Baptist Global Response

By Pamela Swithin

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – One reason Southern Baptist overseas relief and development work makes an excellent long-term impact in the communities it serves is that Southern Baptist field personnel and volunteers work so closely with local leaders and community members.

When Hurricane Felix devastated Nicaragua in 2007, that kind of partnership made a tremendous difference for the Miskito people of that country’s Atlantic coastline.

Because the storm destroyed so many homes, one aspect of the Southern Baptist response focused on building houses. Baptist Global Response and their local field partners, using $75,000 from the Southern Baptist General relief Fund, launched into a project to build simple houses in some of Nicaragua’s poorest communities.

The Miskito people live in conditions most Americans would find hard to imagine, said David Brown, who directs Baptist Global Response work in the Americas.

“The Miskito people are just one step up from hunter-gatherers. They live a painfully poor life with little opportunity for education or social advancement,” Brown said. “Job training and employment opportunities are non-existent. Even when volunteers from the United States leave behind the power tools they brought to do their work, the tools often cannot be used because there is little to no electricity where the majority of the Miskito people live.”

Community leaders and the local Baptist Miskito Association were recruited to help identify the neediest victims of the hurricane: the elderly, widows, people with disabilities, single mothers and the extremely poor. Seventy-five families – a total of 600 people – were helped through the housing reconstruction project.

The houses, which measured 20 by 16 feet, were built in traditional Miskito style but reinforced to provide strength and durability so the structures would endure future storms. Local and Southern Baptist volunteers were assisted by paid laborers, all under the oversight of local Miskito church leaders. Local communities provided materials such as sand and gravel for the foundation posts, and private donors and other humanitarian organizations also contributed money for the project. Local village leaders, regional municipal governments, and the national “departmental” government all endorsed and supported the project.

Local leadership was a key element in the project’s success, said project director Jim Palmer.

“Thirty-eight Miskito pastors and church leaders remained directly involved in the project for its duration – helping plan, oversee, and direct the process,” Palmer said. “They assumed responsibility for the project and invested a great deal of time in the selection process, as well as accompanying the volunteer teams during the construction phase. The pastors showed great leadership skill in their direction of the project, giving their time freely in supervising, working, accompanying the volunteer teams and mentoring the people involved.”

Close partnership with local leaders and community members makes for much more effective ministry and efficient use of relief funds, Brown added.

“Local leaders and community members understand the needs better than anyone else could. They know how to design a project so it will be well received by the people,” Brown said. “They also often know how to find local resources that would be much more expensive or impossible to locate from an outside source. Working closely with local leadership helps us make the very best use of the money Southern Baptists have sacrificed to help with a disaster response.”

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The Southern Baptist General Relief Fund, like the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund, is a “dollar in, dollar out” ministry. Every penny donated can be used in the relief effort because Southern Baptists provide for administrative and overhead expenses through other channels. For more information about giving to the General relief Fund or World Hunger Fund, visit our Giving page.

Pamela Swithin is a collegiate correspondent for Baptist Global Response.