Sandra Swan, ERD Director
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
John 4:5 (NRSV) Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
Water. That most precious of resources. Water to drink. Water for irrigation. Water for recreation. Water for baptism. Living water.
But also dirty water. Polluted water. Deadly water. Huge walls of water engulfing entire communities. Lethal water.
Two months ago most of us couldn't spell… tsunami. Most of us had never heard of Banda Aceh, or Nicobar Island. How many of us could find these places quickly on a map of the world?
But now we can. And now we rush to help those who hurt by water, to provide them with the earthly things that they lost.
Imagine what that means to those in South Asia. Those who have lost everything. Their husband or wife, their children, their brothers and sisters. Their homes. Their fishing boats. Worst of all, their sense of security when the mother sea turned lethal.
Imagine how they must feel.
In reality, I know that I can't truly imagine that. But that doesn't stop me, and you, and thousands of Episcopalians across the country from reaching out to help.
Immediately after hearing the news of the tsunami, our staff at Episcopal Relief and Development got in touch with our Anglican partners in South Asia. We immediately sent money to buy food, and medicine. And to buy clean water. When the bishop of Colombo, in Sri Lanka, was concerned about shelter for the displaced, we immediately flew in 1,000 large tents _ 30 by 45 feet.
Now that the initial emergency situation has stabilized, we are ready to begin the rebuilding work. The problems and conditions are complex and it will take years to rebuild. One serious continuing problem is that most of the existing wells were polluted.
It is easy to give water, and shelter and boats and nets - to people who've lost their homes, their possessions, their means of earning a living, but ERD prefers to strengthen communities from within. That's what makes our work sustainable. We work at the community level to help people find their own solutions.
This is how Episcopal Relief and Development always works. We work with the structures that are already there and which will remain. The Church is one: Episcopal Relief and Development partners first with the local church wherever possible. Local church leaders know their people and their neighborhood. They already have the respect and trust of the community. And, most importantly, they aren't going anywhere. They will remain, and so will we.
And we have partners right here in the United States. Episcopalians know that Episcopal Relief and Development, formerly called The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, is their own way to help. So far, Episcopalians have sent us over $6 million for our work in South Asia, and donations continue to come in daily. We are most grateful for the wonderful and generous contributions from you here at St. Margaret's.
Such generosity in the wake of this disaster is wonderful _ fabulous. But it also raises vexing questions that we need to consider.
When disasters such as this happen, we rush to respond. But what about the ongoing disasters around the world _ dreadful day in and day out conditions that annually exceed the tsunami death toll. Homelessness that every day sees more people without shelter than have been left homeless by the tsunami. Illness and malnutrition, and illiteracy.
There is no wall of water pounding down on the AIDS orphan in Zambia. There is no giant surf engulfing those starving in Sudanese refugee camp. There is no flood water sweeping over the illiterate girl in Pakistan. Or the peasant in Central America trying to scratch out a living on a worn out farm.
These people, too, have suffered the loss of all things. Members of their families. Their livelihood. Their homes. Their meager possessions.
As the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami moves over 250,000 people, let's look at what else that number represents:
250,000 is the number of women who die in childbirth every six months worldwide, most of whom are in the developing world. About half a million women die each year from pregnancy-related causes _ 99% of them in the developing world. A woman in Sierra Leone is 100 times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in Europe.
or
250,000 is the number of children under five who die every week worldwide, most of whom live in the developing world, most of whom die of treatable or preventable causes. Most tragic are the young children displaced by ongoing civil wars. We have responded to war and famine in Sudan for years _ concentrating our efforts to help the Sudanese from South Sudan, particularly working in the refugee camps such as Kakuma. Recently, however, with the support of your contribution for our work in Sudan, we have increased our assistance as the conflict spread into Darfur. We have provided food, cooking utensils, tents and medical assistance to Sudanese refugees in Chad. We have also worked with interfaith councils within Darfur itself.
