Baptist Global Response

BGR Executive Director Jeff Palmer explains disaster relief efforts underway in the aftermath of a typhoon and two earthquakes in Asia Rim.

Southern Baptist food relief is making its way into the Gaza Strip to help people suffering in the aftermath of a three-week Israeli military offensive earlier this year.

A total of $92,000 from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund will deliver food to about 10,000 people during the course of this next year, according to Abraham Shepherd, Baptist Global Response area director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Since Southern Baptist field partners and volunteers are unable to enter the area, the project will be conducted in partnership with local believers in Gaza.

The food distribution is part of a larger cooperative effort involving five Christian groups. Those other ministry partners will provide food for the effort as well, but also will distribute clothing, window glass, household goods, blankets and other necessities that are in short supply.

“The Gaza Strip has been experiencing a humanitarian crisis for many years, prior to the war starting in December 2008,” said the project’s local director. “Last year, it was reported that the Gaza Strip had the highest unemployment rate in the world. More than a million people have been suffering due to drastic shortages of food, cooking fuel, medical supplies, and other essentials. The recent war has only increased the devastation and hardships for the people of Gaza.”

Details are still being worked out in regards to logistics, due to the nature of the local conflict there, said BGR’s executive director, Jeff Palmer. “However, it looks as if most food can be purchased locally and distributed quickly and efficiently to those in need.”

The project’s leaders hope the relief effort will not only demonstrate the love of Christ for the hurting Palestinian people but also provide a springboard for long-term improvements in the quality of life for Gaza residents. 

“We do not envision that Gaza will be a self-sustaining area for many years,” the local director said. “It is our hope this project will lead to the development of micro-enterprises and community projects that will lead the people of Gaza to be more self-supporting.”

With technical support from Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., an Internet site, Christian-relief-for-Gaza.org, has been set up to provide information about the relief effort. That site currently suggests several points at which Christians can pray for the crisis:

“Pray that the current cease fire holds. Even more importantly, pray for a just and lasting peace,” the site says. “Pray for healing for those who were injured. Ask God to make available the treatment they need. Pray for the many children whose parents were killed.  Ask God to provide for them.”

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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 our Giving page.

The 6.2-magnitude earthquake that struck Costa Rica Jan. 8 was widely reported to have caused widespread destruction, but in fact was a localized disaster that has been blown out of proportion by the media. While prayer for the survivors is needed, relief supplies and volunteers are not.

That word comes from David Brown, BGR’s area director for the Americas.

“The 6.2 earthquake caused serious damage to various structures in the tourism parks in the area, which is about 30 miles north of San Jose,” Brown writes from Costa Rica. “No one should minimize the trauma to families that have lost loved ones, homes, and livelihoods, but the disaster did not affect large numbers of people.”

The quake triggered landslides that trapped nearly 1,000 tourists; the 31 people listed as dead or missing are Costa Ricans, Brown reported. The biggest problem now is the need to replace about 3 kilometers of road that was destroyed in the quake.

“While we have been flooded with stateside inquiries concerning the need for volunteer assistance, relief supplies and volunteers are not needed,” Brown added. “The immediate emergency has been well managed by the Costa Rican Red Cross and the national civil defense agency. Food and other supplies have poured into San Jose from various agencies and nations. Warehouses are overflowing, and the government is beginning to sell some of the food items to avoid spoilage.

“Homes were destroyed, but that number is pretty low. I would guess from all communities about 500 homes were affected, ranging from minor damage to complete destruction,” Brown said. “I met with Steve Duvall, a field partner from Costa Rica, to discuss possible interventions, but they see no evidence of the value of providing assistance. As of Jan. 20, only 250 people remain in one governmental shelter. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

In the meantime, Brown encourages Christians to pray.

“Ask God to comfort those who have lost loved ones and possessions in this tragedy. Pray that he would give Costa Rican believers opportunities to demonstrate the love and compassion of Christ to their neighbors,” he said. “Pray that God would work through these circumstances to help people understand his love for them and to bring honor and glory to his name.”

Southern Baptist workers are monitoring the situation in the Gaza Strip and looking for opportunities to conduct relief efforts there now that Israel has agreed to open a corridor for humanitarian assistance.

On Jan. 7, Israel announced it would cease hostilities for three hours each day to allow relief supplies to flow through a humanitarian corridor into the Gaza Strip. The announcement followed 12 days of intense fighting, first from the air, then on the ground.

“The situation on both sides of the conflict is bad — especially for the people of Gaza,” said Abraham Shepherd, Baptist Global Response area director for Europe, Mid-East and North Africa. “We have been in constant contact with various networks and individuals in the region, trying to coordinate efforts and be on standby for long-term sustainable relief.”

Southern Baptists already have been involved in two humanitarian projects in Gaza through Baptist Global Response, and that should open the way for permission to participate in war-time relief, Shepherd said.

Shepherd asked Southern Baptists and other Christians to pray for people in the area who are suffering and for humanitarian efforts.

