All The World (January 2010)

JANUARY–MARCH 2010

Vol 48 No 1

ofin

hopeIndia

smiles

Photo by Duane Bassoo

Contents

2 ALL THE WORLD JANUARY–MARCH 2010

a time for peace

Visit All the World online at:

www.salvationarmy.org/alltheworld

Editor: Kevin Sims

Artwork, illustrations and design: Berni Georges

Editorial Office: The Salvation Army International Headquarters,

101 Queen Victoria Street,

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Tel: [44] (0)20 7332 0101; fax: [44] (0)20 7332 8079

Email: [email protected]

Founder: William Booth General: Shaw Clifton

Editor-in-Chief: Major Laurie Robertson

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Published by Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army,

and printed in Great Britain by Lithmark Ltd

© Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army

CAN it really be 10 years since wewelcomed the year 2000? It’s probablya sign of my advancing years but I

can’t believe a whole decade has passed since1999 drew to a close with great fanfare,seemingly enough fireworks to blow up asmall country and widespread panic thateverything would grind to a halt thanks to themillennium bug.

Since then the world seems to have changedso much. The attack on the Twin Towers in theUSA in 2001 and other terrorist atrocities havecreated a world where fear seems to be thenumber one driving force. And, of course, whocan forget the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004that killed almost 230,000 people?

I suspect many people will have said goodriddance to the ‘noughties’ – as these years havebeen called – though it wasn’t all bad. I lookback on the decade with mixed emotions. Mywife, Nichola, and I have lost one grandmothereach but – in a pleasing balance – we’ve gainedtwo sons. My abiding memories of the pastdecade are the joys and frustrations of learningto be a dad. I’m still working on that one!

The noughties ended with a bang and a splashfor the countries in south-east Asia which borethe brunt of some of the most destructivetyphoons in living memory. The SalvationArmy’s work around that region is reflectedheavily in this issue of All the World, witharticles that show the response in ThePhilippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

One thing I’ve become aware of over the pastdecade is the growing attitude in the media thatsome people are more important than others,that some lives are more worth reporting about.I recall getting angry at the headline in a Britishnewspaper, ‘British girl snatched by tsunami’,when I knew that hundreds of local people fromSamoa had lost their lives but were seeminglyunimportant.

The striking photos from India by DuaneBassoo in the centre spread and on the cover,along with Ben Cotterill’s record of hisexperiences, help us to focus on the humanity ofthe people being helped by The Salvation Army.They’re not faceless ‘victims’, they’re veryobviously people like you and me – people withproblems, poor people, some of them sickpeople but also people with normal, everydayworries, people with friends, people with lovesand hates.

Finally, it’s wonderful to begin 2010 with astory of peace breaking out in Papua NewGuinea, where some remarkable work by TheSalvation Army brought to an end a quarter of acentury of fighting.

The past decade has been tough for manypeople but let’s hope that, like the tribes inPapua New Guinea, we can start afresh and thatthe next 10 years bring plenty more stories ofpeace, hope and love for us all.

Contents

The PhilippinesSalvationists ignore

their own problems to

help others

IndiaPhotojournalist and

project worker join forces

Papua New GuineaPersuading warring

tribes to lay down

their arms

IndonesiaTaking medical care

and other assistance to

hurting people

TaiwanBringing help where

the roads have

disappeared

7

13

15

18

3

The Philippines

JANUARY–MARCH 2010 ALL THE WORLD 3

THE resilient people of The

Phi l ipp ines a re used to

abnormalities in weather patterns,

but 2009 was an extraordinary year that

pushed them to the limit of their ability to

cope – and beyond. Nature unleashed its

fury on the country, battering the capital

and northern provinces with typhoon after

typhoon. Typhoon Ondoy caused the

worst flooding around the capital, Manila,

in 40 years. This was closely followed by

Typhoon Pepeng a little further north.

These two storms killed more than 900

and affected the lives of an estimated

seven million people.

a growing admirationMajor Raelton Gibbs reports from The Philippines on Salvationists

and volunteers who are ignoring their own difficulties to help people in need

The Philippines

As part of the International Emergency

Services team deployed to support The

Salvation Army’s The Philippines Territory,

I arrived not knowing how the Lord was

going to use me to do his

work in this situation. What

unique role, I wondered,

was The Salvation Army

going to be asked to fill in

The Philippines?

From the first day it

quickly became clear how

large the disaster was. Even for the very

large organisations such as the World Food

Programme the logistics of reacting to the

needs were daunting.

For The Salvation Army the will and

good intentions were there in abundance

b u t t h e s i z e o f t h e t a s k s e e m e d

overwhelming.

