Worldwide Activity Report -- December 1998
FAR082 -- GP SRV

Copyright 1998 by The Family

         Every day, in over 85 countries spanning the globe, full-time Family volunteers work to bring hope, happiness, and God's love to others. Following are some highlights of their recent activities and experiences, as reported by the Family members involved.

[Caption for lead-article photos:]
         Devastated! A few of the thousands of children orphaned or left homeless by the Gujarat cyclone (above), and a village under water (right).

Ambassadors of love and hope
From Crystal, India
         Our hearts were broken by the news reports of the tragic loss of life, property, and livelihood caused by a devastating cyclone that ripped through the Gujarat Coast: More than 2,000 people died, and 40,000 were displaced. Families were torn apart. India's second largest port vanished. Tidal waves reached as far as 12 kilometers inland.
         Members of several Family communities in nearby Bombay immediately volunteered their time and services to the Red Cross, which was spearheading the relief effort.
         The Red Cross gave us a clearer picture of the magnitude of the disaster and the most urgent needs of its victims, and then authorized us to assist in the collection of food, cooking oil, and clothing. They also asked us to help get relief supplies into the disaster area.
         Four of us Family members traveled to Bhuj, which is about 100 kilometers from Kandla's shoreline salt pans and the port, the areas that were hardest hit. There we set up a base and began sending in truckloads of donated wheat, rice, lentils, blankets, and clothing.
         Phone and electric lines were down, so communication was difficult. The secondhand reports we had received also proved unreliable. It wasn't until our first trucks returned that we learned that most of the survivors--migrant day laborers who harvested sea salt from the Kandla salt pans--had fled inland, back to their villages. Little more was known about them, except that many of them had lost loved ones and all of them had lost what few material things they once had.
         Our next assignment was to find these "neediest of the needy" and open a supply line to them.
         A government official put us in touch with another official in a distant village, who knew some families that had been directly affected by the cyclone. Following that lead, we drove for hours until we came to a remote village on the edge of the Thar Desert, far from the area where the cyclone and tidal waves had struck.
         We will never forget the heart-wrenching looks on the faces of the people we found there, or the stories they told of what they had been through, the loved ones they had lost, and the anguish they felt! Nothing could ever compensate for their losses. Their suffering could not be measured. They had no idea where to turn for solace.
         One old woman broke down and wept uncontrollably in my arms. She had lost 16 children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Her brother was even more devastated. He sat down next to us, but didn't say a word. He hadn't eaten or spoken since the disaster, his sister explained. He was still in shock. Of their 17 children and grandchildren, only one boy survived. They had given him up for dead too, but a day later he made his way back to the village. He had hung on to rope till the flood subsided.
         A little girl took hold of my clothes and clung to me. She had lost both mother and father. All I could do was hold her, cry with her, and promise to come back with more help.
         That we did, several days later, when two teams consisting of Red Cross workers, doctors from P.N.R. Society for Relief and Rehabilitation of the Disabled (an organization with whom we had worked on a previous medical-aid project) and 15 Family volunteers set out from our new base in Samakhiali with the first truckloads of supplies. Many of those supplies had been donated to the relief effort by Bombay businesses at the request of other Family volunteers; the rest came from Red Cross stockpiles. Between the two mobile teams, we visited 70 villages in the next seven days.
         In each village, some of us went from hut to hut, visiting those who had lost loved ones. We listened to their sad stories, and offered personal words of comfort and a message of God's love. Many grief-stricken survivors broke down and wept, amazed that strangers could care so much about them. We also consoled them with a beautiful song in Hindi, about trusting God in the midst of heartache. Like a healing balm, it soothed and comforted their aching hearts.
         Meanwhile, the doctors attended to the sick and injured, and others of us manned the supply truck. Villagers who had been directly affected by the disaster were invited to come and receive buckets of assorted food items, tea, soap, disinfectant, blankets, etc. They were also able to choose clothing for themselves and their families from large supplies of men's, women's, and children's clothes.
         We also brought all the children in the village to their schoolroom, if they had one, and played games and sang children's songs with them. This little time of laughter and fun helped them get their minds off of the sorrow and suffering they were caught in, at least for a moment. Many children who had suffered personal loses wanted to be held and comforted.
         We weren't able to take away all of these people's sorrows, of course, but we were able to reach their hearts with a message of love and hope that made their lives a bit brighter.
         And this is where our story truly begins. We have pledged to help some of these villages as much as we can, for as long as they need it--whether it be in the form of food, clothing, toys and school supplies for the children, or that which is less tangible but far more valuable and everlasting: God's love.
         The need is still enormous. If you would like to help us help them, please contact us at "Gujarat Relief Fund," c/o any of the addresses at the end of this publication. "Deeds of love and kindness never end; they live on in the hearts of others!"

First steps to a better life
From Stefan, Pakistan
         We are working to raise the health and living standards at a children's welfare center near our home. The center offers roti, kapra, makkan--basic food, clothing and shelter--to abandoned newborns awaiting adoption, about 30 resident orphans, and a number of severely mentally handicapped children and adults. We began with one-hour weekly educational programs, but soon felt compelled to also try to improve the children's living conditions.
         We found enough clothes in the center's long-forgotten storage to provide each child with two sets of properly-fitting clothing, which we labeled with their names, and we bought each a pair of rubber sandals. (Previously the children had gone barefoot and worn adult-size clothes, roughly cut to size and tied at the waist with neckties.) We also drew up schedules for them to bathe, change their clothes, and do their laundry regularly.
         Next we arranged for separate dormitories for those who are mentally disabled and those who aren't, and found sponsors to provide rugs and mattresses. More members of the local community are getting involved, so we should have beds and closets for the children soon.
         Our next goal is to train the children to keep good health and hygiene standards, which we're teaching through The Family's Treasure Attic and Kiddie Viddie children's video series and other activities. The children are delighted that someone cares enough about them to train them.
         Even more important than the immediate help our initiatives have been to the children is the fact that the staff members are catching on and trying to do more than the bare minimum. Step by step, these children's lives are being transformed.

[Caption for page-two photo:]
         Clowning around. Family clowns and singer Mark with a few of the children they performed for during a Children's Day visit to a Chinese hospital in East Taiwan. Also pictured are some of the children's parents and nurses.
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         The Family is a nonprofit, volunteer organization. Each of the activities you have just read about was made possible through donations from businesses, associations and concerned individuals. If you would like more information about The Family, or if you would like to help sponsor Family volunteers or projects, including any of those mentioned in this issue, please contact us at one of the addresses below:



Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family