From 30 plus to 30 below...

Yes, sad to say, but I’m back in Canada now where I’m working through the somewhat drastic change in climate, among the many other differences!  It’s hard to believe but three plus weeks has come and gone, marking the end of my time in the Philippines.  As has been the case before and is definitely true again here, I came to serve and offer what limited knowledge I could to assist, but what I received in return were countless examples and inspiring lessons of selflessness, perseverance, and unceasing hope.  And, as per the Filipino culture, undeserved gratitude many times over.

I’ve always found, and I think some of you can testify to this as well, that there exists a special bond with those whom we serve with; naturally, this made for some tough goodbyes.  From a youthful 85 year old doctor who’s now on his 43^rd trip (and was less jet lagged than I!), to the ex soldier turned team leader, to the nurse who’s lived and served in one of the most repressive Islamic villages in the world, to those who’ve been bombed while serving in refugee camps (and some of the national staff stories are even wilder!), I’m honoured to have met each of them, learned from them, and served with them.   

While my time here is up, the needs remain and the work continues. Two more eMi guys arrived just as Gary and I wrapped up our time so you can keep Michael and Robert in your prayers as they will be in country for the next month.  Gavin and Stephen remain in country as the backbone of the SP WASH teams, along with our national WASH and Hygiene staff, who already lead much of the programs and whom we will hand off the reins to entirely at some point in the future. 

My next goal (other than getting over the cold I caught somewhere en route back to Canada) is to post some of the pictures of the Filipino people I encountered, the devastation I witnessed, and the reconstruction that is underway.

Until then, I again sincerely thank you for your encouragement, thoughts and prayers over the past few weeks.  I would encourage you to continue to keep praying for the Filipino people and the rebuilding process, as well as the SP team that will remain in country for at least the next year to assist in these efforts.

Final thought, and as we were often reminded in morning devotions and other discussions, there are a number of other places in the world that are currently enduring their own conflicts including Syria, South Sudan (where a number of our team served prior and a few have already returned to), and the Central Africa Republic.  The hurting doesn’t end with Typhoon Yolanda, or the Philippines, so let not our help for those in need end there either. 

Salamat Po,

Wes

A Video Diary and Music Video about Tacloban

Chris, from Samaritan's Purse UK spent last week in country with us and did a great video diary series that helps explain the different aspects of SP’s disaster response. (Bonus points if you can find the split second frame of me.)

http://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/typhoon-haiyan-recovery

Encouraging song written by a talented local Tacloban musician with many images of Tacloban post-Yolanda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISAcj3jre4Y

Stories to Live By.

This morning (now five days ago that it took for me to post this…), we attended a local church; if you’ve churched in a different culture, you can probably relate that this is always an interesting experience. Interesting and often encouraging, today was definitely both.  

The building of the church is an older, two story concrete building with typical tin roof cladding and beams but no walls for an open air concept.  I didn’t take any pictures, but will hopefully can get a few from someone on team later.  During the storm, many from the community took refuge in the building.  While many of the newer buildings around suffered extensive damage, such as a number of much newer and fancier government buildings, this two decade old church building thankfully fared much better, with relatively limited damage to the structure.

As a congregation, the church lost five children and two adults in the storm who were elsewhere during the storm so this is very much a hurting and grieving congregation.  But amidst the pain remains a great hope, positive attitude, and renewed faith.  And of course, several inspiring stories. 

We came to know about this church through a couple whose husband is the pastor, and the wife is a doctor at the nearby hospital where our SP medical team has been based.  This family’s house was right next to the church building and was basically destroyed during the storm.  The overall death and destruction that swept through these communities is well documented and this couple had every reason, and the resources, to escape to safer areas.  Instead, they sent their two children to Manila to stay with family, while they chose to remain behind, living in a tent in the church for the many weeks following, in order to care for the physical and spiritual needs of their hurting community.   One of team doctor’s was telling us how difficult the immediate days following the typhoon must have been.   With most of the hospital staff taking care of their own families and dealing with their own tragedies, and international help yet to arrive during the most critical few days, the undermanned hospital staff who remained to work, such as this doctor, operated around the clock to treat the countless casualties.  Courage.  Strength. Compassion.  Sacrifice.   I wonder if I’ll be asked to give up what this couple has, and if I’d be willing to stay like they so willingly did.  

The pastor invited a man on crutches up to share during the worship service.  He only spoke the local Waray language so we had to catch the story afterwards.   He and his pregnant wife and 5 children were hiding in their home during the storm when one of the walls began to fail.  The man managed to hold up the wall from collapsing on his family until they could escape from the house.  However, he wasn’t able to escape himself and was crushed by the falling wall.  It wasn’t until several hours later that others heard his cries and were able to free him, and then it wasn’t until five days later that he was able to see medical attention for his crushed leg.  Unfortunately, by then, the only option was to amputate a part of his leg.    However, his comments are only of his thankfulness for the safety of his family, which is now eight as his wife has since given birth to their sixth child.   

I’m just thankful to be able to have been able to hear his and the pastor and doctor’s stories. Hopefully you’ll be likewise inspired and encouraged by them as I have been.

Still don't have photos of the church so here's a couple photos from one of the larger kit distributions with my WASH Hygiene team.  LOTS of learning on the fly on this one as we worked through day three of heavy rainfall, a half impermeable roof, 750 early arrivals, my truck driver getting lost en route, and a truck breaking down... 

Above the storm

Sunday evening here, and I’m pretty sure it hasn’t stopped raining in the past couple days with nothing but lots more rain forecast for the week.  I believe there is a large storm on the next island and while Tacloban won’t experience the high winds thankfully, the substantial rainfall is a result of the proximity to the storm. 

