This week, Cross staff met with Haitian mission partner Gladys Mecklembourg, who runs the Togetherness in Christ orphanage, to learn how her ministry is coping with the earthquake crisis. Cross supplies the orphanage with weekly deliveries of rice, beans, oil, and other food, and has provided addition funds to help Gladys meet emergency needs.

Togetherness in Christ orphanage is providing space for earthquake victims to stay while receiving post-operative care.

By God’s grace, all the children and staff at the orphanage were unharmed. But Gladys says the kids are afraid to sleep at night because of the aftershocks, and they are worried about relatives they haven’t heard from since the quake. The children will need a lot of counseling to recover emotionally from what has happened.

Gladys told us that four nurses are currently staying at the orphanage to provide post-operative care for medical patients who are being brought in from an overcrowded hospital. Gladys has an on-site clinic, and she has turned the boys’ dormitory into a temporary hospital where amputees and other wounded and ill patients can recover in safety and comfort. The boys have been relocated to other facilities on the 93-acre property. Gladys said there is also possibility of setting up a tent camp on the grounds for the many refugees who have no place to go.

Despite the challenges facing Haiti and our Cross mission partners in the aftermath of the quake, Gladys expressed a positive vision for the future, applying the words of Isaiah 61:3.

“We trust in our heavenly father to raise up a new Haiti, to bestow on us a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. We will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the lord for the displaying of his splendor. This is the word the Lord had given us at Togetherness for Christ, and we believe in this, and we know there will be a change in Haiti. Not only in the structure, but in the heart – the heart of the people…. There is solidarity among us.”

For the latest news on how we are supporting our Cross mission partners in Haiti, visit www.crossinternational.org/relief

Still reeling from the damage and flooding caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana just days ago, our partners in the Philippines are bracing for another destructive storm. Super Typhoon Parma (called Pepeng locally) is expected to bring heavy rainfall and major property damage to the Philippines on Saturday, according to meteorologists.

A boy is lifted onto the roof of a building to escape the flooding in the Quezon City suburban of Manila.

At least 284 people in the Philippines were killed by the first storm, which strengthened into a typhoon and barreled into Vietnam Wednesday, claiming the lives of at least 74 people. Both countries are struggling to recover with hundreds of thousands displaced by the floodwaters.

We are responding to this desperate situation by offering emergency funds to our mission partners in the field for disaster relief. Click here to see how you can help by donating to our Philippines/Vietnam disaster relief fund.

Over the last several days we have been in touch with some of our partners in the Philippines and Vietnam. Some of them have sustained heavy damage. (Click here to see some photos from one of our partners in the Philippines.) They say the people’s greatest needs right now are food and clean water. They are holding on, but they need our help — especially with the super typhoon closing in.

One of our partners in Manila emailed us today describing the need:

It is by God’s grace that we are spared and still able to minister to the people. Some of people were badly affected by the previous typhoon and there is still a lot of relief work that needs to be done. Please continue to pray for the Philippines as we are preparing for two more typhoons coming our way. Thanks.

Please continue to pray for the safety of those in the Philippines and Vietnam as Super Typhoon Parma approaches, and join us in providing emergency disaster relief to our partners there.

We reached out to several of our ministry partners in the Philippines and Vietnam over the last few days to see if they were OK after the devastating floods caused by Tropical Storm Ketsana. So far, we’ve only heard back from one of them — please continue to pray.

At least 400,000 people from Manila and the surrounding provinces have been displaced by Tropical Storm Ketsana’s flood waters

On Saturday (Sept. 26), Tropical Storm Ketsana barreled into the northern Philippines, dropping more than a month’s worth of rain — 16.7 inches — in just 12 hours. Massive floods quickly engulfed Manila and the surrounding areas, causing the capital’s worst flooding in more than 42 years. (Click here to see photos.) The government quickly declared a “state of calamity” in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces, appealing for international help.

Local officials say the death toll from flooding in the Philippines continues to rise as the strengthened storm, now Typhoon Ketsana, moved on to slam into central Vietnam today (Tuesday), killing at least 23 Vietnamese. They say at least 284 in the Philippines have died in the floods brought on by the storm, but that number is likely to rise.

One of our ministry partners in the Philippines emailed us news of the devastation this morning (Tuesday):

This typhoon is really a tragedy. All schools are closed for the week. People still have water in their house waist deep. Many of our parents have nothing left. What they have salvaged they are trying to dry in the sun, but another typhoon is expected in the next few days. But you know the people here they are very resilient and say, “At least our kids are alive.”

The BBC reported today that nearly 400,000 people are living in temporary relief shelters in Manila and the surrounding provinces. Flood waters in some areas subsided Monday, but thousands of homes are still without power.

Continue to pray for the people of the Philippines and Vietnam, and say special prayers for our ministry partners working so diligently to help the storm-devastated people. Click here to learn more about what we are doing to help the poor in the Philippines and Vietnam.

He did it!
A round of applause, and a dry set of clothes, is in order for Mark Towery. Five weeks and 1,000 miles after setting out to circumnavigate Vancouver Island in a sea kayak, the waterlogged adventurer paddled into Roche Harbor last Friday.

Mark’s trip through the cold and sometimes-harrowing British Columbian waters has been a huge inspiration for the kids at the Cross-sponsored Kondanani Orphanage in Malawi, which is benefiting from funds raised through the project.

A drawing of Mark on his kayak, from one of the children at Kondanani Orphanage

Kondanani’s Director Annie Chikhwaza said some of the boys have told her they want to be just like Mark and go on their own kayaking trips some day to help the orphanage! The children made thank-you cards and drawings for Mark, and we’ve posted one of those drawings here for you to see. Clearly, Mark’s efforts have touched their hearts.

