[revival-fire] China - OFH Update 060708

Update from China . . . if you want to continue getting these updates, email me directly and I will forward them directly in the future, so as not to overload those mailboxes already too full.  Thanks,  Laura

Howdy All,

 

Well, we hit the ground running…running from the city to the airport!  I got into town on Monday at 0’dark thirty, crawled in and out of bed so fast I don’t think my blanket got warm and headed to work with the folks in Chengdu.  I touched base with the group, found hotel rooms for the teams coming in and then headed to the airport.  After getting the Macau team settled I headed out to crawl through the second hand stores.  I found five sets of bunk beds, a washing machine and a refrigerator.  After that, I helped carry all that good stuff up five floors to OFH Chengdu.  We just call it “The Casa.”  I had three rooms of furniture to arrange.  I managed to get things moved and configured so that we could sleep 8 girls and 6 guys in separate rooms.  Amazingly enough, it worked out so that no one was on the living room couch.  Then it was time to hose off the grime and head back to the airport to pick up the team from Japan.  Once we got the team settled in their room, I headed back to the casa and started setting up beds.  After setting up the first one it became clear that those iron monkey puzzles needed two people or at least one person with three arms.  I decided to finish the one man jobs and clean the guy’s room, Trudy style.  My friend John came over and watched until it was time for me to head back to the airport to pick up the OFH team. 

 

I’m sure they had visions, at 01:30, of getting to the house and sinking into soft beds so that they could get up and get to work.  I don’t think anyone realized that making their beds meant they were going to have to put them together.  These guys were awesome!  When they got in, they dropped their gear and turned to.  The guys, since their room was clean began setting up their beds.  The girls started cleaning their room.  When the guys were done, the girls had cleaned well enough that the guys could get in and set up beds.  It took less than an hour and the bedrooms were spotless and the beds were ready to occupy.  The straw mats that serve as mattresses may need to have a layer of foam added but on that first night it was enough to get the available three hours of sleep before we were up and at work. 

 

The day was spent in “hurry up and wait.”  I know it was a bit frustrating for everyone but the first priority of the day is getting the teams out so they can deliver supplies.  My job in the morning is directing traffic.  My Chinese is not so good.  A subject like car parking is outside my vocabulary but with monkey faces and hand jive I manage to keep traffic flowing.  Once the teams were out I got everyone in front of the HR person and things started to click.  With the team occupied, I had time to pursue the relationships that would keep us being useful and help find a place where we can make a long term contribution to what is going on here.

 

The team assignments bread down this way: Bea has been roped into the supply side of the house and has turned to in the warehouses, doing inventories, putting together the loads that leave with teams and hustling like crazy.  Alice, Rachel, Melody, Mr. Li, Ms. Chang, and Daniel have been conscripted to sort clothing in the warehouse.  We have a mountain of clothing that has been donated.  Dan was on the truck for the ride out and has also ended up in the warehouse sorting clothing.  Aaron and Bob are still working with Operation Light and Kristen is just knocking the local group dead with her translation work.  Everyday, operation leaders look for me to tell me how wonderful it is to have these guys working with them.  The team has been a huge blessing to the operations side of the house.  I am very proud of them and grateful for the job they are doing. 

 

I’m also very grateful that the truck arrived safely.  Dan and the drivers managed to herd the beast from Haikou to Chengdu in less than two days.  I felt a little like Henny Penny.  We bought the supplies.  We loaded the supplies.  We rode with the supplies.  Finally, when the supplies arrived in Chengdu, we unloaded the supplies!  On the other hand, it was awesome to be there when the supplies arrived.  To see the whole thing come full circle made me feel like a million bucks.  It may not have been a 747 full of supplies but to me it felt that way.  Somewhere in the neighborhood of $14,000 to $15,000 USD in supplies landed in the name of the boss.  All of you that lifted and contributed to the effort can be very pleased. 

 

In the weeks since the quake, the group we are working with has delivered more than 22 tons of supplies using small teams.  We have put in more than 1600 man hours in the field.  That does not include office time which ran day and night for weeks.  More than 390 vehicles have gone out and returned without injury.  Doctors, counselors and people from every walk of life have participated in the effort.  We have been privileged to be a part of all that has happened. 

 

When the earthquake first happened, the focus of the group was rescue and relief.  As the days passed rescue operations came to an end and relief operations became the focus.  Now those relief operations are winding down and we are beginning to put together plans for long term help for the people. 

 

An American friend from Japan and I have been putting our heads together to come up with a way to help.  He has been pursuing an idea and designing a program that will help kids.  In a nut shell it is a five day camp for kids that validates the feelings they have in the wake of their experience and affirms that they are in a safe place and the quake is in the past.  The whole thing is done through games and activities that follow the story line if little penguin whose world is turned upside down when his ice shelf breaks away from the mainland.  He finds out that despite the terrible thing that has happened he is not as lost or alone as he first imagines.  Jonathan has been working on the material since his relief team responded to the last large Japanese quake.

 

During the quake and in the days following, many of these children have gone through some of the worst events imaginable.  One of the most enduring images I have is of a small girl, maybe 5 or 6 years old, only half of her face visible, reaching out of the rubble to rescuers.  The numbers of children who witnessed the death of friends and are enduring the death of family is staggering. 

 

We are going to do our best to reach these children and their families.  The Child Safe Activities that we hope to facilitate are so important to the children.  These activities, carried out over 5 days will help these kids cope with the loss in their lives.  It will also help parents as they receive help in keeping their children healthy.  In the end our presence begs the question, “Why are you here?”  Love compels us and love changes the lives of all that it touches through us.    

 

We have worked non stop since arriving and now the weekend has arrived.  Everyone has scattered to the four winds.  Tomorrow we will attend different fellowships and then Monday we will begin again the work we came here to do.  This time the whole group will be going out to the affected area to spend time in the camps and to work specifically with two schools in the area.  We are hoping to get the green light to leave a team of foreign English teachers behind.  The group will be culled from the OFH team and will be both foreign and Chinese.  It may be put off for the next visit but we will be prepared on this trip up to leave them to live in the camp for a week. 

 

Please keep all of us lifted up.  We need to have good wisdom and direction for the things we do.  So much good work is being done by the government and private citizens.  We hope to continue to be a part of that.  Please also lift up plans for long term work.  Things are very complicated as we seek to find our niche.  Attached is our proposal for one of the areas in which we hope to serve.  It may be a while before I can get a detailed update out to you.  I promise that I will somehow get you a better idea of the circumstance faced by those serving and those being served.  I will also get some pictures out, soon.  Thank you for being a part of this.  In the vine, Tim and the crew

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