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.
