expressed deep appreciation for what the church is doing for the community and the refugees, the field partner reported. A television crew also has interviewed locals about the project.

The speed and magnitude of the relief response was due, in large measure, to the generosity with which Southern Baptists give to the World Hunger Fund, the field partner said.

“Others working here wondered how we could have resources and teams available and in place so quickly,” the partner said. “Because Southern Baptists give every October to hunger relief and 100% of that gift goes straight to those in traumatic crisis situations just like here, we were able to immediately utilize these funds. Also, every year disaster relief team training takes place so that those trained are prepared to arrive in, live in, and minister in such devastating circumstances with very short notice.  When others are running out, these teams are running in.  What a strong and strategic arm of the church is this work!”

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Contributions to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund make projects like this possible. For information about the World Hunger Fund, please visit BGR’s Giving page.

The Baptist Global Response news and blog sites have been updated.

A news report from Georgia focuses on Texas Baptist volunteers who set up a feeding operation for displaced families in the Black Sea country of Georgia. Read more here.

A blog entry explains how Southern Baptist relief funds are helping people in need in India’s Orissa state, where Christians have suffered several weeks of violent persecution by Hindu extremists, and in Bihar state, where the breach of a river bank has cut off millions of people from supplies. Read more here.

Video of two interviews with victims of the violence in Orissa has been posted on YouTube.

Disaster relief specialists from three Baptist state conventions are deploying to the Black Sea country of Georgia to help families displaced by fighting between Georgian and Russian troops.

A seven-member team from Texas Baptist Men left Aug. 27 to set up a feeding operation for some of the estimated 100,000 displaced people in the country, according to Jim Brown, U.S. director of Baptist Global Response. The team also is expected to help distribute relief supplies and work on a building shell for use as a relief center.

Another seven-member team from the Kentucky Baptist Convention is expected to depart Sept. 4, and a 10-member team from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma will follow Sept. 7, Brown said. Each team is expected to be on the ground roughly 10 days. Before the Texas team leaves, a total of 24 Southern Baptist specialists will be in Georgia at the same time.

The Oklahoma team’s departure was delayed because that state’s feeding unit has been in Colorado, ministering to law enforcement officers providing security at the Democratic National Convention.

“We are hoping that if we hit it hard with these first three teams, they can help get relief operations set up so they can be turned over to local Baptist partners,” Brown said. “We understand also that Baptist volunteers from Ukraine and Armenia may come to help, and that local labor is available for rebuilding and repair projects.”

Brown said he and the North American Mission Board’s disaster relief coordinator, Terry Henderson, plan to have a conference call with disaster relief leaders in the Baptist state conventions early next week.

“By then, Texas will have been on the ground for three or four days, and we might have a better idea whether we are going to need any specialized ministry support teams and, if so, what kind of teams we will need,” Brown said. “If there is a need, we’ll see which states might be able to send teams to help.”

Complicating matters is the fact that the United States is entering its own hurricane season, Brown noted.

“Florida already has been hammered with severe flooding, and another storm is headed for the Gulf and no one really knows where it will strike,” Brown said. “It is projected to become at least a Category 3 storm. It’s possible that Southern Baptist disaster relief workers may be needed for response to storm events in the U.S., and that will affect our ability to field volunteers for Georgia.”

The Southern Baptist overseas team in Georgia is coordinating with other humanitarian groups and Georgia’s ministry of refugees, a team member reported.

“We just returned from meeting with these people,” the team member told Baptist Press. “An Italian group is going to be responsible for cooking for the larger part of the refugees and setting up a big kitchen at the tent cities. We offered to use our church building to store humanitarian aid.”

The team is working on getting the building ready to start feeding and working with refugees, the team member said, noting that the kind of supplies Southern Baptists are providing are in short supply.

“No one supplies hygiene items except for us and one other group, and they are still waiting on the boat from the U.S. to get USAID supplies — and even then it will only be enough for 2,000 families. We have already done this for 3,500 families by making local purchases with a few thousand dollars provided by Southern Baptists.