As soon as the situation stabilizes enough, we plan to expand our nutrition and agriculture programs into the area, to enable returning refugees to resume farming and grazing activities.
Let me give you one more example:
250,000 is the number of people who die every six days as a result of poor water quality and waterborne diseases. Clean water. We Americans can't imagine not having clean water to drink. Most of the people in the developing world can't imagine having clean water at all!
I could go on and on. Wars that leave land mines, educational systems that deprive millions of even a rudimentary education. Easily prevented childhood diseases that cause thousands of deaths every year.
What are we doing every day to help those who are suffering every day _ not from a sudden catastrophic event, but from daily grinding poverty and despair?
What are we to do?
There is, I think, a simple answer. Do whatever we can do to help whenever a disaster strikes. Help those devastated by tsunamis, or hurricanes, or floods, or famine. When we are moved to help, be generous. Dig a little deeper. Reach out a little further. Open both arms to hug the hurt and help the homeless.
But while responding to the crisis of the moment, don't forget the ongoing needs of people around the world. Children need nutritious food. They need clean water. They need the freedom to go to school and play.
Women need economic and social opportunity, so often denied them by culture or poverty. And fathers need to be able to care for their families, to provide shelter and food and a chance to live a better life.
Let me tell you about one father in El Salvador, a country still devastated from 10 years of civil war violence, followed by the terrible earthquakes of 2001.
According to our ERD staff there, one ex-combatant had been extremely depressed _ sullen and uncooperative _ ignoring the needs of his family, which was sinking into poverty.
Somehow they got him interested in our poultry project. Now, raising chickens in El Salvador is difficult _ they have to be penned, to protect them from predators, vaccinated twice a year to prevent avian cholera, and fed a special diet. But poultry are also excellent and inexpensive sources of protein, generally lacking in the typical Salvadoran diet. So we have a major program in El Salvador to teach rural people in remote regions how to raise chickens.
The staff convinced him that this program would work for him, so he received ten hens and two roosters, along with training in their care and feeding.
When I visited him, his ten hens and two roosters had multiplied like the loaves and fishes. He had built a three story condominium for his 50 or 60 laying hens out of bamboo and chicken wire. Behind the condo, a penned area held what must have been another 50 or 60 small chickens, on their way to either the laying condo or the cooking pot!
But then he recognized the potential from all that poultry manure. So he cleared an area of about an acre behind his house. He tilled the soil, worked the fertilizer into it, and installed a drip irrigation system fed by a hand cranked wheel attached to his open well.
On that acre, he was growing the most beautiful tomatoes and peppers. He sold them, and the surplus eggs and chickens, in the local markets.
We talked with him and his wife and two daughters. With tears in his eyes, he shook our hands and told us that this is the first time he has ever had hope for his family. He and his family had recovered their dignity and their future. They now had new lives, free of poverty and famine.
He was lucky. But what about those less fortunate? Who can they turn to? Who will help them? Will we help them? Shouldn't we help them?
When we reach out to help people with much needed earthly things, we give them a little glimpse of heaven as well. When we respond generously, we allow people to see the goodness of heavenly grace. When we become the hands of Christ, doing earthly work, we convey the love of Christ to those who are suffering.
One of the big cathedrals in England was severely bombed in the Second World War. The roof was destroyed, the windows smashed, the walls heavily damaged. Miraculously, however, the statue of Jesus with his arms outstretched suffered no damage except that the hands were knocked off.
When reconstruction got underway, people wanted to replace the hands. "No," the dean said. "We won't replace the hands. They serve as a wonderful reminder that in this world, Christ has no hands but ours."
Christ has no hands but ours, to comfort those devastated by sudden overwhelming disaster, and to build better lives for those struggling with day to day despair. Together, we can meet the earthly needs of God's children. And in doing so, perhaps we can help those suffering see God's care for them. By giving them life-giving clean water, we can sustain them today. But Jesus offers more than just water for physical substance _ he offers the saving waters of baptism. Our role is to bring both these waters to those who are in need, so that they, too, can believe in God's love for all of us.