Update Philippines 02/27/2012: When Typhoon “Sendong” moved over the Bohol Sea and passed between Negros and Mindanao it caused so much loss of life and damage to property and livestock due to intense rains in the mountains. Our vision was to see the Training Center secured and used as a staging area for relief efforts. The entire relief effort became more intense with an earthquake that followed six weeks later.
Ten weeks have elapsed since the disasters and God has blessed us with the center now secured and functioning. Over 600 feet of block wall has been rebuilt, buildings repaired, the farm returning back to normal, and classes in session with graduation scheduled for March.
Most of the staff has been able to return to their homes with construction continuing on some of the homes as I write. We have been able to feed hundreds of families from both disasters and in many cases supply them with much needed essentials such as bedding, tarps, soap, drinking water, etc. Ongoing medical outreaches continue to all the affected areas and most of all many are receiving Jesus realizing it is Him that has brought all this relief.
The focus will still be on feeding and meeting medical needs but we are now moving into the reconstruction phase of our relief effort. This will be much slower and will take a lot longer. Some homes can be rebuilt on the same location but many will need to relocate. I will keep you posted on the progress. Please keep praying for these people and also for God to continue to bring the resources.
UPDATE 02/14/2012I: In September of last year I took a drive up Palipinon Road past Purok Chico up into the mountains. It was a beautiful drive along this mountain river road with people living along the road and river. Six weeks ago this tropical paradise turned into a terrifying wall of water coming down the mountain from a typhoon named "Sendong". It destroyed almost everything.
Last night around 10pm it started to rain. We had heavy rain all night. At 2 am they had to start evacuating those that still lived near the river. The river is full of rocks and silt from the typhoon so there is no place for the water to go but over its banks. The result is that whatever the typhoon didn't destroy is gone now.
I just drove as far as I could about an hour ago and all that is left on the river banks is this one lonely yellow house that you can see in the pictures. All I can say is PRAY... Jesus these people need Your help. We are powerless without You.
UPDATE 01/29/2012: Having the opportunity to see some of the devastating effects of “Typhoon Sendong” and the power of water when it flows out of control I have come to see what God’s blessings on me really means. I could have been one of these living under a blue plastic tarp tonight because all that I had, which was not much at all, was taken way. People can live weeks without food, days without water, minutes without oxygen, but not a moment without hope. Hope becomes an antidote to despair. We can only take the little bit we have, and looking at this sea of need, ask God to use us to give someone hope tomorrow. Jesus you are the author of hope so we ask, "use us for that purpose".
UPDATE 01/19/2012: I am preparing to leave for the Philippines next Tuesday morning. I travel there each year at this time for different meetings, to check on things, etc. This year I go with many things on my mind. I have wanted to be there since I received word of Typhoon Sendong before Christmas. This storm and its floods have brought so much pain to so many. They have been left with little or nothing. I am thankful for our staff there and for Paula to be willing to leave at Christmas to be there with them. We are organizing a few things right now to continue to help. A relief team hopefully will go in February. Shipping things into Dumaguete is still a problem since everyone is trying to ship at the same time. I will keep you posted on this. Monies for medicine and food are still desperately needed. As time goes by it becomes easy to forget how much need there is. Please pray about how you can help.
UPDATE 01/13/2012: With so many things dominating the news it is hard to remember how many people are really suffering today. Typhoon “Sendong” that hit the Philippines the week before Christmas has left thousands homeless not to mention the families that have lost loved ones. Relief is starting to reach many areas but the need is so great. The villages in the mountains and along the Banica River are in shambles. The river beds are filled with rocks and debris so now even normal rains cause flooding. Pray for the rain to stop, the people living in tents unable to return to anything, and now the countless that are sick from the lack of drinking water, food, and the bacteria deposited along the river from the dump at Candauay.
UPDATE 01/05/2012 ...I have been talking with our staff in the Philippines and they have reported that while cleanup and securing the facility in Dumaguete is making progress they have identified 393 families from six villages nearby that have lost everything. We are helping them with food and supplies to get through these difficult days. Things like tarps for tents and meds are also being supplied. Every little bit you can give helps a lot.
UPDATE 12/30/2011 ...MANILA, Philippines (AP) – Fishermen joined Philippine navy sailors, police and firefighters in an even wider search for bodies from entire villages swept away in one of the country's worst flash floods. More bodies have washed ashore, pushing the death toll to more than 1,200, an official said Monday.
While more than 60,000 homeless from hundreds of flood-ravaged villages spent a miserable Christmas in jam-packed schools and gymnasiums, search teams retrieved an additional 150 bodies from the sea as far as 60 miles from worst-hit Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense. He said it would take three to six months to restore some normalcy and construct temporary housing to free up schools that are now serving as refugee camps. The death toll as of Monday stood at 1,236, with about two-thirds of the bodies unidentified. With more bodies found floating farther away, Ramos said authorities sought the help of fishermen to scour the sea. "We've stopped counting the missing. There are no accurate figures," Ramos said. "Those recovered, we don't know who they are. We have a system in place so that families can claim them later, based on fingerprints and dental records."
The United Nations last week launched an urgent appeal for $28 million to help an estimated 600,000 affected people, more than half the population of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in the southern Mindanao region. Despite warnings from forecasters, most were asleep Dec. 16 when a tropical storm made a landfall in a region rarely visited by typhoons. It unleashed more than a month's worth of rainfall in 12 hours, sending walls of water gushing into homes.
UPDATE 12/30/2011:Today I talked to one of our staff in the Philippines. This is what he passed on to me. "I went to this village this morning and i felt compassion for the mostly poor people. A few families had decided to leave the village and live somewhere else but most of the villagers have no other property, so they are just hoping for help to rebuild destroyed houses and assistance for a massive clean-up comes in due time."
12/26/2011 ...UPDATE: THIS IS THE PART OF A DISASTER THAT THE NEWS MEDIA DOES NOT COVER. I just had this conversation with one of my Filipino staff. "...Hi ptr John, Merry Christmas. Pls pray for comfort & faith in God. We are experiencing a low depression (more rain) now & people who were badly affected still have trauma, esp the children. Many in Cagayan & Iligan are very depressed due to the season & loss of family. Loved ones, social workers also feel the hopelesssness so they need counseling 2...."
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