My International Emergency Services

colleague and I brought to the process

organisational and assessment skills that

enabled everybody to move from the

feeling of being a rabbit u n a b l e t o

m o v e a s headlights

approached to a position of

being able to make a

positive contribution.

The confidence and

understanding to network

and coordinate with the

large number of other

organisations enabled The Salvation Army

to become one of the players in the major

international response.

The financial response from the

continued on page 4

The will and goodintentions werethere but the sizeof the task seemedoverwhelming

Above: a community in Rizal where the waters

swept through, taking everything in their path


The PhilippinesThe Philippines

continued from page 3

international Salvation Army was moving,

with even territories with their own major

problems sacrificially donating to the

emergency response fund. The Salvation

Army’s Hong Kong and Macau Command

secured a major donation from the Hong

Kong Government to assist 26,000 people

affected by Typhoon Ondoy. In excess of

US$1 million was made available to assist

the emergency humanitarian response.

Part of my role is to help apply for

funding and then to ensure the money is

used appropriately. I observed a food

distribution in the early days of my

deployment which was undertaken in a

community in Santa Rosa (Laguna). It

really brought home some of the conditions

people were coping with.

The barangay (village) was situated on

the shores of a large lake that had flooded

due to the amount of water flowing into it.

The water in places was up to people’s

shoulders and unlikely to recede for

months. It was smelly and polluted, yet we

sat and watched young children playing and

swimming in it.

What struck me was the community

spirit. Everybody got stuck in. Local

teachers, Salvation Army officers and

volunteers all mucked in together, forming

chains to move food parcels from the hall

where they were stored to the lorry supplied

by the local mayor free of charge.

Everybody wanted to help.

The journey was an interesting one.

Diverted due to the flooding, we were

directed down a narrow side road with

motorbike taxis and other vehicles on each

side. It was difficult watching the lorry inch

its way down a road that was really far too

narrow. It certainly proved a spectacle, with

all the locals coming out of their houses in

disbelief that a vehicle that size was passing

down their road.

a growing admiration

Above: a woman in Santa Rosa, Laguna,

waits to cross the main road



Then came the realisation that the further

the lorry travelled, the lower the electric

wires across the road were becoming. The

solution they came up with was to sit a man

on the roof with a stick, lifting the live

wires up to enable the lorry to pass under. It

was a ‘health and safety’ nightmare – my

prayer life was more than active at that

moment!

With 1,000 food parcels to distribute, the

convoy was not met by a quiet queue of

people patiently waiting to receive their

allocation. In reality there were in excess of

3,000 people jostling, anxiously trying to

ensure they received the first support

provided since the typhoon. While to the

casual observer the next few hours could

have appeared chaotic, the reality was that

the process was organised, effective and

worked well.

A few days later I was carrying out an

assessment. We had spent the day walking

through smelly water and talking to people

still confined to the upper floors of their

houses, then we visited an emergency

shelter that housed nearly 2,500 people in a

basketball stadium.

It had been open for two weeks and,

while it was dry and food was available, it

was one of the most depressing sights I

have seen. It was hot, with an overriding

stench of human sweat. There was clearly a

lack of toilet facilities and we walked past

women in the few washing areas trying to

wash themselves, their children and

clothes.

Families of two and three generations

were lying in areas just big enough for them

to fit in. They were hot,

helpless and irritable, not

knowing what their

future would be, while

people from the media got their stories and

pictures. From these scenes I can

understand the reluctance of people to leave

their barangay even when they have lost

everything.

Each of these people and millions more

affected by the disaster have their own

tragic stories to tell, but for me none

illustrate the life-changing events more

than the one shared by my colleague, Major

Daryl Crowden. Daryl, an Australian

Salvation Army officer, met 17-year-old

Arjay when he visited Northern Luzon to

undertake a needs assessment. Arjay’s

home was in a small village called Little

Kibungin on the outskirts of La Trinidad,

high in the mountains.

His family had sent him to school in

Manila but when he heard of Typhoon

Pepeng’s imminent arrival and the likely

scale of damage he felt he

should return home to be

with his family.

He arrived home the

morning after the typhoon had made

landfall and what met him would destroy

his life. I can only imagine that what

happened was like the scene in the film

Evan Almighty where a dam broke and

torrents of water rushed through the valley;

but this was for real.

Daryl says: ‘The mountain above his

family home was torn in two, and half the

mountain had collapsed on top of Little

continued on page 6

Below: in order to raise money, some people search

through the debris to find items that can be recycled

What struck me wasthe community spirit



Kibungin. There was a scar from the top of

the mountain to the valley below, one

kilometre long and 500 metres wide.

Anything that had been in the way was

gone.

The mountain road was inaccessible, the

electricity poles had been torn out of the

ground and thrown away like toothpicks –

and the houses, all the houses, were gone.

