Message from Naomi David on behalf of the People's Church, Colombo.
Thank you for your support both in your prayers and in your efforts to help the relief work we have started.
As the Tsunami has devastated so many parts of Sri Lanka we have had to prioritise what is urgent in an island with so many necessities at the moment.
Initially the objective was to take food and water and clothing to people who were starving and displaced. For the first 4 days this was almost like a shuttle service, trucks coming and going all the time. However now we must think of the long term.
We have decided on 5 areas to establish care centres. They will provide:
1) Food and cooking utensils ˆ giving people jobs to do.
2) Medical Aid ˆ medicines and personal care.
3) Trauma Care Support.
4) Housing.
The workers coming back from the affected areas have been overwhelmed by the lack of hope in the outlook of the survivors. The shock and grief suffered by these people is immense. In the North, an aid worker came back and reported an incident seen in a camp where a young mother had been clutching her dead child for days, unable to acknowledge that her child needed to be buried.
We are a small island with a small percentage of Christians but we know
we have a big God who says he loves this world and all his people. We thank
you for enabling the church to rise to the occasion and be what God has
called us to be in this land, at this time.
Email Scratchings
"It is good that an organisation I can trust totally, namely HoverAid,
has the nouse and contacts to get involved via an organisation it can trust
totally, so that I need not worry about inefficiencies in other outfits.......so
well done Directors for saving me the trouble of finding a sensible direct
route." - Thanks for confirming the rationale of our approach
"I was a HoverAid volunteer in March 2001, and am wondering whether
the hovercraft are likely to be deployed after the tsunami disaster, and
if so whether you will be looking for administrative volunteers in London?
- What a great attitude! At present our Ops Centre is in Suffolk.....
A word for our sponsors......
A special word of thanks to Ricoh-UK Ltd, who donated a printer/copier/fax
machine to HoverAid during our operations in Mozambique. This machine
is again proving invaluable in dealing with your mailings and messages!
Finally.......
Can we say: "Happy New Year"? The 'fun' might have gone
out of the New Year for many, but it remains a time for reflection, resolve
and faith in the midst of adversity. Tough times often bring out
the very best in people, and we discover things about ourselves that may
surprise us - and others.
Mike Holdsworth
(for The HoverAid Trust)
Email: hoveraid@btinternet.com
Project website: http://www.geocities.com/hoveraid_sri_lanka/