The team we sent to help minister in the aftermath of a cyclone that devastated Myanmar just filed the following report.
Imagine 75% of your county wiped out. We heard stories of mothers
losing the majority of their families and individuals clinging to
coconut trees for hours to survive. As their families were stripped
from their lives, also was the feeling and vision of hope.
Currently, life in the Delta is in survival mode. Every day they wait
for rice bags to arrive, rebuild bamboo homes, and relocate orphans due
to lack of space. The rice fields are still soaking in salt water and
much of the cattle were lost during the storm. Food is scarce and
children go to school under UNICEF tarps.
Getting there involved an arduous journey. The road to the delta was
long, hot, bumpy and wearying. At one point the ancient van ground to a
halt after a particularly jarring rut. “Ah, we get out and push,” said
our translator. So we got out and pushed the van. It started again, we
hopped in, and went, chuckling, on our World Race way.
single minute went by without braking hard or bouncing over a huge hole
brought us to the city of LaButta, the largest city in the Irrawaddy
Delta. Cyclone Nargis hit the area in May 2008, devastating villages
all around and killing about 130,000 people.
Until we arrived.
The road to LaButta is lined with the remnants of wooden houses (in the
States they would have been called shacks) that had been blown away by
Nargis.
Some were still being lived in, with tarps over their bamboo-woven roofs. Many were in shambles on the ground.
way: “I hopped out of the van once to find somewhere off the road to
relieve myself, and found myself literally on top of another destroyed
house. Suddenly I noticed an older woman sitting in the rubble of the
house. “Minglaba,” I said, greeting her in Burmese. Bamboo rods and
woven mats were scattered over the old site, and all that was still
standing was a huge water jar, the kind you find outside most village
houses in Southeast Asia. The woman kindly pointed me to the back of
the once-house, where larger bushes would hide me from any passers-by.”
Oncewe arrived, we linked up with a local church. Since Cyclone Nargis
hit, the church has grown with 70 new people giving their lives to
Christ. Formerly, most of the church members had been Buddhist. But
they’ve found hope in Jesus that they never found in Buddha. As they
meet in a wooden shack and pray on woven straw mats, they’re defying
their government, which endorses Buddhism.
In a wooden shack on woven mats the body of Christ rises to its knees
and cries out in prayer. Fervency and desperation mark their cries as
they clasp their hands in front of their chests, or hold them open to
God, asking Him to bring His KINGDOM to their country. To Myanmar.
…Thousands of orphans crying for their lost families
…Cyclone Nargis survivors hunger pains
…A child’s scream as another is taken to become a child soldier
…Fear of man in the sound of silence
…A mother’s broken heart shatters as she sees no future for her family
…Ultimately, their hearts begging for hope.
Will you help us help the people of Myanmar rebuild
their church? They say it will cost $8000. Please join us. The People
of Myanmar need YOU! Please help us help those who were devastated by
the cyclone last spring…
Adventures in Missions
PO Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
Write checks out to “Adventures in Missions” and in the ‘for’ line write “World Race Ministry – Myanmar”.
If you prefer, you may click here to donate online through AIM’s secure website. Please indicate “World Race Ministry – Myanmar” in the box.
