Foresights: looking forward to what lies ahead...: Out of the Rubble

A friend commented that most of my recent posts have been rather depressing--too much talk about tornadoes and earthquakes and the deaths of children and soldiers. Well, there's a lot of depressing stuff going on. The good news is that in the midst of it all God is at work to bring about something good, and he works through people. Here's an example from a friend in China who was in Beijing at the time of the quake and is now helping with the recovery efforts:

"This is just one of thousands of similar stories of my team's earthquake experience last Friday. First let me say that the Chinese government is doing an AMAZING job here, and meeting 80% of the needs of say 70% of those most affected. We set out to find and assist some of the other 30%. There are more than 67,000 dead, untold still missing and 5 million homeless. This quake shook so hard that the ground moved over a meter underfoot. It's hard to imagine.

The trip starts with planning in our agency's emergency response center in Chengdu about an hour south of the epicenter. Under the Red Cross umbrella our team loaded up 2 4WD's and set out to find a village that earlier reports said was not yet accessible due to massive land slides. We kept driving when told that you could not get through. Over and around land slides and through rivers where there were no roads.

We met our match when a living-room-size bolder blocked the pass between a river and a massive land slide. The mountains came down and flung boulders right through the back of the homes, through the living rooms and out on to the front porch.

The army had just arrived and set up 4 tents and strung a phone line. The villagers beyond the land slide had run out of food 3 days ago. One girl, gripped in fear, sprinted the 50 meter "gauntlet" where the ominous rock slide teetered waiting for the next aftershock to claim its next victim. We unloaded our supply of tents, tarps, food and medicine and the villagers helped to trek the supplies in over the rocks and through the rivers. I was humbled how these mountain people, young and old, grabbed 110 lb bags of rice and tirelessly negotiated the dangerous landslides. After an hour we made it to the village, a mystical cascade of rich green semi-tropical forest and kiwi fruit plantation. Paradise shattered by grief and despair—200 families starving and grieving.

We met the party secretary and asked if we could help, she just wanted to talk but it didn't take long before she was sobbing profusely in front of her broken people. The soldiers armed with picks and shovels were on their way out, they had just buried 18 victims. She welcomed us, and next we met the village doctor, his house was totally destroyed, and he could only dig out a hand full of medicines. He probably had not slept in a week, there was a sort of glazed look on his harrowed face as if to say "everyone needs me to help them and I have nothing to help them with". I looked down at his feet, he had hand-made a pair of make shift sandals from a tire. I could barley compose myself to ask a few questions. The doctor on our team took over.

We stocked the shelf in his tent with the few supplies we had, and his countenance lifted about a mile. After 9 days he finally had a few medicines and bandages to help heal the scores of injured. That moment was one of the most fulfilling moments of my live here in China. Then the lady who lost her only two children (teenagers) came in to the medical tent.

Thank God for D., one of our team members. A woman began to share her story and started balling within moments. D was just the right person for the task. She went up the mountain to her home, now a pile of rubble, and within minutes the word was out that "the counselor" had arrived. Out of the thick foliage dozens came and mobbed her with their stories. She listened and prayed with each of them. They begged her not to leave.

We found a couple teenagers cleaning up their kitchen and we jumped in with a hand moving rubble and saving bricks. The party secretary joined the "assembly line" until we cleared out a pile of rubble. Then a fit elderly man came down from the mountain where 800 survivors lived, 100% of the homes were uninhabitable. Tile roofs had just rattled to the ground. We helped to carry up roofing materials and tarps. Because of the 4 days of rain right after the quake there wasn't a dry bed in the village.

On the way out we stopped on what used to be the road for a rest. We plan to return with some coworkers who will live with these guys for the next year or two and we will supply them with the materials to start building temporary bamboo housing, kitchens, and then more permanent housing.

Training is already underway for over 300 of our national partners to care for emotional needs as well as physical needs, starting with those most at risk; the injured, very young and widows. Our task is to find as many of these villages as we have people to serve and then support them with the materials and training to restore lives and transform communities."