Wednesday, January 19, 2005
SOUTHERN BAPTISTS ASSESS THE NEEDS OF
SRI LANKAN TSUNAMI SURVIVORS
By Jeremy Reynalds
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (ANS) -- The
damage is horrendous, the need enormous and the opportunity to share
the love of God tremendous.
According to a news release from members of the Southern Baptist
International Mission Board (IMB), that is the initial assessment of
the first Southern Baptist team to enter Sri Lanka after the
devastating Dec. 26 tsunami.
“Southern Baptists are committed to serving Sri Lankans for the time it
takes to make a significant difference in their lives,” said Pierce
Hosmer (this and other names changed for security purposes), the
International Mission Board’s strategy coordinator for the Sinhalese
Buddhists of Sri Lanka.
“This week, they have shown God’s love for Sri Lankans by handing out
hot meals to the homeless,” Hosmer said in the release. “In the days to
come, the needs will change and we will be here to meet those needs as
well.”
The first Southern Baptist assessment team – which included Hosmer and
Pat Julian, the coordinator for Southern Baptist disaster relief in
Asia, arrived in Sri Lanka Jan. 8. Team members have surveyed the
coastline from the capital of Colombo to the southernmost tip of Matara
(as well as taking time along the way to listen to survivors expressing
grief and sharing needs).
“You look at the ocean and you see how beautiful it is, and then you
turn around and see the devastation it caused. It kind of looks like
World War II pictures,” Julian said in the news release. “One minute
they are living in peace, and the next they’re washed away; their lives
are gone.”
The assessment team also has worked closely with local Baptist leaders
to determine the most effective ways to minister both physically and
spiritually to the people here.
“I asked a pastor friend what the people’s greatest need is right now,
and he said they need Bibles. These people have lost everything. Their
Bibles were washed out to sea,” Hosmer said in the news release. “As of
Jan. 9, Southern Baptist gifts had purchased 600 Bibles in the Sinhala
and Tamil languages, and 340 of those already had been given out – not
randomly but to those who truly longed to read God’s Word again – or
for some, to read it for the first time.”
About 77 percent of Sri Lanka’s nearly 20 million population are
Buddhists; less than one percent of Sri Lankans are evangelical
Christian believers, Hosmer said. About 8.5 percent are Muslims and
about 8 percent are Hindus. Southern Baptists are trying to help all of
those who are in need, according to David Garrison, regional leader for
the IMB’s South Asia Region.
The preliminary assessment that local Baptist leaders did just after
the tsunami was a great help to the Southern Baptist assessment team
because it spared team members the loss of time and initial chaos often
encountered in disaster situations, Julian said in the news release.
For example, he added, local believers already knew of tsunami
survivors who had been initially overlooked by the government and aid
agencies because they were not in the hardest-hit areas.
The assessment stage is critical, because IMB personnel want to use the
gifts of Southern Baptists wisely. While fishermen need their boats
replaced, the government regulates the construction of boats and the
types of boats fishermen use. To purchase boats that do not meet such
regulations would be poor stewardship of funds, Hosmer said in the
release. Right now, the IMB also is waiting before rebuilding houses he
added.
“We are not ready for construction crews. The government may restrict
where the people can build, forbidding them from rebuilding on their
coastline property,” Hosmer said. “We do not want to spend Southern
Baptist money to build a house that might be bulldozed down in the
months to come. When the government has announced its decision, then we
will determine how we can help shelter Sri Lankans more permanently.”
The team has also determined that the IMB will not start orphanages.
Extended family members will take in most children orphaned by the
tsunami, Julian said in the release. Agencies that specialize in child
care and placement will help will help those who have no family.
“The Red Cross has what is called an unaccompanied children’s center
that they are putting in the countries,” he said. “The Red Cross is the
agency that is responsible, even in wartime.”
Children 12 and younger who have no family member (who is) 13 or older
will be placed in the International Red Cross centers, Julian said. The
Red Cross keeps a database of the children and will make sure they are
helped.
“Our focus will be to fill in the gaps, to help in ways that others are
not and to minister to those who have been traumatized by the tsunami
but are being overlooked,” Hosmer said. “To do this we ask for Southern
Baptists prayers and for their patience. We want to act with purpose –
not just doing good works, but serving in obedience to God’s will and
with His guidance. Apart from that, apart from Him, we will accomplish
little, so pray that He would lead and we would listen.
“A great tragedy has struck Sri Lanka,” Hosmer said in the news
release. “Many lives have been lost already. We don’t want another Sri
Lankan to die without Jesus in their hearts.”
Additional information is available at www.imb.org
| Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance
writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's
largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction.
He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New
Mexico and is a candidate for the Ph.D. in intercultural education at
Biola University in Los Angeles. He is married with five children and
lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy
Reynalds at jgreynalds@aol.com.
Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A black and white JPEG
picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com. |
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