“It was hard work and yet you were prepared to do it for the extension of the Kingdom of God,” Annie said. “Your trip has eternal value. Many people do things, but you did it for Jesus, and because of that it has eternal value.”

Twice during the trip, rocky waves rolled the boat, causing Mark to lose his maps and charts. But the scariest day of the journey came when gale-force winds struck, and some fishermen leaned out of their boat to bring him ashore. Mark stayed in his kayak, not realizing they were trying to save his life from the dangers ahead. A few days before reaching Roche Harbor, Mark wrote, “I am struggling at this point and just want to come home. As soon as I see San Juan Island I will know I’m homebound, however I do have a very big crossing…with no radio it will be scary to say the least. Please pray for me.”

The trip also had its high points. “God is definitely watching over me,” Mark wrote on July 14. “As I was paddling this morning, a mama and baby whale came by me. It was absolutely amazing! Yesterday’s trials are behind me now and I can focus on the task at hand. Saw a lot more whales throughout the day, got to see them play. This is what I’ve waited my whole life for … it is an incredible sight!”

Thank you, Mark, for helping Cross International support the Kondanani orphans! And thanks to all of you who prayed for his safe return and are giving to the cause!

Please keep Tom Lewis, from our radio team, in your prayers today. He will be representing our ministry on the Hugh Hewitt Show tonight.

The link to our ministry featured on Hugh Hewitt's blog.

The renowned conservative radio talk show host and author, Hugh Hewitt, invited us on his show to help us raise money for African AIDS orphans. His show is nationally syndicated on 120 stations around the country, so the broadcast will reach nearly a million ears by the night’s end!

Be sure to listen to the show, which airs tonight (Thursday, June 25) from 6 to 9 EST!

Here are the stations in Florida who will be streaming his show:
Tampa St. Petersburg – WGUL-AM
Orlando – WORL-AM
Sarasota Bradenton – WLSS-AM
Panama City – WLTG-AM

To find a local radio station streaming the Hugh Hewitt Show in your area or to listen online, click here. Also, check out our ministry’s featured link on Hugh Hewitt’s blog.q6ghxanwu8

More news from our ministry partner, Haitian Health Foundation, on the deadly accident that killed three — a nurse, the driver, and a 5-year-old — and left several injured yesterday (see our post below).

The Haitian Health Foundation provides health care to impoverished people living in Jeremie and the rural mountain villages of the Grand Anse Region of Southwest Haiti.

We just spoke with Dr. Jeremiah J. Lowney, Jr., founder and president of HHF, who said they were trying to pick up the pieces as the staff and community deal with this great loss.

“We mourn the deaths of these devoted employees and the youngster, and we ask for your prayers for their families,” Dr. Lowney said. “Every effort is being made by Sister Maryann Berard [HHF’s administrator in Haiti] and our staff in Jérémie to bring comfort and help to the survivors.”

He said it was a miracle that there wasn’t a greater loss of life after such a dramatic accident.

The Land Cruiser that was carrying 14 staff members back from a rural health clinic when the driver, Jean Richard, suddenly swerved to the left. The vehicle was new, so they don’t think it was a mechanical problem that caused the accident. Passengers believe Richard, who was a very safe driver and had worked for HHF several years, had a sudden physical attack because he didn’t respond to their warning yells.

A passenger sitting in the front seat tried to grab the wheel but couldn’t steer the truck back on course. The Land Cruiser fell down a 50-feet embankment and into the deepest part of the Grand Anse River just outside of town.

Alexis Michel, an HHF health agent who was in the truck, escaped through a broken window and began pulling the other passengers out. “He was truly heroic, and his actions should be commended,” Dr. Lowney said.

Please join us in prayer for HHF and its staff, the families of those who died, and the community!

We received a heartbreaking e-mail late last night from one of our mission partners in Haiti, who lost three people when a truck with 14 staff members returning from a rural village health clinic careened off the road and fell 50-feet into a river.

Please keep the Haitian Health Foundation (HHF), its staff, and the poor they serve in the rural mountains surrounding Jeremie in your prayers as they deal with this difficult loss.

Below is an e-mail from Bette Gebrian, HHF’ director of public health, explaining the accident:

A truck full of staff were returning from a rural village health clinic late yesterday afternoon — some of our nurses, nursing students, an American volunteer and her translator, a health agent and his sister, who cooked the food for the day, and her children. The truck veered off the road into the deepest part of the Grand Anse River right outside of town.

It is only now that the United Nations and Haitian Police are trying to lift the truck out of the depths. My husband, Edwin, and Dr. Bourdeau, our medical director, and hundreds of villagers are standing vigil.

Passengers in the vehicle believe that the driver, who has worked for HHF for many years, had a physical attack and was non-responsive when warned that the vehicle was approaching the edge. The truck veered off the road and flipped into the river. The driver died. The health agent, Alexis Michel, got out as the windows broke and started to pull the others out — a true hero.  His 5-year-old nephew died in the mucky, strong current and has not yet been found.  One of our long-term nurses also died. The other nurses got out with broken bones. All are still in shock.

The Cuban doctors joined the Haitian doctors at HHF to do x-rays and assess the injuries. It was a fabulous scene of collaboration.

Dr. Bourdeau had the saddest task of bringing the dead to the morgue. At one point, he messaged back to HHF for white sheets.

Jean Richard, the driver, was a devout Christian and was excitedly building a house for his wife and baby. His wife is inconsolable. Micheline, the nurse, had been a village leader that became a health agent and then was trained by HHF as a nurse.  She left behind children and a husband.

We are all in shock.

HHF is closed for now. In 22 years, we have never lost people who have dedicated their lives to the service of the poor. The whole town is in mourning and news has reached Port-au-Prince. So sad, so sad. We need everyone’s prayers right now.

Bette