“Hygiene items have been the most desired items from the beginning. The second thing has been diapers and baby food,” the team member reported. “We did these things and they love us! People aren’t real fond of MREs!”

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Projects like this are made possible by gifts to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, which is a “dollar in, dollar out” channel for relief giving. For information about giving to the World Hunger Fund, visit www.gobgr.org.

Russian troops have pulled back from Gori, Georgia, and a Southern Baptist overseas relief team has entered the city to assess the need for humanitarian assistance.

“The city of Gori is in overall pretty decent condition,” reported one member of the team. “The destruction was mostly to army bases and government buildings. It seems like most homes were spared, although there were entire blocks of apartments bombed. You can see where all of the glass was gone and fires burned on the top floors.”

The team was able to get to the church building that will be the team’s command center for relief operations and saw that a building 100 yards away had been destroyed when the city was bombed. They were told several people died in the explosion.

Team members were able to hold an impromptu meeting with the governor of Gori on the street in the city center, the team member reported.

“We were asked to meet needs that are not being met by major humanitarian organizations,” he said. “We are going to buy and deliver things such as body soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, toothbrushes and other toiletries for several thousand people.”

On Aug. 25, the team plans to begin remodeling a building shell made available to them by a local Baptist partner. The building, which is strategically located, will be able to feed 400 people inside, and more outside, the team reported. It also will serve as housing for volunteers and eventually will provide classrooms and work space for community development projects.

“The refugees from surrounding villages whose houses were destroyed will need to be fed from this center,” the team member said. “They are expecting as many as 20,000 long-term refugees here. People from the surrounding villages – Georgian nationals living in South Ossetia – have been burned out and banished from their homes. It is doubtful they will ever be able to return to their villages.”

A seven-member team of disaster relief specialists from Texas Baptist Men is scheduled to leave for Georgia Aug. 27, according to Jim Brown, U.S. director of Baptist Global Response. A similar team of specialists from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma will follow soon after.

Southern Baptists are organizing an overseas assessment team to evaluate relief needs in the Black Sea country of Georgia in the aftermath of fighting between Georgian and Russian troops and allied militias in the region.

While foreign embassies are evacuating their citizens, thousands of residents of Georgia’s South Ossetia region have been forced from their homes by the fighting, according to news reports.

“I just got off the phone with partners updating me on the situation,” said Abraham Shepherd, who directs work in the EuroMidEast and North Africa region for Baptist Global Response, a Southern Baptist international relief and development organization. “Internally displaced people number over 100,000 and are pouring toward Tiblisi and the surrounding area. They are in bad condition.”

The United States announced Aug. 13 that it was undertaking humanitarian assistance to the region, according to the Associated Press, and called on Russia to guarantee that relief workers and supplies would be able to move about freely.

“Please pray for wisdom in determining the timing to enter the conflict zone to provide relief,” Shepherd wrote. “Pray for cool heads to prevail, for the sake of suffering people, and for a permanent solution to the ongoing conflict.

“Ask God to comfort the loved ones of those who have died, to give healing to the injured and stamina for the people who have been displaced,” he added. “And pray that believers in the area will be comforted by God’s love.”

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Contributions to the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund make relief projects like this possible. For information about giving to the World Hunger Fund, please visit our Giving page.

This from our Baptist Global Response prayer coordinator, Lori Funderburk:

Military conflict between Georgia and Russia has driven more than 100,000 people from their homes. Most internally displaced people (IDP) are pouring into Tiblisi, the capital city of Georgia.  The IDPs who moved toward Russia are better off, as Russian and North Ossetia have provided medical care, tents, etc.  BGR and partners are eager to form a team to go and assess the needs in Georgia.

– Pray for wisdom in determining the timing to enter the conflict zone to provide relief.

– Ask God to give BGR and its partners a strategy that will provide for the needs of the many people who are suffering.