Field report — Cross International

Cyclone Idai took their homes. God’s people will rebuild!

April 18, 2019 by Cross International

Our friends in Malawi report that the situation continues to worsen for the many families who lost their homes to Cyclone Idai.

U.S. media only briefly covered the news, but the crisis is enormous — and isn’t over yet. In one torrential blast, the storm displaced over 19,000 Malawian families. What made the event especially devastating was not just the strength of the winds, but also the preceding heavy rains that had saturated the land, guaranteeing severe floods.

The Ambuya Development Center, our ministry partner in Malawi, has identified 335 houses that were destroyed just in the four local communities it serves. Together we plan to start building new houses for the families, who in most if not all cases were already struggling to make ends meet before the cyclone swept away everything they had.

Construction plans have already been drafted, and we’re going to work with Ambuya to do as much as we can to make this vision a reality and restore these families’ lives in Jesus’ name.

Thank you for making a hope-restoring gift now to our sisters and brothers in need!

Now thousands of families are not only homeless but also in danger of deadly outbreaks such as malaria and cholera. But the good news is that our local partner is not just standing idle.

Lesson from a Water Bucket

December 20, 2018 by Cross International

Why concern ourselves with overseas poverty?

The answer is this bucket of yellow water.

Shortly after this photo was taken, this water, scooped from a hole in a dry creek bed in the Dominican Republic, was carried along a dirt path, poured into a glass and served to a child.

If God’s love is in your heart, that should bother you.

As I watched this bucket filled with murky water, I felt like I should try and stop the woman from using it. No one should have to drink water like this to survive. It’s a tragedy. It’s also tragic that women don’t have enough water to cook with, while I enjoy a limitless supply from my kitchen faucet. This is a crisis-level shortage, and many communities face similar hardships all around the world.

But the story doesn’t need to end there. When Christians take action, something amazing can happen. The poor find hope. Work brigades form, heavy equipment arrives, pipes are laid, and crystal clear water begins to flow. Where misery once reigned, families rejoice because God’s faith-filled people have answered their prayers. This is Jesus’ love in action — a power that can transform the world!

Lost World: The Aftermath of Guatemala’s Volcanic Disaster

August 29, 2018 by Cross Intl. Staff

I walked at “ground zero” of Volcán de Fuego’s eruption just 17 days after the disaster.

The town I stood in used to be San Miguel Los Lotes, but it was hard to believe people had lived there less than three weeks prior. I felt like I was walking among the weathered remnants of a long lost place – deserted decades earlier and absorbed back into the earth. How could this village have been bustling with activity less than a month ago?

As we went deeper into the destroyed village, we came upon two-story houses half-buried in ash, and one-story houses almost completely covered by what had been boiling-hot ash. Smoke still emanated from scorched tin roofing.

As I looked closely, the marks of humanity began to emerge. There were clothes on the line, a backpack on the ground, a table set for lunch – all terrible testaments of the swift and unexpected nature of the tragedy. Clearly, the families living here had been caught completely off guard.

José Antonio Rivera, a survivor from San Miguel Los Lotes, was walking with us through the remains of his town. “It was a day like this,” he told us. “The sun was out. Children were playing. People were working … One moment we were living our lives, and within minutes, everything came apart.”

Estimates vary on how many lives were lost that day. So far, sources have reported the recovery of about 350 bodies, but there are likely hundreds more – buried beneath the tons of scalding ash that fell on them. Some of the survivors we spoke with had lost between 20 and 30 family members. More than once, they used the word “cemetery” to describe the place they formerly called “home.”

Life for these families will never be the same, and today – nearly three months after the disaster occurred – survivors are still living in overcrowded emergency shelters. These packed shelters are not air-conditioned, and they grow incredibly hot with everyone inside. The bathrooms – designed to be used by a few people a day – are beginning to break down from overuse. Epidemics of illness and lice add to this misery.

As these grieving, traumatized people grow increasingly uncomfortable and frustrated, tensions rise. Such an environment breeds much conflict, and it is neither healthy nor safe for these families to remain where they are.