Among the rich, fertile soil of the mountain

were splinters of concrete slabs, walls,

furniture and bodies.’

Arjay’s two-storey concrete house was

not where it should have been. He

discovered it 300 metres further down the

valley and on further investigation found

both his parents dead inside and his two

younger brothers missing. When Daryl met

Arjay, the young man was watching the

police and workmen digging with

bulldozers. He had done this for 11 days.

The search team was still looking for the

last two unaccounted bodies – Arjay’s

brothers. Of the 100 families in Arjay’s

village, 84 – totalling 263 people – were

lost in the landslide.

As in all societies, the people who suffer

most in disaster situations are the poorest.

In The Philippines it is the section of

society know as ‘informal settlers’. They


had built their lives and shanties along the

banks of the Pasig and Marikina Rivers and

other main waterways in Metro Manila –

the places that were worst hit by the

typhoons. Badly devastated and flooded out

by storms, they have no options in life and

so no choice but to start rebuilding their

lives in the same place. Effectively,

they are putting

themselves in a place

where they are likely to

go through the same

thing again and again.

The president has

ordered the relocation

of residents living

around waterways due to the danger they

face when the water level rises but these

people have nowhere else to go. Like the

poor everywhere, it seemed to me, they are

‘damned if they do – damned if they don’t’.

While I was on deployment, observing

the tireless response of local Salvationists, I

received a greater understanding of what

makes The Salvation Army tick – a

practical expression of the familiar phrase

we use: ‘Heart to God, hand to man’.

When Typhoon Ondoy devastated

Metro Manila and the surrounding region,

the area around the officer training college

was particularly badly hit. The staff and

cadets left what they were doing and did

what they could to assist

distribution of food and non-food

items. I thank God for them.

Typhoon Pepeng left all but

one Salvation Army property in

Northern Luzon under water.

W h i l e m o s t o f t h e

non-governmental organisations

(NGOs) working in The Philippines were

unable to provide initial relief due to the

inaccessibility of many areas, Salvation

Army personnel were among the first to

offer assistance in their communities, even

though they too had been victims of the

disaster.

My admiration for the work undertaken

by fellow Salvationists and volunteers

continues to grow with each deployment.

In The Philippines, during the

emergency phase of this disaster relief

effort, The Salvation Army will have

assisted in excess of 50,000 people and

provided 4,000 kitchen kits to help people

as they try to restart their lives. It has been

no small effort and the assistance will

continue for the foreseeable future as the

country begins to recover from the events

of 2009.

Major Raelton Gibbs works for The

Salvation Army’s International Emergency

Services at International Headquarters

a growing admiration

As in all societies, the people whosuffer most indisaster situationsare the poorest

Right: Arjay, who lost his family in a

landslide and (far right) his family’s

house; below: a basketball stadium used

to offer temporary accommodation

India


India

inspirations,frustrations

and thrills Ben Cotterill tells All the World about his work with The Salvation Army in India

– and how a meeting with an injured biker led to some extraordinary photographs

my home too. Having finished an internship

at The Salvation Army’s International

Headquarters, in the International Projects

and Development Services section, I was

given the opportunity to work at Catherine

Booth Hospital’s community health and

development work based in Nagercoil,

Southern India.

Nothing can prepare you for India, but

perhaps the thing that best encapsulates this

extraordinary country is its ability to inspire,

frustrate, thrill and confound all at once.

I landed at Trivandrum Airport at four in

continued on page 9

IN February 2009 I found myself at

London Gatwick Airport, UK, sitting

at a departure gate with thoughts and

feelings most people would recognise.

‘What on earth am I getting myself into?’

kept going through my mind!

My destination was India, the world’s

largest democracy, home to more than one

billion people and for the next six months

Above: one of Duane Basso’s photographic studies;

left: Ben Cotterill with a boy from a Salvation Army

project. The boy’s father had died recently


IndiaIndia

Clockwise from above: Ben

(centre) plays in a band at

an ‘adolescents health

get-together’ attended by

600 girls; passionate

prayers at Catherine Booth

Hospital chapel; Ben has fun

with children in a village

while on a project visit;

a dance group demonstrates

its talent; an impromptu

dancing session and

adolescent health get-

together, where Ben taught

the locals some new moves,

much to their delight


known as ‘untouchables’. I was amazed at

the size and scope of the work. The projects

I was involved in alone had 10,000

beneficiaries.

I soon discovered that there can be some

form of order behind the chaos. Indian

people seem to have an ability to organise

large numbers of people, even from remote

areas, with seeming ease. I was even invited

to a wedding as one of the 2,000 guests!

