Virginia Baptists witnessed first-hand the destructive power of December's tsunami as an assessment team visited India to determine how to meet some of the needs created when the disaster struck the subcontinent.
As Kristin Fogg rode along a half-eroded road on the southern coast of India last week, she thought how beautiful the beaches looked.
“There was clean, yellow sand with coconut trees waving lazily over them in the breeze,” said Fogg, part of a Virginia Baptist assessment team that traveled to India in the wake of December's tsunami there.
“Just then our host leaned forward and said, ‘All of this beach was filled with houses-they were all washed away with the tsunami,' ” she recalled. “Suddenly the beaches lost their beauty.”
Fogg, multicultural resourcing innovator for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and Woman's Missionary Union of Virginia, was part of a four-person team that traveled across southern India Jan. 19-28, evaluating needs and determining how Virginia Baptists can meet them as part of a developing relief and recovery project with the India Baptist Convention.
“The needs are incredible,” said Dean Miller, the team's leader and deployment agent in the Mission Board's emerging leaders team. “Not only have thousands died in India, but thousands more have lost homes and livelihoods, and hundreds of children are orphaned. Our short-term relief project could easily become a long-term partnership with Indian Baptists,” he said.
Other members of the assessment team were Murphy Terry, director of missions for the Goshen Baptist Association, and Kevin Meadows, pastor of Grandin Court Baptist Church in Roanoke, which has long-established relations with the Indian convention and its theological seminary.
The four traveled the coastal areas of the Indian states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where dozens of fishing villages were wiped out, killing hundreds.
“It is estimated over 2,000 people are missing and hundreds of people are given asylum in schools and church buildings,” said Kunjumon Chacko, a leader in the India Baptist Convention, who worked closely with the Virginia Baptist team. “Many people lost their houses with all belongings, villagers lost their livestock. It is hard to loose one's future. But here many have lost their past also. People working in towns and cities went back to their villages and they could not even locate the places where they lived.”
Fogg's experience of beauty transformed into horror occurred two other times on her trip.
“At one tsunami-affected area we stopped at a big sand pit where locals were hovering around making a sand sculpture in the shape of an ornate cross,” she said. Again she was struck by the beauty and began to videotape their art work.
“Then our host came to me and said, ‘We are standing on the mass grave of 180-some children; the adult mass grave is down the street.' The cross in the sand suddenly lost its beauty.
“In another coastal village I was taking pictures of the ocean at sunset, sparkling and shimmering as the sun slowly descended behind it. Once again I was overcome by the beauty before me. Then our host translated the stories of the people talking behind me: ‘The waves brought many fish to the beach, and then the sea disappeared. The women and children went out to collect the fish that were left on the sand, then the tsunami came, and 250 women and children were sucked into the ocean and drowned.' Suddenly the ocean lost its beauty.”
Helping Indians regain a measure of their former lives is the goal of the relief and recovery project, said team leaders.
“I will never fathom what God has allowed to transpire in those fishing villages in India,” said Fogg. “I will, however, choose to put my faith, hope and love in the one who is able to make beauty from ashes.”
While in India, Miller and his team presented $4,000 in Virginia Baptist relief contributions to the Precious Children's Home, an orphanage in Kerala state affiliated with Indian Baptists. That amount will cover the expenses for one year of 10 children orphaned by the tsunami.
In addition, a Mission Board allocation of $500 was given to India Baptist Convention leaders to help with disaster relief.
“Since we had the opportunity, we decided it would be best to present this money in person,” said Miller.
Miller and his team targeted a variety of needs and discussed them at a Jan. 31 meeting with Mission Board leaders, who agreed to pursue them.
At the top of the list is raising funds to cover expenses for one year at the Precious Children's Home for an additional 100 children who lost parents in the disaster.
“There will be several hundred, if not thousands, of children whose families have been affected by the tsunami and can no longer care for their own children,” said Miller. “Some children lost parents and have no relatives to care for them. Many of the children that are in need still have surviving parents, but the parents are in no condition to care for their children. Most of the families we met are from fishing villages and they can no longer provide meaningful support for themselves, because their boats have been destroyed and therefore there is no income generated.
“Our hope is to raise an initial one-year support for as many of these children as the India Baptist Convention can accommodate. Our goal then will be to have individuals and churches make a longer-term commitment and begin long-term sponsorship. Sponsorship is basically $1 per day plus an additional $35 at the beginning of each school year to purchase the necessary school supplies-two uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, pencils and pens-which are required for every student in India. This is a total of $395 per child per year. An additional $5 will help for special times such as birthdays and Christmas.”
Other projects include:
• Raising funds to replace fishing boats and nets lost in Kulachal in the state of Tamal Nadu. The cost is approximately $1,000 for one boat and net.
“We will hopefully know the number of fishing boats for this one particular village by next week,” said Miller. “We are waiting for the Indian convention to complete its assessment of the area. If there is not enough money to purchase each family a fishing boat then we will pursue a program called micro-economics‚ a cooperative arrangement among families to share a boat and the profits, setting aside a certain amount each month until another boat can be purchased.
• Raising funds to replace school items for about 2,000 children in Kerala. The cost is about $25 per student. “Children are being allowed to finish out this school year without proper uniforms and supplies,” said Miller. “The school year will end on March 1 and the new school year will begin June 1. Children who do not have the required uniforms and supplies at the beginning of the new school year will not be permitted to attend school.”
• Raising funds to send construction teams to assist with the establishment of at least one new orphanage near a tsunami-affected area.
• Sending construction teams to make immediate repairs to existing homes still habitable by families but damaged from the tsunamis.
“There are innumerable homes damaged from the tsunami but are still being used by the families as their main residence simply because the option of government-supplied temporary housing is rather pitiful,” said Miller. “The monsoon season begins in June and lasts until August. Immediate repairs to these homes will allow the families to keep dry and make it through the wet season. After this, the government will make decisions about more permanent repairs to these structures.
• Sending one or two crisis care teams to visit the affected areas and provide the necessary ministry. These individuals would also train seminary students and pastors in crisis and pastoral care.
• Sending one or two “Venturers” to oversee the work of teams and administer the process and funds that are received for the fishing boats and nets. “ ‘Venturers' is a new volunteer mission opportunity for those willing to serve for a six to 24-month period,” said Miller. “This opportunity is currently under development in the Mission Board's glocal missions and evangelism team and will be field tested in 2005. If it is deemed necessary, Virginia Baptists will send a Venturer (or a couple) to assist with the recovery effort.
• Providing living expenses for church planters who will work in the field in support of these ministries. Cost is $100 per month for one person.
Written by Robert Dilday, Kristen Fogg and Dean Miller.