As I was staring out from the second story of a half damaged church building this morning, I was reminded of the three days of rain we received in Chetwynd a couple of summers back that resulted in widespread flooding and multiple washouts of the main highway and bridges through Northeastern BC.  Likewise, we had several days of rain in Fort McMurray at the beginning of this past summer that resulted in the Mayor declaring a state of emergency, also due to flooding.   And while I know circumstances are different and the Philippines is accustomed to large amounts of precipitation, it’s still an interesting contrast to see how our “First World” infrastructure sizes up against that of a somewhat less affluent country.  It is still miserably wet (and this is coming from a Vancouverite!), but nothing close to a state of emergency here.

Anyway, this is already my second Sunday here.  Last week, our team held a great time of worship and fellowship with many very pertinent and challenging reminders.  One of the medical team doctors led us in the song, Still, by Hillsong.  Personally, this song conjures up great memories for me as it was sung by the local Nicaraguan church as a departing gift to our Kingston fellowship team on my first ever missions trip back in 2006.  It’s a beautiful song and you should have a listen if you don’t know it, but the lyrics resonated with me as being especially poignant and appropriate to the situation here in Tacloban.  Here are the song lyrics, which I just feel so accurately embody the hope, faith and peace I've witnessed of the Filipino people. 

Hide me now
Under Your wings
Cover me
Within Your mighty hand

When the oceans rise and thunders roar
I will soar with You above the storm
Father you are King over the flood
I will be still, know You are God

Find rest my soul
In Christ alone
Know His power
In quietness and trust

Loog, still a beautiful and serene place after the typhoon.

Thoughts and Reflections from Week One

I’ve started this entry every night, only to fall asleep after barely a sentence or two.  There are so many things I’d love to share but for the sake of getting something posted, here’s just a couple of them with some initial pictures that I really hope will upload... More to follow but hopefully these provide an idea of the magnitude of the damage in certain areas. 

Number one impression, and one that has been repeatedly reinforced from basically every interaction we've had, is the remarkable character of the Filipino people.  Yesterday marked the 2 month anniversary since the typhoon touched down in Tacloban, and it’s amazing to see the incredible recovery that has already taken place.  As I’d noted in the first post, the response effort following Typhoon Haiyan is now beginning to shift away from disaster response into the longer term recovery and development phase.  The international community has definitely assisted in this work, but I've really been inspired by the amount of progress that is attributed back to the local people and government.  

Number two, the Samaritan’s Purse team here is truly awesome and I’ve likewise been greatly encouraged by them.  I guess I wasn’t sure what to expect upon arrival but what I found has definitely been a blessing.  I look around the room and the international experience within the collective group is truly remarkable.   As is often the case, I find myself so humbled to work on such a gifted team.   Ranging from coast to coast to coast, I’m pleased to announce that Canada, and BC in particular, is very well represented here.   We have about 25 expats and probably 40 locally hired Filipino staff in the Tacloban office, and another 50 or so casual labourers working at the warehouse.  There are dedicated teams for Food, Nutrition, Shelter, WASH, Logistics, HR and IT so you can imagine that it’s quite a hub of activity each day with all the different groups and ongoing tasks.
 

Even better than the technical expertise and abilities though is the heart of these individuals.  About half are like myself, short termers who vary from 3-6 weeks, and the other half are long term SP staff, many of whom came directly from other international assignments.   I find that my world sometimes tends to shrink to the immediate work at hand, especially when internet access is somewhat limited.  But one of the items that the team here in the Philippines most frequently pray for is the escalating conflict in South Sudan.  I have so much I can learn from this humble group.

Lastly, Tindog Tacloban has kind of become the slogan, or war cry perhaps, for the recovery post Yolanda.  It means, Rise Up Tacloban, which perfectly describes what is happening here today.

 First couple photos on the main road after leaving Tacloban airport.

Area near the ocean, which the government has now ruled cannot be rebuilt within 40m of the shoreline.

Christmas Tree made from plastic bags, a symbol of hope and strength among much physical destruction.

Thanks for your support so far!

Wes

Hello from Tacloban!

Dear all,

As I’m sure you are all aware, Typhoon Haiyan (or known as Yolanda locally) devastated a significant number of communities along the eastern seaboard of the Philippines about two months ago.  Engineering Ministries International (eMi) has been working in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse as part the disaster response effort in a number of the devastated areas, particularly in the hardest hit area around the city Tacloban, where the majority of the damage and casualties occurred.

I apologize for the late notice as I’m writing this while en route to Tacloban but logistics for the trip were only confirmed within a couple days prior to my departure.  I will now be in country for the following three weeks as the third consective team of eMi (Engineering Ministries International) sourced engineers to assist with the SP WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) efforts.

I will be based out of the SP field office in Tacloban and primarily continuing work that has begun in identified areas of need by the previous WASH teams.  I don't have too many details to share as the situations and needs in each area continue to evolve.  Thankfully, the stage of immediate danger to life has passed and as such, one of the goals for our team will be to assist in planning for the transition from disaster relief efforts into longer term recovery and sustainable redevelopment in these affected areas.

One current risk, and prayer request, is the onset of Dengue Fever, Cholera, and other waterborne diseases that often result due to lack of available clean water and sanitation facilities, as is the case in many of these communities.  The outbreak of any of these diseases would be a major setback and further complicate the relief efforts of a still fragile situation.

I request and would very much appreciate your prayers for physical, mental, and spiritual strength over the following weeks.  I don't know how much time or energy I'll have to update or communicate, but look forward providing a rundown of the specifics of the work in several weeks' time!

For more details about the work, see the attached pages on both eMi, and SP’s websites.
http://emiusa.org/dr_philippines.php
http://www.samaritanspurse.ca/rss/disaster-relief/asia/help-for-typhoon-ravaged-communities.aspx

Blessings!

Wes