Several weeks after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, killing more than a thousand people and leaving more than a million others displaced, ADRA remains active in the affected areas, providing clothing, food, emergency supplies, personal items, and funding to meet the needs of Katrina evacuees. ADRA has committed $1 million for Katrina relief and to date has allocated close to half of that amount to local partners and organizations directly involved in providing relief assistance.

     While part of ADRA’s portfolio of activities includes emergency management programs overseas, it provides funding to its primary implementing partners, such as Adventist Community Services (ACS) and other church entities, when disaster strikes in the United States. ADRA is working in partnership with these various organizations to provide materials for the warehouses and to purchase consumables, such as food, supplies, water, and personal items. ADRA is also funding implementing partners that are providing meals for evacuees. ADRA has also shipped more than $1.2 million of clothing, disaster materials, food, and supplies to warehouses operated by ACS in New Iberia, Louisiana; Mobile, Alabama; and Houston, Texas.

     “ADRA is committed to meeting needs internationally, and through its local partners it is committed to meeting the needs that have emerged here at home from the hurricane,” commented Mario Ochoa, executive vice president for ADRA International. “And 100 percent of the donations ADRA receives specifically for Hurricane Katrina relief is being used to provide aid to those whose lives have been devastated by Katrina,” stated Ochoa.

     Some of the projects ADRA has provided funding for include:

·     The Panama City Seventh-day Adventist Church in Florida is preparing their mobile kitchen to provide meals for evacuees. A portion of the $50,580 of funding given will also be used to either provide temporary shelter or purchase consumables for evacuees, such as food, personal items, cleaning supplies, bottled water, and more. The church has provided more than 200 meals for evacuees to date, as well as delivered relief items in Alabama and Mississippi to more than 400 families.

·     The Gulfhaven Seventh-day Adventist Church in Houston has also received more than $100,000 from ADRA for feeding programs in Southeast Texas. Soon after the hurricane hit, the church began providing up to 1,000 meals a day for evacuees. “Our goal is 3,000 meals a day,” said Carlos Turcios, pastor of the Gulfhaven church.

·     Baltimore Adventist Community Services (BACS) is also providing relief supplies for 200 evacuees who are now residing in the metropolitan Baltimore area. They are donating groceries, blankets, and storage containers for the evacuees. This project is valued at $5,000.

     For the latest updates of ADRA’s response to Hurricane Katrina or to make a donation, visit www.adra.org.

  TSUNAMI   RELIEF CONTINUES

     Large numbers are still suffering from the Indian Ocean tsunami, and ADRA is following through with more than $39 million worth of projects to meet needs in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Somalia.

     In Sri Lanka, ADRA has allocated $16 million to reconstruct devastated areas. ADRA has provided survivors with shelter, medical and psychotherapeutic specialists, improved access to clean water, and more than 90 tons of medical supplies, food, and clothing. ADRA is also implementing programs to help people get back to work and stimulate economic development in affected communities.

     ADRA has another $10 million in projects aiding 400,000 tsunami survivors in Indonesia. Again, ADRA is helping families and communities recover their ability to make a living, as well as teaching residents how to prepare for future disasters and providing basic education and health care.

     In India, ADRA has $6 million in projects to date, providing aid such as food, clean water, medical services, and trauma counseling for more than 100,000 people. It is also actively promoting health care issues, addressing livelihood concerns, and working to empower women. ADRA projects also involve the reconstruction of local infrastructure, improving access to sanitation and clean water.

     In Thailand, ADRA has designated $3.7 million for community recovery, health intervention, and water rehabilitation for 34,000 people. Vocational training and microfinance programs are helping people get back to work, including a project that helps families in the fishing and tourism industries regain their livelihoods and restore their financial independence. This project provides families with recovery grants and assists with the reconstruction of destroyed buildings, as well as the replacement of fishing boats that were lost at sea.

     Somalia was also hit by the tsunami, and ADRA has allocated $2.3 million to projects in that African country. These include helping families recover their way of making a living, improving access to safe water and sanitation facilities in devastated communities, and providing health and hygiene education seminars. These projects will benefit 32,000 people in the Nugal region of northern Somalia.

     The damage done in an instant takes years to repair. Some of ADRA’s tsunami recovery projects will take up to five years to complete, long after most Americans have forgotten the terrible event. ADRA has made the commitment to be a long-term partner to help people around the Indian Ocean reconstruct their lives.

  A FRONTLINE SUCCESS STORY

     GNA, a major news service in Ghana (similar to AP here), carries stories about ADRA once or twice a week. On September 20, GNA reported on a member of parliament, Addai Simons of the Techiman South Constituency, meeting with village chiefs (mayors). Nana Boffour, head of Kuntunso village, “commended the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) for the assistance being given to cashew farmers and appealed to the MP to emulate the gesture of ADRA in soliciting funds for the farmers to improve their living conditions.”

     Even more important was an August 19 ceremony with Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the UN, as well as three West African heads of state: John A. Kufuor, president of Ghana; Mathieu Kerekou, president of Benin; and Edem Kodjo, prime minister of Togo. This was the second Millennium Excellence Awards ceremony, an event that happens every five years. ADRA was presented with the International Development Partner Award! “This award was given in recognition of ADRA’s contribution to the people of Ghana,” explains Samuel Asante-Mensah, country director for ADRA in Ghana. What a testimony to the work God is doing through ADRA and its workers!

  WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP

     Here’s an idea that many schools, youth groups, or churches could do to help: In July, Church of the Advent Hope, from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, presented ADRA with $7,000 representing funds raised at a benefit concert. This check was earmarked for tsunami recovery efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India, Thailand, and Somalia. This congregation of about 150 has raised $21,000 for ADRA projects from three benefit concerts since 2003!

     Churches benefit from fundraising for ADRA, because it shows they are making a contribution to human needs beyond religion. That is one of the things that today’s under-40 generation looks for in a church. They have no respect for religion that does nothing about world hunger, disasters, HIV and AIDS, poverty, and social injustice.

  QUOTE AND SERMON SEED THOUGHT

    Tereza Byrne, ADRA International’s bureau chief for marketing and development, recently visited the new Genocide Museum in Kigali, Rwanda. In a room honoring Rwandese who helped others escape the massive slaughter, she found this quote next to a photo of Damas M. Gisimba:

     “Damas took close to 400 orphans, refugees, and employees from April to June, 1994, into his orphanage at Nyamirambo. He also rescued people who had been thrown into mass graves. With the help of the International Red Cross and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Damas was able to evacuate the majority . . .

     “If you can’t find the words to express how I feel about Gisimba’s actions, he protected more than 400 human lives. A love that sacrifices itself in that way is beyond my comprehension. I don’t know if you’d call it an act of heroism or an act of love.—Donatha Mukandayisenga.”

     We all know that Christ’s act of self-sacrifice on the cross is remembered each time we give something of ourselves to save the lives of others. It is an essential discipline in any truly spiritual life. Most of us will never be the hero that Damas Gisimba was. But can we, like ADRA, be known as the natural allies of such heroes?