Children’s Blessing

Volunteers and staff set up the church’s gym with tables loaded with washcloths, toothbrushes, combs and various other supplies needed for the health kits. Photo: Jo Swayne.

By Jo Swayne*

October 14, 2014—Since January of this year, the children of First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Hays, Kansas, have been “Feeding the Fish” during offertory. Their donated change was designated to help purchase supplies for health kits for UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief). On August 24, all their faithful giving paid off!

Volunteers and staff set up the church’s gym with tables loaded with washcloths, toothbrushes, combs and various other supplies needed for the health kits. Because FUMC has sent members on several mission trips to UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, there were volunteers present who had firsthand knowledge of how to assemble the kits. UMCOR Sager Brown is one of UMCOR’s two relief-supply depots, and one of eight in the United Methodist relief-supply system.

Since January, the children of First United Methodist Church in Hays, Kansas, have been “Feeding the Fish” during offertory. Photo: Jo Swayne. 

In all, 28 children, who range in age from kindergarten through sixth grade, listened to LaVaughn Hull and Ruth Mullen, FUMC members and UMCOR volunteers, as they talked about their mission team’s trips from Hays to Baldwin, Louisiana. They shared that the team traveled more than 1,000 miles to get to UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, showed the kids pictures of the kit-assembly process, and talked about how the kits are packaged and shipped all over the world. 

LaVaughn and Ruth went into detail, explaining how precise the contents of each of the health kits need to be to ensure that the correct number of every item is properly included. Then 15 adult volunteers, half of whom had been to UMCOR Sager Brown Depot, supervised the children as they each made a health kit. After wrapping the towel carefully around all the supplies and putting them into a gallon-size baggie, the kids learned that leaning on the baggie lets out as much air as possible!

In the end, when all the towels were folded and Band-aids counted, we had assembled 60 health kits!

During the worship service, children who had been seated throughout the sanctuary were invited to come forward and place their health kit on the altar for a special blessing.  It was a very moving experience for everyone!

*Jo Swayne is the Children’s Ministry director at First United Methodist Church in Hays, Kansas. You can learn more about how relief-supply kits help provide care for the most vulnerable people during times of crisis by clicking here.

Prayer for New College Bird Rededication

New College Bird is a 175-year-old Methodist academic institution that was severely damaged during the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. It has been rebuilt and today, September 9, 2014, it is being rededicated. The Rev. James Gulley, an UMCOR and Global Ministries consultant, offers a prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!

Today we remember with thanks those who came to Haiti in your mission and shared the vision of education for a newly liberated people!

When African people were captured, sold and enslaved in Hispaniola for 300 years, you, O Lord, suffered with them.

When your African people rose up and cast off the shackles of their enslavement, you, O Lord, empowered them to cry out: "Enough!"  

When your African people struggled to understand each other, you gave them the Creole language.

When your Haitian people strove for knowledge, you provided the first missionary teachers, Catts and Brown.

When your people needed schools, you sent them Rev. Mark Bird and other teachers to found the first Methodist College.

For more than 175 years, (New) College Bird has been a beacon of light, providing education to thousands.

Withstanding the constant onslaught of seasonal storms,

(New) College Bird has risen twice from the ashes of two destructive fires,

and now rises again from an earthquake which shattered its structures

but did not snuff out the desire for learning.

Once again you have enlivened the spirit, imagination and determination of your Methodist people in Haiti and their partners to rebuild.

As New College Bird is rededicated once again,

may your Spirit of Truth continue to bring light and hope

to students, teachers, administrators and all

who work to bring knowledge, skill and wisdom to those who must build Haiti anew.

As you continue to walk with your people in Haiti, together we proclaim:

“O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is your name in all the earth!”

James L. Gulley

September 10, 2014

Young Children Raise UMCOR Awareness

Children at The Chapel’s KaBoom Camp raised $1,000 to purchase UMCOR cleaning buckets.

