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.