Thankfully, one of Cross International’s valued local ministry partners, Friends for Health and Life, has been working tirelessly to deliver relief. In the beginning, our team provided them with emergency food, medicines and medical equipment. Now, we are sending them materials to build homes and help survivors move forward.

“[The survivors] lost everything, and I’m talking about everything – their smile, their hope,” Jorge Gramajo told me. As the founder of Friends for Health and Life, he feels a deep, personal motivation to do more. “Hope is the last thing a human being should lose,” he added. “I try to keep them from losing their hope.”

Please – continue to pray for Guatemala’s volcano survivors. We cannot return their loved ones or the world they once knew, but we can help to restore their dignity.

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Images from SW Guatemala

June 27, 2018 by Cross International

I have been traveling to Guatemala for years and have witnessed the incredible resilience of the country’s people, so it is impossible for me to be objective about the impact of the recent volcanic eruption.

It was only three weeks ago that Volcán de Fuego spewed a river of red-hot lava, covering entire villages in ash and destroying the lives of thousands of people in southern Guatemala, but world’s media has already shifted its attention away to other issues, leaving the plight of the Guatemalan survivors “out of sight, out of mind.”

The short attention span of the world – exemplified by the media’s approach to such disasters – magnifies such tragedies. Some may say it’s just the way things are these days – no one’s fault – but it is still painful to see. And it creates incredible challenges for a charity like Cross.

We currently have a disaster response team on the ground in Escuintla, Guatemala, assisting our ministry partners in their relief efforts, but we can only accomplish outreaches on their behalf if the public is aware of the needs and willing to address them. In hopes that I can play some part in speaking on these poor family’s behalf, here are some of our first images from the field.

I hope the photos touch your heart as much as they did mine.

Julio Morazan stands at Ground Zero where his house once stood. The volcano took the lives of 12 of his family members.

The pastor of the Church of San Miguel de los Lotes and his family were sitting down for dinner when Volcán de Fuego erupted. They all tragically lost their lives.

Volcán de Fuego covered the village of San Miguel de los Lotes in a mountain of lava and ash. The first floors of these buildings have been completely buried.

There is some good news. Survivors are being cared for by church leaders in Guatemala, thanks to your generous donations.

More good news. Children are being fed and sheltered, are receiving the word of Christ.

Please continue to pray for the Guatemala volcano survivors and open your heart to their ongoing needs – and give generously. These “out of sight, out of mind” people need our help now more than ever!

Microloans Work, and Here’s How We Know

May 8, 2018 by Cross International

New testimonies from Nicaragua reaffirms what I’ve seen time and again: microloans change lives!

Or as one grateful beneficiary put it, “Miracles do exist!”

A loan of a couple hundred dollars might not seem like enough to start a small business, but –combined with training and accountability – it can equip a desperately poor family to reach a higher economic level. I’m not talking about having a business to rival the Fortune 500. I’m talking about being able to feed your family every day, put your kids through school and keep a sturdy roof over their heads.

That is the goal for most families, and a microloan can provide exactly what is needed.

For example, consider the testimony of Estela Mayorga, a wife and mother-of-two who lives in the village of San Cayetano.

Estela used to keep credit lines with her local grocery stores so she could afford to buy food for her family. After she joined the microcredit program of our ministry partner Rainbow Network, she was able to open her own small store and turn her situation around.

“Today, these grocery stores are no longer there,” Estela wrote, “and now it’s up to me to support families of scarce resources, providing them with small credits. It’s greatly satisfying to know that I can do something for families that are going through situations today that my family went through in the past. For me, to serve people in the community is a real pleasure.”

Estela’s new family business has reaped many tangible benefits, but one of these stands above the rest. She saved enough money to move out of her makeshift wooden shack and into a durable concrete house. And because this wasn’t a handout, but the result of her own hard work and perseverance, it has all the more meaning.

Still, she knows she couldn’t have done this alone.

“Without the support of Rainbow Network, it would not have been possible to undertake this family project. I ask that Rainbow Network would continue being with us as long as possible, because it has been a helping hand that our God has sent us,” she said.