By Anne Bosarge*

This summer, children at The Chapel’s KaBoom Camp Vacation Bible School are exploring Jesus’ love through science and raising awareness about the disaster relief efforts of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) around the globe.

During this four-day adventure, the children focus on how high, deep, long, and wide is Christ’s love for us, while exploring science concepts like explosions, light, wild weather, and chemical transformation. Each night they heard how UMCOR expresses that love to others by responding to national and international disasters as they watched a video that explored UMCOR’s cleanup and recovery efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, the Oklahoma tornados, Hurricane Sandy, and the earthquake in Haiti.

So far this summer, the children at the elementary camp have raised $1,000 to purchase cleaning buckets for disaster survivors, and later this month, the preschoolers will have another chance to raise even more! The children were also excited to see five-gallon buckets line the stage as they displayed one bucket for every $55 raised—the cost of filling one bucket with cleanup supplies.

*Anne Bosarge is the Director of Discipleship at The Chapel.

The Chapel is a growing United Methodist Congregation in Brunswick, Georgia. Under the leadership of Jay Hanson, Senior Pastor, The Chapel seeks to provide environments where people can encounter God and fall in love with Jesus. They do this through innovative and creative programs like KaBoom Camp Vacation Bible School. Visit The Chapel’s resource page for more information.  

If you’d like to learn how you can do KaBoom Camp Vacation Bible School at your church, contact anne@thechapelbrunswick.com for curriculum and implementation instructions.

Green shoots, deep roots







Six months after Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines, areas in Leyte Province are much greener, showing signs of hope. Photo: Jack Amick

By Rev. Jack Amick*
 

On my recent visit to the Yolanda-affected area of Leyte, Philippines, I couldn’t help but notice how green things had become. It was green when I visited in January, but not this green. Such a contrast to the landscape that met me in November, 10 days after Typhoon Haiyan (locally called Typhoon Yolanda) made landfall. Then, everything was brown and dark. Brown, with most of the vegetation killed from the salt-water assault of the storm surge and the strong winds that flung the deadly brew of mud, salt, flotsam and jetsam far up the hills; dark, from the pervasive lack of electricity.

Now, six months later, green is the dominant color. Gone are many of the truncated coconut palm trees, cut down and milled using chainsaws. This fresh “coco” lumber, not the best suited for construction, is, nonetheless, often used to build temporary structures. Remaining, are live coconut trees, not as many as before, certainly, but topped with healthy, if not completely full crowns of palm fronds. In one area, the grass had come back so tenaciously, that a young man was wielding a gas-powered weed whip to cut the plants back from three feet to three inches. In other fields, rice plants, green but clearly topped with abundant heads of grain, danced in the gentle breeze. Teams of people were harvesting rice and spreading their bounty on the road to dry in the hot sun.

There was another type of greening happening, in American parlance. Just about everywhere, in the towns and villages and along many roads, people were selling things. My colleague, UMCOR manager of international disaster response activities, Francesco Paganini, noted that “the human being is a deeply capitalist creature. People outside a refugee camp will cut bars of soap into four pieces and sell them at the edge of the camp within a week of its establishment.” But the enterprise that we saw in and around Tacloban and Tanauan was much more far-reaching than slicing up soap. Everything from gasoline to comic books to mangoes to plastic housewares was available at the roadside.

The mayor of Tanauan, Pel Tecson, is a former regional executive of a multinational corporation, and it is not surprising that the entrepreneurial spirit trickles down in this area. UMCOR has engaged in a new partnership with this municipality to bring durable housing to the barangay (or community) of Cologcog. We have taken the time to work with the municipal and barangay leadership to account for issues of equity, durability, economics and community resilience.

