Letter from the Director of Disaster Response & Rehabilitation
December 14, 2011 Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In March 2011 an earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, and CRWRC mounted a response with partners including Christian Reformed World Missions and the Reformed Church of Japan. In the US and Canada, violent storms, floods and tornados in the spring and summer caused widespread damage and gave the “green shirts” at Disaster Response Services (DRS) a long to-do list for this year. Over the summer the East Africa drought became big news, and CRWRC very significantly increased its food and other assistance in Kenya and added major food aid projects in Ethiopia and Somalia as well. Pakistan was hit hard by monsoon floods again, so we initiated an additional major food aid project in the southern province of Sindh. And again, these are just some of the most significant new activities. Our ability to respond and show God’s love in these crisis situations all over the world is dependent on your support, and for that we sincerely thank you. That support is the “seed money” that enables us to obtain matching funding from CIDA through the CFGB, and to access funding from other members of the ACT Alliance and Integral Alliance around the globe – from countries like the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, and Hong Kong. This year, funds raised from our constituency in North America were tripled by these other grants. We are blessed with tremendous support! The positive impact on the lives of disaster-affected children, women and men makes us truly thankful to God for these wonderful opportunities to serve His people. We know that stomachs are filled with nutritious food, health care needs are met, clean water is provided, warm blankets and clothing are distributed, and many lives are saved. We know that hundreds of thousands of people now have a brighter, more secure future, and that thousands of families now have a safe and decent place to call home. In Haiti a few weeks ago it was amazing and gratifying to see CRWRC-constructed latrines, water pumps and especially houses everywhere – 2,500 houses in fact, sheltering over 12,000 people who lost their homes in the earthquake. Most of the houses are nicely painted and decorated, many have well-kept gardens, and they are all a delight to see. We were a bit puzzled though, because a lot of the recently built houses weren’t painted yet. When the homeowners were asked what they were waiting for, we were told “for Christmas!” Their tradition is to paint and decorate just before Christmas so that everything looks just right. And for them everything is, finally, right again – they have a home for Christmas! Thank you for your generous support in 2011, and may your home also be blessed as you celebrate Christ’s birth with family and friends. We pray that you will have a happy and healthy New Year. Unfortunately, we know that there will be more disasters in 2012, but we stand ready to respond to them as we are able – and we know that we will be able to count on you again next year to help us reach out in Christ’s name to those families who may lose their homes, their livelihoods, or sources of food, and to restore hope to them. In His Service,
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2011 has been a very busy year for the CRWRC Disaster Response team! A very challenging aspect of our work is that, at the beginning of each year, we never know for sure what we’ll be doing all year. Back in January we were (and still are) very involved with our major response to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, with completing our response to the September 2009 earthquake in West Sumatra, Indonesia, and with responding to the July 2010 monsoon floods in Pakistan – and these are just a few of the major responses that were underway at the time.
Wayne de Jong