Wednesday, November 28, 2013, 9:12 AM Manila, Philippines
Morning guys, hope you all are doing well. Today is Thanksgiving in the Philippines and we’re prepping for the festivities by curbing our appetites for the massive KIM dinner this afternoon. It should be great.
If there is one thing that Kids International Ministries has excelled at these past few weeks, it’s serving food. I recently ventured down to the typhoon devastated city of Tacloban to work alongside KIM in providing relief to the survivors remaining there. It was an experience I will never forget.
From the moment you get off the plane at Tacloban’s airport, you can see the damage. Parts of the terminal have caved in, entire sections of the roof stripped off, and not a panel of unbroken glass remains in the control tower. Military and medical personnel are all over the place. US Marines, Australian military, Philippino MP’s, UN personnel, Search and Rescue teams from Turkey, and practically some representative from every country the Philippines would consider a friend. Black Hawks traced the skyline taking food to outlying towns. You could see a few battleships from the shore. C130 Hercules (huge military aircraft) taxiing down the runway loaded with refugees bound for Manila. It didn’t take long to catch a sense of the gravity of this operation.
After waiting a few minutes at the airport, we met our contact and walked to our ride. I will never forget the look on this lady’s face as I walked away from her. She didn’t say a word, but she was begging for food. It’s one of the few times in my life I have seen “desperation” written so clearly on someone’s face. I wanted so badly to take her something, but our team was leaving and the military didn’t want us distributing food at the airport. If worse came to worse, I’m sure they would take care of her. So, I moved on.
We jumped into the Toyota and headed for the New Life Baptist Church in the suburb of Palo, KIM’s recently acquired command center. The devastation was incredible. Some areas were reduced to piles of rubble by winds over 200 mph. Almost every home was stripped of its roof and laid bare to the continual flow of Pacific rain. The only reason we had a road to follow was because of the gracious work of a few bull-dozers that uncovered the debris-buried pavement.
I’ve never been in a war zone, but if I did, I can’t imagine it looking much different. It reminded me of the final battle in Saving Private Ryan where German soldiers poured through the ruins of that decimated town. This was like it, only worse.
Yet, we pulled up to the New Life Baptist Church and discovered the value of building your house on a rock (or maybe I should say “out of rock”). This fortress of a church had withstood the brunt of the storm with incredible resilience. In fact, only a few sections of the outer wall and the roof were destroyed. The rest was intact. Grace of God + solid structure = great base of operation.
The workers from KIM and members of the church along with their pastor had stayed busy the last several days with preparing meals for the victims of the storm. Meals were cooked in the back (fortified rice with soy protein), filled into twenty gallon containers, loaded into the back of a truck along with canned goods and medical supplies, and taken out by teams to strategic locations in the surrounding area. By the time I left they were feeding nearly 2,000 people every day. Teams were heading out for “feedings” practically every hour while others went to separate locations to clear debris.
I was very impressed. I thought KIM would be running a good meat-and-potatoes operation there, providing limited relief where possible. In reality, it “felt” like we could almost feed the city by ourselves. In fact, if operations continue as they have, we could be giving the US military a run for their money. Our team of seven World Racers jumped right in and joined the operation. Local Philippino church members, KIM workers from Manila, and missionaries from the states all partnered together to form one heck of an awesome relief team.
It was a week I won’t forget. Busy as I’ll get out. From the feedings to the floor cleanings, we worked from sun up to sun down. Long, hard nights getting eaten by a plague of mosquitoes and the sound of pigs being slaughtered in the dark frequently scarred our greatly-desired sleep. Kids playing naked in the streets, stories from people who had lost over half of their family, Palm trees stripped to the ground, rivers flowing with trash, and through it all, the smiling faces of those who survived the storm. How they could all seem so joyful was beyond me.
My week there was incredible. I want to encourage you guys to continue your prayers for the Philippino people and especially Tacloban. I see this typhoon as an incredible door for the spread of the Gospel here. When you’re at rock bottom, you don’t have anywhere to look but up. Pray that would happen. Pray that God would embolden and enable the church in this time to really make an impact. And if you would like to financially support the on-going relief efforts down here, here is your link: http://www.stayclassy.org/fundraise?fcid=285703.
God is on the move guys. He does not waste time or resources in reaching out to the lost. He is very involved down here. Thank you for your incredible support that has carried me through these 11 months. I have eight days left on the Race before coming home. Pray I make it back alright. God bless ya’ll.
Your brother,
Seth