As a child, I remember the Easter hymn that begins “Now the green blade rises, from the buried grain….” There are certainly “green shoots” of hope rising in UMCOR’s work in the wake of the Yolanda disaster. Six months later, those closest to the work in this area—myself and Francesco Paganini, providing managerial oversight from New York; Malaya Conejas, our on-the-ground program officer in Calogcog; Toots Modesto, the barangay captain; and Mayor Tecson and the city engineers, have seen the following “green shoots”:

Green Shoots, Deep Roots
• After important discussions between the Tanauan Municipal Council and UMCOR staff, the Mayor of Tanauan and the Calogcog Barangay Captain signed a Memorandum of Agreement with UMCOR on April 29, 2014. This historic partnership between UMCOR and the local municipality allows UMCOR to proceed with the building of the first of more than 200 houses that we expect to build in this community. This green shoot was preceded by months of listening to the needs of the community and local leadership alike.

• Using a model plan of a core house designed to withstand both wind and water, Tanauan City engineers have begun tailoring that design to the individual property of 10 Yolanda survivors who lost their homes. More designs will follow soon on the heels of these 10. These houses are intended to be core homes, to which the homeowner can easily make improvements when they are able to do so and have the necessary additional resources.

• An UMCOR project office (a tent, actually, like those in the old TV series “MASH”) was established right in the barangay of Calogcog, affording the program officer easy access to the 200-plus families living in this community, and vice-versa. The citizens of Calogcog have had lots of questions, and our staff is readily available to answer them. The program officer makes regular visits to people in their temporary homes (tents, tarps and the like) to gather project-related information, but also to build relationships with the beneficiaries. Several meetings have been held with the community to share concerns, discuss next steps, and keep moving forward together.
 

 

The Rev. Jack Amick examines the cement blocks produced through partner GlobalMedic. Photo courtesy of Jack Amick

• UMCOR has identified international partner GlobalMedic as a logistics coordinator for the project. UMCOR has partnered with GlobalMedic around the world and found them to be very skilled at expediting shipments of disaster response materials. GlobalMedic has established production of cement blocks in a nearby village which will supply the Calogcog project with high quality press blocks. At the same time, this activity will result in some income generation.

• Also, in partnership with GlobalMedic, UMCOR has distributed Rainfresh water purifiers and provided training on their safe operation and maintenance to the community of Calogcog. Together, we will be providing water purifiers to other communities in the region.

• UMCOR has completed intake interviews with approximately a third of the families in Calogcog. It is our goal that everyone in the community whose home was destroyed will receive a core house. Those who have more income will pay for skilled labor for their house and the house of another beneficiary.• Improvements are being made to a nearby warehouse, so that it will be ready to receive building supplies in the near future.

When Francesco and I visited with Rev. Lelito “Lito” Luana, the pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in nearby Tacloban, I noted how green everything looked to me and that there were now “green shoots” with our shelter project, too. Francesco reminded me that those “green shoots” were the results of “deep roots”—of listening, planning and hard work by many, many people. These “green shoots” are signs of the resurrection in the community of Calogcog. They came by taking the time to plant “deep roots” of partnership in the last several months. We know that our presence will not be permanent—our office is a tent, and our staff is light—but we want the project to be nonetheless rooted in relationships of trust.

In addition to food aid, UMCOR has responded to the disaster with strategies that would result in permanent healing, not just band-aids; sustainable solutions, not temporary fixes. UMCOR’s strategy in Calogcog might be called “durable disaster response.” Where water was needed, UMCOR provided purifiers that, with proper maintenance, would last at least five years. Where shelter was required, UMCOR skipped the temporary strategy employed by so many humanitarian agencies of providing tarps and tents and “kits” of building supplies, and opted to take the time to “build back better.” We chose to work with everyone who lost a home, not just the worst off.

We realize that this strategy can’t be applied everywhere, not even to every community affected by Yolanda. We know we can’t fix everything. There is much work to be done and many local and international partners ready to do the work. But we believe that we can fix one community and, in that community, we can work together with disaster survivors and local officials to “build back better”—not just houses but lives.

It is my hope that, in a year, we will clearly see the fruit of these labors. But, for now, it is the Easter season in Calogcog and, now, the green shoots of hope are rising.

*Rev. Jack Amick is UMCOR assistant general secretary for International Disaster Response. 



New Hope and Life

Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan receive food packages from the United Methodist Committee on Relief during a distribution in Tacloban, Philippines. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose.

