Humanitarian Aid

The director of World Concern’s operations in Haiti called this morning, after a mobile phone network was repaired. Christon Domond said they need our support immediately. The city of Port Au Prince is overwhelmed by dead bodies, and the critical needs for survivors include clean water, medicine, blankets, plastic sheeting - and now - food.

World Concern’s Senior Director of Technical Support (the disaster lady) Merry Fitzpatrick, expects she will be able to fly out of Miami today to assist with the logistics. If a hurricane, civil war or earthquake hit your community, she’s the person you’d want with you, guiding you through the process.

Christon has been able to contact most of the staff, but not all. We are also hearing about relatives who were killed in the earthquake.

World Concern’s humanitarian aid programs in Asia run the gamut, from disaster response, to job training, to education. I had the chance recently to document our programs in Asia over the course of 40 days. Today I mapped it out on Google. Follow along and learn about what World Concern does in the lives of the poor.
Click on the link below to explore a map and get a tour of World Concern's humanitarian projects in Asia.
View World Concern Journey Across Asia in a larger map

My friend Matt Case has temporarily left his job behind a microphone to see what life is like in African villages.

Matt is the mid-day radio host on Christian radio station Spirit 105.3 in Seattle and has joined World Concern to visit some of our humanitarian aid projects in Kenya.

He just arrived on Sunday and has completed his first full day in the field.

The goal of this trip is to equip Matt with the truth: Compelled by Christ’s love, we can transform the lives of the poor and offer them hope.

Here is what he wrote me a few minutes ago …

I always want to give somebody, or even a company, the benefit of the doubt. But it seems that there may be a pretty big problem here.

If you haven’t seen it, someone else has decided to sue trendy clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch for disability discrimination. A beautiful young woman in London named Riam Dean claims that she was forced to work in the stockroom in the back of the store because she has a prosthetic arm. Dean was born without her left forearm and says she has not experienced this …

What do you like with your coffee? Maybe a bagel? How about a goat instead!

This month, a Seattle coffee shop called the Q Cafe is donating 10% of all proceeds to World Concern. The chief barista, a pastor and friend of mine, estimates it will bring in about $350 that we can put toward humanitarian work. (Eugene Cho wrote about this today in his blog.)

You may think, “$350? That’s great, but it’s not a whole lot of money.” But that’s where you would be mistaken. $350 can absolutely, positively change the lives of many people, in some long-lasting transformational ways.

Eugene the blogger/barista/pastor asked what $350 could do…

A news anchor from a local ABC television station interviewed me over Twitter, in an ongoing segment called a “Twitterview.”

Brandi Smith from KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, talked with me about World Concern’s work in Southeast Asia, especially regarding our cyclone response work in Myanmar.

Thanks to Brandi for the good coverage of our humanitarian aid response. It was a very interesting way of conducting an interview! Pretty cool.

I never had heard of a Twitterview before, but after further checking…

In tribal villages, you don’t barge in and demand permission to install an outhouse, or provide an education to the children who cannot read.

After exploring World Concern’s humanitarian projects in six countries in Southeast Asia, I see that if you want something done in a tribal village, you must first talk with the chief.

I used to think of a chief as a wise old Native American man with a feather headdress, looking off into the distance as he calmly plots the tribe’s next move.

Instead, in these SE Asian tribal cultures, the chief might be in his mid-30s or 40s, and wear a polo shirt and Adidas track pants.

I knew we were on our way to a Dhaka slum, but on the way, the slum wafted into the car. The sour, stomach-turning odor matched what I began seeing: fly-covered piles of trash lining the sides of this Bangladeshi road. Crows and cows picked through the festering debris, hunting for food. Plastic bags and chicken bones emerged from the piles, all cooking in the sticky 100 degree heat. And on top of the mess: a couple of barefoot, shirtless kids.

The boys wandered through the piles, looking for something to eat. My van stopped nearby, and I popped open the door, holding my breath, which only works for so long.

I am not sure what to expect with this trip across SE Asia. Six countries in almost as many weeks. And I’m visiting countries with strict restrictions. Who knows, I may be stranded in Bangkok instead of visiting projects! My goal: to try and relax and make the most out of each day.

I’m documenting World Concern’s humanitarian activities with video and photos, finding stories to help prove the value of our work. I’ll also be conducting some educational communication seminars to help the local staff.

I’ll be in some far flung places. Jungle villages with no electricity. Cyclone disaster zones. The leader of World Concern Asia said that if I am ever offered bugs by villagers, I should eat them and be gracious. I couldn’t resist bringing a bag of Clif bars, though.

The journey should last for 40 days. Sounds Biblical. Like the rain before the flood. I think God used that figure because…

This does not look like hurricane relief. No tarps. No emergency crates of water. But with some saplings, World Concern is providing relief that will last.

Jacmel, Haiti, has been through disaster many times, most recently enduring several hurricanes last summer.

This week, World Concern humanitarians identified families in great need in this coastal community and gave them small fruit trees to replant. Families with orchards lost their crop last year, as strong storms killed trees, plants and livestock.

Families have faced periods of hunger over the past half a year. These families don’t farm and raise livestock for fun. They do it to survive.

The tree distribution actually had some tension…