"you guys can't do church like that!...."

"JUST HIDE AND WATCH!"

2007-02-25

Urgent Message Forwarded from Mozambique

MOZAMBIQUE PRESS RELEASE~Rolland Baker~
EDITORS REQUEST: If forwarding or copying this email please include at least one IRIS contact email so people who desire to participate can make contact!

Often news reports don't carry the reality of the situation that are really happening on the ground in remote areas where so many of our churches and people are. Our pastors in the bush are aware of many situations that the government of Mozambique and the aid agencies are not aware of yet. We know from experience in Mozambique and Malawi that international aid often does not filter down to the remote villages and locations where it is needed most. So we are learning the raw details of the situation in remote flooded areas directly from our pastors in the bush, and basically the human situation for many thousands in our own churches is unspeakably terrible. Today we spoke with Norberto Sango, one of our young Mozambican leaders, who is now based in the town of Morrumbala just north of the Zambezi River in central Zambezia Province. He wept on the phone as he described how our own church people have been existing for weeks. Their grass and mud huts are gone. Their small farm plots that they till by hand without tools are flooded. They have lost everything. They try to survive by eating disgusting roots, bugs and leaves, but they are starving. Many are naked, living like animals in the mud, rain and wind. Children cry all through the night in thunderstorms, sick and hungry. Aid agencies seem to be unaware of them, and no help has been forthcoming apart from what Iris Ministries has provided so far.Norberto called one of our missionaries in Pemba, Erik Shpeley, who relayed news to us a few days ago, and I am including that email below so you have as much information as I can send now. However, since that report Norberto has been exposed to the situation in more remote areas along the Shire River flowing out of Malawi, and his phone call today revealed an extreme level of suffering. That many of these people are in our own Partners in Harvest/Iris Africa churches makes our attention all the more urgent.

Online photos of the flood are available at:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6369117.stm

Yesterday I got this email from one of our staff missionaries from South Africa, who was just in Caia, just south of the Zambezi River:"Norberto's team (7 people, 1 landrover and 1 camiao) are in Morrumbala working with Pastor Sebala. They are helping the displaced people near the Shire river. I have been in contact with one of the missionaries on the team nearly daily - she says that they have been buying tons of rice in Quelimane and have distributed it to 3 camps (total over 1000 houses I believe). She says that even though they've been feeding whole camps it still feels like they are doing nothing to really help the people. The Wheelers were able to feed 244 houses with about 2 tons of corn - these are from 6 churches in the Caia region that fall under Pastor Pombo. Thats just enough for each family for about 3 days we worked out. The greatest need is food and proper housing. The grass shacks they've constructed wont last in the rain, much less a cyclone!The overall situation is that the international response is slow, aid agencies are unaware of the full scope of the suffering in remote areas, and unable to deal with transportation and distribution issues in those places. But those are the very places where our ministry is concentrated.A severe 130-mph cyclone just hit Mozambique yesterday, but it landed just to the south of the most flooded areas, and caused severe structural damage and disruption in Inhambane Province. But the storm still brought heavy rain and wind to our people in Zambezia who have already endured a month of unusual downpours.During this time the Zambezi River equaled or surpassed the flood levels that it reached in 2001, which got so much international attention. More dams are being planned for the river to try to avoid such flooding in the future. The one present dam, the Cahora Bassa, has nearly overflowed in spite of its sluice gates being fully opened, and such an overflow would break the dam with utterly disastrous consequences.The extremely heavy rainfall of January has caused severe flooding in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe -- the higher mountainous regions that drain their rivers into the great flood plain that is Mozambique."

May Jesus lead us through all this, and take us and the people of Mozambique to new places in Him as a result -- Satan will not get his way.

..Much, much love, Rolland

Update From The Front Lines~Norberto Sango~

Hi Rolland,This is Erik, writing on behalf of Norberto. He just called me from Zambezia, and asked me if I could this this e-mail out to you, to give you a little bit of an update about what has been happening with them.They are working closely together with pastor Sebala, the Zambezian provincial pastor in Morrumbala. They did just what you said in thee-mail, and purchased the most essential things like rice, plastics for the pastors, soap, and biscuits for the children.The first few days, they were able to feed over 6,000 people, as well as to preach and minister the love of God to them. They have also beenhelping to rebuild some of the Iris churches that have fallen.Earlier this week, Pastor Sebala met with the governor of Zambezia (who is also a Christian), and he is very happy about the work in which IrisMinistries is doing. The governor sent out to Sebala and the team, a government official to take them to the places where the flood victimsare in the most need. He estimated that they will be feeding between 19-20,000 people from Wednesday until the Weekend, as they go to thesecamps, that the governor told them about.Other than that, Norberto says that the physical conditions are heartbreaking. Thousands of people are in small refugee camps, on higher ground, where they have little possessions, having lost everything in the flood. He said that it is going to take months for them to recover from it, but that in the mean time, many from the Iris team and our pastors are faithfully preaching the gospel.Norberto also spoke of a very sad situation, where people who are suffering extremely badly in Malawi are trying to cross the river on canoes, to get to Mozambique, because they do not have enough aid in their country. The last few days, Norberto and the team have been ableto minister to and feed many of these refugees who have literally been living off of roots from the ground.

Erik on behalf of Norberto

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