Typhoon Haiyan relief update

Reg and Fread, two of our Peace Church members who joined the Peacebuilders Community team to mobilize pastors in Ormoc, a city badly hit by Typhoon Haiyan, are now home (Taki will be back in Manila tomorrow). They are back in comfy beds, tummies full of tasty "real" food (after 12 days of canned sardines and tuna!) and stories shared to our Peace Church community. We are so thankful for their willingness to help and their much needed physical and emotional strength during 12 days in the field.

The team was able to gather 35 pastors in Ormoc and give them a one-day crash course in relief distribution management. They secured a covered basketball court for relief distribution in Ormoc and a school in Tacloban, where another team of pastors are being trained this week. Three truck loads of relief (for about 3,000 families) arrived Monday and were distributed. The team also hosted 8 volunteer psychologist from Manila who did trauma healing. A busy and productive 12 days, to say the least.

Peacebuilders Community are the field specialists for the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches and their newly created Philippine Evangelical Disaster Response Network. Millions of dollars in relief coming from several major International Aid organizations (World Vision, Compassion International, Food for the Hungry...) will be channeled through this network and distributed by Peacebuilders Community and the pastors and volunteers they have and will be training. 

If you want to read about Reg's personal experiences in the field, with devastating yet touching stories of typhoon victims, read her blog, radicaljourneyist.

I was on CBC radio...

I was interviewed on CBC radio, the Early Edition (Vancouver) this morning about our work with Typhoon Haiyan relief. The link is below. Click on the November 14th episode and go to 31 minutes and you should be able to hear what I shared.

http://www.cbc.ca/earlyedition/pastepisodes/

Now I know how my mom felt....

My mom was very hesitant to send us to a war zone when we worked in Mindanao. We served relief at Internally Displaced People camps just kilometres from the front lines in 2008 with Peacebuilders Community. We could see the bombs in the distance.

And now I'm sending three of our own to the aftermath of one of the worst storms to ever hit this world. To utter devastation. To chaos. I trust Reg, Fread and Taki will be safe as they serve the incredibly needy people there, as we were also in 2008.... but I feel nervous. Hesitant. These dear brothers and sister are part of my family.... Reg stays with us every weekend, Fread sleeps here during the weekdays, and Taki comes faithfully to Peace Church every week. I know they will come home tired, scarred and changed. I'll be here to listen and to feed them.

I'm sending my "children" to this most terrible catastrophe.... I know how you feel, Mom. But I know too, Mom, that despite your hesitancy, you knew that this was right. So do I.

Here they are about to head to the airport. Notice Makai's outfit- he was all ready for bed but was set on going with them and found his hat (everyone else was putting on hats!) and shoes. And of course, cried when they left.

Join us in praying for these three dear ones, the rest of the Peacebuilders Community team, and of course, for the thousands of people who are in desperate need of food and shelter. 

The aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan: what are we doing?

Thank you for the prayers and concern regarding the terrible Typhoon that swept through the Philippines Friday morning. We, in Manila, have not been affected by the storm. Friday was a rainy windy day, reminding us of the disaster looming south of us. And now, as we read the news reports, we are seeing how terrible the devastation is in the central islands of the Philippines. As I'm sure you've seen on the news,  government officials are estimating that 10,000 people were killed in the Island of Leyte, where it struck hardest. One of our Peace Church members has lost an Aunt and a cousin. Another Peace Church member has still not been able to contact their family there. And we have a friend who moved there a few months ago and have no contact with her yet either.

Peacebuilders Community staff, with the leadership of Mennonite Church Canada worker, Dann Pantoja, will be heading to the hardest hit area (on Wednesday) to do relief and assessment work and we are sending three Peace Church members to join them. The team will work under the larger umbrella of Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches. Their plan includes the following (from Dann Pantoja's Facebook status)...
Our mission:
1. To help in the rapid assessment together with the government, church, and civil societies;
2. To help train churches to organize their people for disaster response and develop an effective and efficient plan;
3. To help local incident command posts in mapping out and in prioritizing relief distribution.

Please pray for the team- they'll be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) night. And pray for the many people who are in desperate need of food and medical attention. Pray for the thousands of people who are mourning the death of countless friends and family, their homes, livelihood and stability. We cry to Jesus as we grieve the terrible devastation this country we love has been hit with.

*We are working on setting up a link to receive donations from North America and will let you know as soon as that's set up... hopefully within a couple days.

a roadtrip, a typhoon and a prayer.

This week we went on a five-day trip up north for a board meeting with the Integrated Mennonite Church and then headed to Baguio, a cooler mountain city, for a National Coffee Conference and a couple days of sightseeing. We had a great time!!

It took us about 7 hours to get to the board meeting. Let me tell you.... a small church in rural Philippines, unreachable by car with no road signs or church signs is not easy to find!! We had to ask a few helpful people for directions ("Do you know Pastor Felix?? Where's his church???") and at one point someone led us to the pastors house.... I texted Reg and told her that we're supposedly "here" but all I see is a rice field and carabao (water buffalo)! She walked up the dirt path from the church to find us and we had a good laugh :)

The boys loved all the animals around the church. Pigs, dogs, roosters, hens, cats. Cody is always quite hesitant around animals but Makai just goes right up to them. Fread had to hold him back a bit as we didn't trust these dogs!

Best toy ever for these boys....

Darnell joined the meeting while Fread and I played with the boys. It was SO good to have Fread along to help me keep the kids entertained. And out of trouble!

They spent a good hour in this hammock and met the neighbours. Cody knows a Filipino song, "Bahay Kubo," which means nipa/bamboo hut.... so he thought it was pretty fun to visit a real bahay kubo.

So nice to be out of the city!! Cody saw little boys doing back flips off that pile of hay  and wanted to try! Maybe not :)

Next we headed to Baguio City and had a couple days of sightseeing. The highlight was the weather.... it was like Vancouver in June. Just perfect and even nice to put a hoodie on in the evening.  I loved not being sweaty for a few days and being able to enjoy the outdoors even during the hottest part of the day.

Family bike ride! $1 for an hour of fun... yes please!

Strawberry fields!

And strawberry ice cream :)

While Darnell attended the coffee conference (with Coffee for Peace staff from Davao), Fread and I did a little more touring of the city. A little boat ride was in order....

 A "hike" to a great viewpoint and shopping at street vendors.

Taking the boys on a little horse ride....

And the last night of the coffee conference had a cultural show. The boys absolutely loved it! They also loved this little girl, who was, funny enough, the exact same age as Makai. Oh my little white giants :)

We are thankful for this trip and the chance to see more of the Philippines. Today, while the boys nap, I am praying for the safety of so many Filipinos who are in the line of Typhoon Haiyan today. Its sounds like this one is going to be very bad (through central Philippines, not here in Manila or in Davao). The rain pounds outside my window and my heart is heavy.... for the potential loss of life, livelihood and homes. I love this country and these people so dearly. Lately I have really felt the weight of injustice, corruption and poverty here and am feeling burdened by the dichotomy we live in. I am forever grateful for the blessings of a comfortable home to live in and good food on our table. My tears fall, as I write, for the many people who do not have this gift. Our home is open, as always, to live the hospitality Jesus calls me to.

Please join us in praying for the Philippines today.