Cedar Share - 200905 - After The Storm

required courage and faith. Will you stand with him to support these orphans? In the past year CEDAR worked in partnership with 5 Christian groups to provide rice, clothing, cooking utensils, paddy seeds, fishing boats and equipment, and small farm tractors. Also, we supported the building of water tanks, repaired schools and rebuilt community halls and churches. We have outstanding requests for school fees, fertiliser, seeds, housing materials. The list goes on, the needs are so great and urgent.

Announcements Donations Please send crossed cheques payable to “CEDAR FUND”, or make direct deposits into our HSBC account (600-385678-001). Cheques or deposit acknowledgement slips should be mailed to G.P.O. Box 3212 Hong Kong for the issue of official receipts. Donations of HK$100 and above are tax-deductible in Hong Kong.

504 Rightful Centre, 12 Tak Hing Street, Kowloon, Hong Kong G.P.O. Box 3212 Hong Kong

Web Site: http://www.cedarfund.org

Feb to Mar 2009 Accumulated (Jul 2008 to Mar 2009)

Partner World Concern gave stow nets to fishing communities to rebuild livelihoods Expenditure

Be a Changemaker! Family life in the Delta region is now returning to normal. The process of rehabilitation is beginning. We are mindful that with the return of the monsoon and cyclone season between May to July, the many survivors still staying in makeshift structures are not able to withstand the strong tropical storms. These families need improved shelter. More boats and fishing equipment are needed to help the fishing communities to fully regain livelihood. Food security remains poor. Children need to return to school. Let us support the local churches and Christians to do their work as they labour tirelessly to reach out to cyclone victims with grace and compassion.

Donations HK$ 2,165,097 Grants 199,314 Appeal for Cyclone Relief in Myanmar Appeal for Earthquake Relief in Sichuan, China 22,162 Appeal for Flooding Relief in Bihar, India HKSAR Disaster Relief Fund to Flooding Relief in Bihar, India Other Income 74,291 HK$ 2,460,864 Projects

Asia 861,488 China 1,035,490 Africa 155,250 Relief for Cyclone in Myanmar 314,578 Relief for Earthquake in Sichuan, China 34,035 Relief for Snowstorm in Hubei , China Relief for Flooding in Bihar, India 57,096 HKSAR Disaster Relief Fund to Flooding Relief in Bihar, India Education Ministry 107,125 Administration 199,751 HK$ 2,764,813

Surplus/(Deficit)

HK$

The provision for relief for snow in China, earthquake in Sichuan, China and cyclone in Myanmar from last financial year

(303,949)

Facsimile: (852) 2392 2777

E-mail: [email protected]

leaders. 160 students from 12 ethnic groups in different states get training to become Servant Leaders. After three days, we split into three small teams to rescue the victims in Irrawaddy Delta, the most devastated area. It is about 90 miles from Yangon, and located beside the Bay of Bengal. I led a team with medical personnel and went to Ngabutaw area. It took two days to reach the victims.

Operating Statement

Income

Telephone: (852) 2381 9627

May 2009

5,493,214 1,923,760 574,625 1,548,835 171,476

787,000 213,221 10,712,131 4,957,550 3,757,502 1,510,635 1,079,188 2,427,418 466,972 373,533

787,000 564,036 910,395 16,834,229 (6,122,098)

3,973,578 (2,148,520)

Note: Funds budgeted from April to June 09 is HK$6,179,997.

Relief • Love • Witness Simon T On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit four states in Myanmar sweeping many houses away with 15 foot high tidal waves. Many could not survive the onslaught from different directions which lasted 11 hours. Over 200,000 people died1 and many survivors were left waiting vainly for help. I was totally discouraged and shocked when I saw the most devastated area: bloated corpses, extensive damage and hapless people. There was no water, no electricity, no strength even to get up. As a leader, I had to get up to work. I purchased a generator and water pump to give light and water to villagers, set up a Relief Team to start burying the dead and fixing electrical lines in our area. We also opened a Relief Centre at the Eastern Bible Institute of Myanmar (EBI) campus at Grace Christian Church for the homeless and the orphans. EBI is a Christian training school to train indigenous

We first gave food, clothes, bed nets, blankets and clean water using the small water purifier we carried. Our medial team treated the injured and dying. Many of them contracted dysentery as they ate dead animals and drank contaminated water. Working in such a desperate place with very poor hygiene, our team members all got diarrhoea too. After the initial rescue work, we continued with rehabilitation. We found dead bodies in water ponds which the villagers were understandably reluctant to drink from. So we first drained these ponds so they can be used to preserve rain water, and set up six water purification systems in as many villages. This clean water also benefits villagers from surrounding areas. Soils were made saline by seawater and only 50% of paddy fields could be planted. We gave villagers paddy seeds to grow some crops as best as they could. Besides that, there was only one or two school teachers left at one school as most school teachers had died because of the cyclone. Ten EBI graduates were sent to be Community School Teacher/ Evangelists and they served the victims in the most devastated areas working in partnership with the local churches and NGOs. Many foreign NGOs and aid workers made plans to come and help. Whilst a number of them obtained

visas into the country, most were not permitted to go into the Delta region. Providentially, we being local Christians, could provide emergency relief and rehabilitation in desperate areas, to witness to the compassion and love of Christians. EBI has had many valuable experiences through this relief operation. It is more blessed to give them to receive. It is not good to only say I love you or I care for you. Our actions must prove our love. Let us continue to care for the least, the suffering, the needy, the hurting and people who are starving in the world. (The author from the Eastern Bible Institute of Myanmar, led their Relief Mission Team after Cyclone Nargis.) 1 It is the number of dead estimated by NGOs in Myanmar.

