"whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth."
1 John 3:17-18
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"whoever has the world's goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18 |
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At three this morning, I woke up to the sound of 2 year old Muharif wailing inconsolably in the shack next to ours. He cried out over and over again "when is daddy coming home.... daddy, daddy, daddy.." He crief for a solid hour until the Imam at the mosque accross the street started calling the faithfull to prayer. The last words he heard his father say were, "when I get home I will bring you some apples son, now be a good boy...." His dad will never come home.
Being here is unreal. The destruction on a material level is like nothing you have ever imagined. The human drama is equally disturbing. Everyone has lost somone to the tsunami. Yesterday a woman was going from camp to camp asking if anyone found her baby..."have you seen my baby..., my little boy....?" she asked with an air of desperate urgency. One of our Indonesian coworkers lost 40 relatives, the lady we rented our house from lost her husband and three sons, and the guy helping us with construction lost 13 of his immediate family members.
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| Partners Director Steve Gumaer with the leader of the community Partners is working in. Bandah Aceh, January 2005. | |
Partners has treated hundreds of people with emergency medical care this week, provided thousands of people with clean water, food, and basic survival essentials, and has rented a house near ground zero to base reconstruction efforts and host post traumatic stress dissorder training events. We are working alongside many other good organizations like Strategic World Impact, International Justice Mission, EV Covenant Mission, The Red Cross, Australian Relief and Mercy Services, and the Oak Tree Foundation.
As much as it is possible and for as long as the government allows us to, Partners will be involved with the reconstruction effort. Our primary emphasis in the short term will be on helping people get through the grief they feel after so much trauma. Glen Totten and others are already lined up to come and train Indonesian workers for that mission. Partners board member Doug Graham will be heading up the effort of home and facility reconstruction and others are organized to help with short and long term development projects.
Our goal, as always, is to love not just with our words, but in action and deed. As members of our community we depend on you to uphold us in prayer and financial support for the road ahead. If you have questions about our programs or specific needs please contact us.
Steve Gumaer, Director Partners
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