January 4, 2005

The Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC) is sending its international relief team leader to work with staff already on the scene in countries hardest hit by the tsunami in South Asia.

Jacob Kramer, a Burlington, Ont. resident working with the Canadian branch of the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC), will leave this weekend for a two-week trip to assess needs and plan for emergency aid in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, CRWRC is working with partner organizations to bring relief to those in desperate need. Its plans for the short and medium term call for providing immediate food, clothing and shelter to thousands of displaced people, establishing water storage and wells and providing livelihoods assets, and looking ahead to long-term community rebuilding and housing projects.

CRWRC, the CRC's relief and development agency, has already provided $30,000 to the relief effort and has committed $2-million to long-term assistance. (For specific details, go to http://www.crwrc.org/).

CRWRC has received donations of close to $1-million, mainly by phone and Internet. The total is expected to swell dramatically as Christian Reformed congregations are being encouraged to receive a special offering for the tsunami disaster on Sunday, Jan. 9.

While the response has been overwhelming, Kramer noted that the need is very great. "We solicit your continuous prayer for the survivors and all the people active in this disaster response," Kramer said.

The CRC is also involved through its other agencies such as the Back to God Hour (BTGH), whose broadcast ministry is working with the Indonesia Christian Church Synod and its relief arm to solicit volunteers, give publicity to the relief efforts, and bring the message of hope to this ravaged area through local stations and short-wave radio.

Rev. Untung Ongkownowidjaja, BTGH Indonesian radio minister, reports that BTGH staff and family members are fine following the tsunami. The five radio stations that BTGH uses in North Sumatra were not directly affected.

Rev. Untung said the opportunity for Christians to show love and bring assistance to people in the hardest-hit area - a predominantly Muslim area known as the "front porch of Mecca" - may go a long way toward dispelling stereotypes about Christians and opening the door for the message of Jesus.

And CRC chaplain Thomas Walcott is directly involved in the U.S. Navy's efforts to bring assistance to people in Banda Aceh, Northern Sumatra.

"My helicopter crews, and I as their chaplain, have the exhilaration of delivering food and water to stranded groups of people - and also the horror of seeing the massive destruction and the huge numbers of dead," Walcott reported in an e-mail to family and friends. "I've been doing what we call 'defusings' with the flight crews when they finish their missions for the day. It's a pretty intense experience...."

Relief supplies have arrived in the area from all over the world, Walcott reported, but there are no usable roads on the western side of Sumatra and the Navy helicopters are the only means of moving the supplies to the people who need them most. They also transport severely injured people to places where they can get treatment.

Financial contributions can be made as follows: Donate Online: http://www.crwrc.org/. Donate by Phone: 1-800-730-3490 (Can), 1-800-55CRWRC (US) Donate by Mail: CRWRC - PO Box 5070 Stn. LCD 1, Burlington, ON, L7R 3Y8 (Can) CRWRC - 2850 Kalamazoo Ave. SE, Grand Rapids, MI, 49560 (US).

Specific Responses to South Asia Disaster

CRWRC is working with local partners to bring aid to tsunami survivors in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia:

India: CRWRC's partner EFICOR has a number of teams working in the following area:

• Kondamala, Pallipam and Gundiapalam; Andra Pradesh has done an assessment in these villages, giving out two-week rations of food and blankets.

• Tamil Nadu Davatpatnam in Cuddalore; given out clothes, utensils and tarpaulin sheets.

• Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

EFICOR will focus its follow-up involvement and rehabilitation on 20,000 families in Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The main interventions of its concept proposal are:

• Short-term: provision of food, utensils and bedding, clothing, tarpaulins, and hygiene kits for 20,000 families;

• Medium-term: educational kits for children, water storage and wells, and livelihood assets like fishing equipment and nets (20,000 families);

• Long-term: housing, community building, mitigation and preparedness for 3,000 families.

CRWRC is also talking with the Church of South India, another relief and development organization in India.

Sri Lanka: CRWRC is working with one of its volunteers in Sri Lanka, Jack Schenk, who has been doing direct immediate relief, assisted by his staff with Shelter for Life. CRWRC in the process of developing the next response including:

• Continued immediate help in food, water, clothing and tarps

• Looking at rehabilitation of artisan fishing, equipment and nets.

• Rehabilitation of agriculture. seeds and tools.

Two coalitions are forming and proposal is still being developed. The first group includes Shelter for Life, Habitat, WE, and LEADS (a local Christian NGO) and the second group is being formed by the Stromme Foundation, including Tearfunds, World Reliefs, and the local Evangelical Fellowship Relief & Development.

Indonesia: There is a limited relief presence in the Aceh area of Indonesia, given that before the disaster the area was under a military lock down. CRWRC is planning to work with the Association of Christian NGOs in Indonesia otherwise known as JK-LPK. The Mennonite Central Committee will also work with this group and it is expected that the coalition of the Reformed Churches in Indonesia will participate as well.

This group has already 45 people working in the area, distributing emergency aid shipped in from Medan. The follow-up project is being formulated. Medan is already overloaded with supplies and JK-LPK is now looking at Panang as the staging area.

Christian Reformed Church Communications