By Rev. J. Denise Honeycutt
Deputy General Secretary, United Methodist Committe on Relief (UMCOR)

As an international humanitarian relief and development agency, “UMCOR works to strengthen and transform people and communities.” I love our vision statement. And the way we do it is by being with people in the midst of their suffering, in the midst of their crisis, in the midst of their finding themselves on the margins, for whatever reason. We seek to walk alongside those persons, to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, because we know that what Jesus often did was to bring healing and hope. What we see in the very symbol of what it means to be Christian—the symbol of the cross—is that out of death and destruction, God brings life and new hope. And that’s what we seek—to partner with God in that new hope and life for people.

A Blessing for the People of Chile



A view of a waterfall in Chile. Photo: Linda Unger

 

 

When the ground shakes and the seas crash around you,

May you find firm footing in God’s strong love;

When the world wiggles and wobbles around you,

May you regain your balance through your care for others;

When the rumble and crash of disaster echoes in your ears,

 

May you listen and hear the still small voice of God.

 

When you start to rebuild your life,

May you know the presence of God,

In ways that are surprising, new, and real.

And, through the present and tangible love of others,

May you never forget that

 

Nothing,

Absolutely nothing,

Can separate you from

The love of God.

 

Rev. Jack Amick, Assistant General Secretary, International Disaster Response,

United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR)

Faith, health, and peace

Shannon Trilli of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (front) visits with UMCOR volunteers in Kamina, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A UMNS photo by Lynne Dobson.

By Shannon Trilli*

I am honored and energized to be participating this weekend in the annual Lake Junaluska Peace Conference, an interreligious gathering at the retreat center in North Carolina. Since the peace conference was founded in 2008, it has been a place for dialogue, reflection, and sharing. This year, the theme is “Faith, Health, and Peace: Seeking the Basic Right to Good Health for All God’s Children.”

For United Methodists, and for me as director of UMCOR’s Global Health program, the conference is a great opportunity to discuss with others the basic human right to health for all. For UMCOR, that means abundant health for all. Our Global Health work takes place all along the continuum from disaster relief to recovery and development. So when we address health needs at any point on that continuum, we want to accompany communities so that they not only survive but, ultimately, thrive.

I’m excited to learn from the impressive international panel of experts speaking at the event, including Dr. Christoph Benn of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria and Joshua Dubois, former White House spiritual advisor to President Obama. I’m happy to have the opportunity to lead a workshop and share UMCOR’s global health vision and talk about the role of the church and other faith communities at that intersection of faith, health, and peace.

Health and wholeness and the human body and spirit are interconnected. When natural or political disasters or chronic lack of access to food or clean water or nutrition impede communities from maximizing their health and wholeness, UMCOR works with them to identify solutions that promote stability, a thriving life, and peace. We help communities find their own solutions and tools.

As a faith-based organization, UMCOR is cognizant of the unique role the church and other faith communities play in promoting good health and peace. In the wake of disaster or turmoil, it is often the church—which was present before the disaster and remains present throughout and afterward—that can wrap the community in a unifying social fabric. And church networks not only facilitate UMCOR’s relief and development assistance but help communities sustain change that can make their lives more stable and fruitful.

Educated church pastors and congregational leaders can go a long way to break down stigma and inequality in their communities, especially the kind of inequality between men and women that is prejudicial to a woman’s health—and, in the process, denies God’s blessing all people. Pastors are thought leaders in their communities who can inspire practices that promote respectful and healthy relationships and help to ensure safe motherhood for more women. Faith-filled congregations can reach out and host hard conversations on the attitudes and outlooks that put the health of already vulnerable women and children more at risk and place obstacles like stones in the way of stability and peace.

I look forward to sharing with and learning from the presenters and participants at the 2014 Lake Junaluska Peace Conference, which runs through Sunday morning, March 30. Look for my tweets at: @ShannonUMCOR.

*Shannon Trilli is director of UMCOR Global Health.