Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who may be interested in helping.....
Dear friends of Asia Harvest,
Like you, our hearts have been torn watching the images of death and suffering as a result of the December 26 tsunami across Asia. Almost all of the places worst struck are extremely unreached areas with few Christians. The official death toll is currently around 70,000 but with thousands of miles of coastline in countries like India and Myanmar (Burma) yet to be surveyed, we fear the real death toll could end up ten times higher than presently reported. As you will be aware, Asia Harvest has focused on presenting the needs of Asian unreached tribes and people groups to the Christian world for many years. Reports are starting to come in that some small people groups may have been completely wiped from the face of the earth in places like the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (India). Other groups like the Mokkien (Sea Gypsies) of Thailand and Myanmar lived right in the path of the tsunami, and may have few survivors. As one of our co-workers e-mailed us today, "My heart just broke in a thousand pieces ... there are some entire tribes that have been wiped out in Burma and Thailand. My heart just broke when I heard this .. "LORD, will that tongue be represented in heaven to worship YOU ... "
The disaster has deeply affected Christians living in these areas. For example, 150 believers in a Christian village in Nias, Aceh, Indonesia have been drowned when their whole village was washed out to sea. There were few Christians in this extremely unreached part of Asia to start with, so their deaths are doubly tragic.
Asia Harvest strongly desires to help with both the immediate emergency needs, and the longer term goal of helping people rebuild their lives. The best placed to help are our Malaysian representatives, STAMP. They are already coordinating with efforts in Aceh, Indonesia. 150 Christian medics and volunteers from the Indonesian capital Jakarta are already in Aceh helping with medicine, food, water, tents, etc.
The financial needs are vast, but please help if you can. Our Malaysian representatives wrote, Please don't be put off from extending help because of the millions of dollars coming in from governments / Red Cross / OXFAM .. etc.. The need is more than just containers of supplies .... it is a "human factor" need. They can't meet that. Only the Body of Christ is empowered to minister healing and peace and comfort. It is more than throwing mineral bottle water from moving trucks ..and feeling like they have done their part, it is about ..sitting down with a mother who has lost her husband and children, and praying with her ... and helping her to put the bottle of water on her lips and nourish her .... ONLY THE CHURCH CAN !
We are presently in a position to help victims in the following places:
Aceh, Indonesia
Phuket, Thailand
Sri Lanka
Southern India
with: clean water, food, burial, clothing, masks/gloves to collect the bodies, body bags, medicine, tents, blankets, etc. etc.
Later, once the emergency has subsided, we will look to start helping families rebuild their lives.
We thank God that this morning one Christian organization has committed $35,000 to help us buy some of these essential items and to start the whole process. Much more is needed. Our coworkers will personally oversee the use of funds and will provide reports.
There are two ways we can receive funds: for larger, quicker donations, please make a transfer or direct deposit into either our USA or New Zealand bank accounts. The details are below. These bank transfers come through in a day or two are will enable us to quickly get the funds to the need in Asia.
The second way is to send a check to one of our Asia Harvest offices. Again, please see the list of addresses below.
Finally, please pray for the suffering in Asia, for those who are on the ground helping, and that the kingdom of God across Asia will ultimately continue to grow despite the tragic events that have unfolded.
God bless you,
Paul Hattaway
Director, Asia Harvest
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For Asia Harvest addresses around the world where donations can be sent, please go to the "Contact Us" link on our website: www.asiaharvest.org
If you have any questions, please email us at: office@asiaharvest.org