“Please pray for wisdom, as we meet and discuss coordination of efforts,” Shepherd said. “Please pray for readiness in assessing the various options when it comes to our point of entry and the relative security situation.”

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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 our Giving page.

Southern Baptists are assessing relief needs in the aftermath of a strong earthquake in southwestern Pakistan that killed at least 150 people in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 29.

Thousands of homes were destroyed or buried by landslides that also have blocked roads, according to news reports out of the region. Pakistan’s government is using helicopters to ferry troops and medical teams into the quake zone.

Many survivors will be faced with near-freezing nighttime temperatures. Government officials reported they were distributing tents, blankets and food into the quake zone. A Southern Baptist assessment team will work to identify which needs they can help with and look for communities not being adequately reached by relief efforts.

“We are closely monitoring the situation and waiting to hear from our field partners on the ground,” said Jim Brown, director of the U.S. office for Baptist Global Response. “We ask all Southern Baptists to pray that God would preserve life and speed rescue efforts. Pray that God would work in this crisis to help people understand how much he loves them and wants them to experience lives filled with hope and purpose.”

Joshua Guthrie is a 16-year-old high school sophomore who cares about people in need – specifically people in Sudan who don’t have access to clean drinking water.

Our friend Joshua is bold enough to think that, with God’s help, he can make a difference in a faraway place like Sudan, so he has launched a campaign he calls “Dollar for a Drink.” He is raising money to drill a well in Sudan, where clean water will not only make people healthier but also will help reduce conflict in an area where competition for scarce water resources can lead to violence.

Joshua’s goal is to raise $8,000 by Christmas, and BGR is partnering with him to channel 100% of the money he raises into a well project in Sudan. BGR Executive Director Jeff Palmer has enthusiastically endorsed Joshua’s project.

You can read more about “Dollar for a Drink” and make a contribution at http://www.dollarforadrink.org/. Joshua is posting updates on his progress on his blog at http://www.dollarforadrink.org/from_the_directors_desk.

We encourage all our friends to visit Joshua’s site and help his cause along. Maybe you’d be willing to not only give a dollar but also tell your friends and fellow church members about his project too!

Southern Baptists in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee have reached out to families in Sub-Saharan Africa that are caring for terminally ill loved ones.

A total of 1,378 five-gallon plastic buckets filled with supplies to help caregivers were packed by congregations and delivered to the Baptist Fellowship of Zambia’s human needs program and to Tabitha Ministries, an outreach that provides care to more than 1,300 HIV-positive children in a district of South Africa that has the highest per capita rate of HIV-positive individuals in the world. Earlier this year, workers at Tabitha Ministries reported they were seeing 85 to 105 people die each week.

The buckets contain a wide range of everyday supplies needed by a caregiver – from lotions, ointments, and vitamins to bedding, bandages, and thermometers. The total cost of each bucket ranged between $100 and $125.

Mark Hatfield, Baptist Global Response’s area director for Sub-Saharan Africa, sends a note to say the second shipping container of buckets has arrived in Lusaka. 

“Please pray for the Baptist Fellowship of Zambia as they begin to clear the container through customs. Pray for duty-free status and an easy process,” Mark writes. “Pray that the use of these items by loving caregivers will show the love and compassion Jesus Christ has for the terminally ill. Pray that they would come to know the True Hope that comes from a personal relationship with him.”

The items in the buckets will be a tremendous blessing to families that must care for terminally ill relatives at home because access to health care is so limited. And although there are more than 22.5 million adults and children in Sub-Saharan Africa who are living with the HIV virus, the need extends beyond even those families. Thousands of people in the region die at home each year from sicknesses like cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, and other life-ending diseases. In-home care is all the care they will receive.

So to the churches in Mississippi, Kentucky, and Tennessee that helped with this pilot project, almost 1,400 families in Africa shout a hearty “Thank you!”

If you or your church would like to participate in the 2009 phase of this project, please e-mail Dennis Eastridge at deastridge@gobgr.org.

A summit on world hunger is being held Oct. 10-11 in Nashville, Tenn., in connection with World Hunger Awareness Sunday on Oct. 12. Space is limited, but there are some spots still available.

The event, which is sponsored by Baptist Global Response and Brentwood Baptist Church, is intended to help Southern Baptists celebrate what God is doing through hunger ministries overseas and mobilize to make a difference.

Highlights of the event include a keynote address by Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., and a member of the Baptist Global Response board of directors. BGR executive director Jeff Palmer will deliver a “State of the World’s Poor” address.

The program also will feature workshops and testimonies by domestic and international hunger relief practitioners that will help churches mobilize against hunger.

The event is offered without charge. Participants are encouraged to bring a bag of rice, bag of dried beans, or a canned good to be donated to the hunger ministry at Mineral Springs (Tenn.) First Baptist Church.

More information is available from Dennis Eastridge, deastridge@gobgr.org; (615) 367-3678.

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.