My friend, Dan Lutes has been active in mission work all over the world.  He has spent time participating in building projects in the Philippines as well as Viet Nam, Liberia and Appalachia.  Recently he sent me an email from a friend of his in the Philippines giving an update on their needs since the Super Typhoon struck the islands a few short weeks ago.  This man on the ground related that there was now a good supply of food and water available but what they really needed was chain saws.  It does make sense that they would need these but frankly it would have been the last thing I would think to donate.  They need the chain saws to cut down the trees that are either already down or near to falling down to use the wood to rebuild.  It would be much less expensive to use wood right at the site of the devastation than to ship it in from elsewhere.  This is resourcefulness at its best.  While most of us are still thinking of relief efforts, these people are developing plans to rebuild their community.

As is often the case, what is donated to mission is not always what is needed by the people involved.  Relief efforts are great in the first few days to weeks after a disaster but if relief is all that is given without development efforts, then it produces a still needier group of people dependant on outside resources indefinitely.  It’s relatively easy to send food, water, clothing, tents, medicines but it’s much more difficult and time-consuming to rebuild a community’s infrastructure as well as its ability to sustain itself.  This takes a joint effort between the people in need and the missioners.  In this model the missioners empower the people to help themselves. They are given a “hand up”, not a “hand out”.  It involves a lot of listening to the real needs of the people and not taking a paternalistic attitude toward them.  Usually education and shared knowledge are a big part in development.  Missioners have to be able to stand back and let the people of the community be in charge.  Historically most missions have not done this.

In the book, “When Helping Hurts”  the topic of how best to give without hurting others or yourself is explored in-depth.  It’s a great book to read for anyone with an interest in mission work either here or abroad.  After reading it, I had a great sense of sadness when I realized that how I gave probably hurt more people than it helped.  Too often I performed a task that I could have taught someone in country to do themselves.  The instances when I have been able to work beside the doctors in Haiti and in Ecuador, have been the most fulfilling.  I was helping these healers to better serve their own people after I was long gone back to America.

I urge all those who give to charities over the Christmas season to really look at what those groups do and how they carry out their work.  It’s important to look at how much of the money donated goes to administrative costs.  Generally if it’s over 20% then there is a problem.  Also see how much gets earmarked for development of communities, not just relief efforts.  The best missions should be doing both.

I am including in this post the letter sent to me by Dan Lutes from “World Mission Builders” in the Philippines.  My husband and I plan to send them a donation for their chain saws.  I’ll be excited to see pictures in the future of their homes and churches rebuilt and their communities revitalized through their own efforts with this “hand up” rather than a “hand out.”  If you want to join in this effort, the contact information is included.

 

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November 31, 2013

2^nd LEYTE RELIEF TRIP

Hi Ed and all co-workers,

Christian greetings!

The second trip was safe and successful. Thanks to all of your prayers!

Before we left for Leyte, the preachers in Bohol held a meeting at my church to plan the trip to be able to reach most of the churches in Leyte faster and in a shorter time. You know, Leyte is a big island.

During the meeting, we decided to split the group into two teams. The first team headed by Rene Perez was assigned to the churches facing Cebu seas and the second team headed by me was assigned to the churches on the other side of the island facing the Pacific. This is the place where you can find much damage and casualties.

We brought relief goods and cash for distribution.

We left Bohol port at 1pm on board a slow boat with our vehicles and slept the night at Hilongos, at my brother’s house near the port. Early at dawn the groups started the long drive to our respective destination.

My group crossed to the other side of the island under the rain. The road is full of military vehicles protecting convoys of big cargo trucks. We saw foreign nationals riding on these trucks.

Upon reaching the other side of the island, we saw devastation, a seemingly endless devastation. The mark left by the storm surge that kills thousands of people was very clear.

We reached Abuyog town where we have two churches situated far from each other. The other one can only be reached by a pump boat. We left Henry there to personally deliver the goods and the money for the church. We also learned that the other church is located at a very remote place unpassable by our vehicle. We called up the church preacher to meet us and get his goods and money at Abuyog town center.

We proceeded to a long trip straight to Tacloban passing devastated communities.

We reached Tacloban on time as planned. We were pleased to see that our brethren there are basically fine. Our Tacloban and La Paz house churches got less damage from the super typhoon. God’s protection for His people is clearly seen. Teo Bojos the preacher of Tacloban and Eli Melguiades of La Paz, their families and their church members are safe. Teo was out of town when we got there.

Based on what we saw, it is my suggestion that we will stop sending food help now because the vast food relief from foreign countries is now being felt among the affected communities. This recommendation will however never stop other donors who wish to extend food help.

What we now see is the immediate needs of helping our people rebuild their destroyed churches and homes. This is a big work that will take some time or even years to finish but we need to start it right now.

We recommend that the World Mission Builders will purchase 2 units of gas-powered chain saws to be used in cutting and sawing trees for church and house building reconstructions. The island is full of falling trees ready to be used for reconstruction. This is the cheapest, easiest and fastest way of helping than buying expensive wood materials for reconstruction. We have men who know to operate chain saws in Leyte. The chain saws will remain the property of WMB. We will only let it be used in Leyte and Bohol for rebuilding.

The price of a good kind chain saw STIHL brand is P54,000 a piece.

Almost all of our member’s houses were also destroyed. Candelaria church is also totally destroyed but we were not able to reach there and another couple of churches which are located in remote areas.

In behalf of our suffering church families in Leyte and Bohol, we hope and pray that someone can donate funds in buying the chain saws. It will surely help our affected people stand again!

Also, in behalf of all the recipients of the two relief trips that we had, we would like to say thank you for all your donations.

God bless you all!

In Christ,

Jun

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