After the Storm

early days. Communication in this isolated country has always been scanty, difficult and heavily censored even before the disaster. Our local Christian partners have limited experience in handling a disaster of this magnitude. For example, most of the seasoned field workers in Myanmar have little knowledge of SPHERE principles aimed to ensure quality and accountability in a disaster response. Restriction imposed on access into affected areas has made partner’s assessment and planning extremely difficult. It took 10 days for permission to access a disaster zone and international workers were not allowed to spend the night in the villages despite 17 hours travel time to the site, leaving little time with the communities. In addition, target areas were accessible only by boat and heavy monsoon rains posed a danger to relief personnel. The lack of roads or docks to transport and unload relief materials meant that communities needed to stand in swollen rivers to pass relief materials handto-hand. As a result, the emergency phase which usually takes three months lasted eight months.

May 2008 witnessed two of the largest natural disasters in recent decades. Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar and a few days later, a major earthquake devastated Sichuan province of China. In both cases, we knew from the outset that the relief response was going to be very difficult. It turned out that our Chinese government had taken a major lead in the rescue and relief work. In Myanmar, the military authority not only failed to take action but also imposed restrictions, checkpoints, and endless delays for skilled relief workers and relief goods to enter the country. Consequently, the Burmese people themselves including our local Christian partners have contributed significantly to bring timely assistance. In some cases, many risked their own lives to reach the cyclone survivors. Huge Task- Huge Challenges Nargis was the worst natural disaster in Myanmar’s history with more than 138,000 killed officially announced, 2.4 million affected and hundreds of villages left in ruin. How are we to respond? Who to work with? Have our partners survived? These were some of the questions running through our mind in the

Extreme Poverty- Rich Generosity ‘I have lived in this village since I was 3 years old. I used to have a big family before. We are all farmers. I had three sons and two daughters. But cyclone Nargis took away many things. It took my parents and three of my children. Our village faced many problems, especially drinking water because all our wells were damaged and our river was contaminated by many dead bodies. The water situation was so bad; I will never forget it as my youngest son died from diarrhoea. We lost about 80 people after the cyclone because of water contamination. By God’s grace, a group from Yangon came and helped us build a water tank and gave us a generator. After that our whole village, with over 300 villagers, had clean drinking water and we stayed healthy and happy.’ Saw Tin Maung, Kwin Yar Village, Delta Region said. ‘We are now farming and fishing. In Dec 08 our paddy field harvest was not good because of insects and pests. Now we face water shortage because of this long dry season. We are not getting enough rain. Please keep praying for us.’ Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. (2 Corinthians 8:2-3)

Displaced families took shelter Partner delivered relief materials by boat

Many churches from Yangon area spontaneously established relief teams in the early weeks after the storm, giving generously even though they themselves have suffered from the cyclone. God’s strength sustained them even to this day though they are hard pressed physically and spiritually. They are exhausted from long hard travels, sometimes in stormy unpredictable weather. They are constantly meeting requests; constantly negotiating with local authorities. They received pressure from local monks and local temples. And they are burdened to find sufficient resources to rebuild churches to meet the government “church registration” deadline. Myanmar Christians are very special. We heard of many testimonies of how God protects His own people.

Partner helped Kain Yar Village to build a water tanks A Call for Justice and Mercy A recently released report titled “After the Storm: Voices from the Delta” documented numerous abuses, confiscation and resale of aid, forced relocation, and the use of forced labour including child labour for reconstruction projects. It is in evil times like this that Christians are called to be light and salt, to maintain justice and do what is right. One Christian doctor was sent on a military helicopter to the Delta area. He was not provided with any medical supplies and was dropped off to an unknown village. He witnessed soldiers shooting at the cyclone survivors as they chased after the helicopter, desperate to get help. He heard stories of women and girls being raped. He spent ten days in the jungle on foot, searching and helping the survivors along the way before he found a main road. He continues to serve as a government hospital doctor so that he can help the poorest people in his country. Another a partner wrote us to say he was depressed to see so many abandoned children and orphans during his relief trip. Left unattended, without ability to protect themselves they were at risk of being snatched by human traffickers. However, taking them into his care means a long-term commitment of man-power and finances. Has God not asked us to look after orphans and widows in distress? Our partner responded. It was an act of justice that