Of course, India is used to doing things

on a big scale – the government has to

govern more than a billion people and The

Salvation Army seems to follow suit. While

working in health and development

programmes I began to realise that not only

does the Army have a vital role in helping

reach the United Nations’s Millennium

Development Goals but also, through its

health ministry, it can support people with

the often underestimated spiritual battle that

accompanies sickness.

From what I saw, The Salvation Army’s

health ministry is saving lives, saving souls,

protecting orphans and

widows and giving hope in

many situations. Words are

not adequate to describe

sitting in a widow’s house, her

having to leave the room for a

minute to gather herself as she fights back

tears as she talks of her husband’s death

through HIV/Aids. When she came back in

the room she told me she doesn’t fear dying

because she knows The Salvation Army will

look after her children.

I have never been more proud of being a

Salvationist than at that moment, and

wearing the Army’s uniform or colours has

never been the same for me since.

The psychology of living in a developing

country is quite interesting. I wondered what

people would make of my white face,

whether it would bring back bad memories

to the older generations of British colonial

rule. I knew that in the Mumbai bombing

earlier in the year Europeans had been

targeted.

But all I experienced was India’s

tremendous ability to make people feel

welcome. This was equally as true for the

people from the villages as it was for my

fellow Salvationists at Catherine Booth

Hospital. I didn’t want special treatment or

attention but when you stand at least a foot

taller than most Indian men, have ‘strange’

blonde hair, no moustache and pale skin it’s

pretty difficult to go unnoticed!

In time I became part of a community, a

workplace and a corps (church) where

special treatment wasn’t necessary as I

became good friends with people, sharing

mutual experiences of joy, hardships and

even bereavement together.

On a rare day off work I went to a town

called Kanyakumari, which is on the

southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent,

where the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea,

and the Bay of Bengal meet.

It is a popular pilgrimage

destination for Hindus and also

was deeply affected by the 2004

Indian Ocean tsunami. I went

partly as a tourist and also I

wanted to see some of the Army’s response

work to that great tragedy.

In Kanyakumari, a motorcyclist stopped

next to me on the side of the road and I could

see signs on him and the bike that suggested

a crash had taken place. I got talking to the

man, only to find he lived just a few miles

from my home in east London!

continued on page 12


inspirations, frustrations and thrills

the morning and experienced the most

chaotic airport environment I have ever been

in as hundreds of people jostled for position

to get through passport control, customs and

to collect their baggage. I climbed into the

Salvation Army minibus that met me to find

the airport chaos transferred to the road as

cars, rickshaws, motorbikes and people

moved around in a mêlée of frenetic,

seemingly lawless activity. There appears to

be only one rule on Indian roads – you give

way to vehicles bigger than your own!

My senses were suddenly alive to the

subcontinent’s bamboozling symphony of

sights, sounds, tastes and smells. I was

dazzled by the colours of beautiful saris

worn by the women, the smells of food, and

the sounds of syncopated rhythms of Indian

music. I’ve been captivated by India since

that first day.

India is one of the most diverse nations

on earth, with a variety of cultures,

languages, ethnic groups and beliefs, home

to the super rich and the extremely poor –

all of whom are entwined in a rigid caste

system. It is on the poor and marginalised

that The Salvation Army’s work and

development projects are focused.

The projects range from community

empowerment, HIV care and support,

adolescent health and development to

housing and micro-finance.

The Salvation Army works predominantly

with Dalit people, traditionally regarded as

low caste and perhaps more familiarly

India is one ofthe most diversenations on earth

IndiaIndia

Above: feeding 600 girls at an adolescent health

get-together; below: a beneficiary of a Salvation

Army project


IMAGES BY

‘They have a strength ofcharacter andcommunity that puts us to shame’Ben Cotterill

Duane BassooDuane Bassoo


‘I became good friendswith people, sharingmutual experiences ofjoy, hardships and evenbereavement together’Ben Cotterill

The pictures on this spread are of children and adults who are part of

different health and development programmes run by The Salvation

Army’s India South Eastern Territory, from an HIV/Aids clinic to

micro-finance schemes and other poverty-alleviation programmes.

Excellent though these photos are, they are actually digital images

used by the photographer as preparation for images, taken using a

medium format film camera. An exhibition of these final images is

planned for International Headquarters in 2010.

me by my grandparents of finding my great,

great-aunt’s grave, which no one in the

family had visited.

I don’t want to bore readers with a family

story but I think this one is worth reading!

In a nutshell, Brigadier Maggie Leed was

one of the pioneering officers of The

Salvation Army in India. She gave years of

service in India and even retired back there

after finding her native Scotland too cold!

I discovered that one night her house was

burgled and in a resulting scuffle she

sustained injuries that led to her death five

days later. The suspect was brought to her

hospital bedside after having been arrested

in Bangalore for the possession of a

transistor radio licensed to Auntie Maggie.

She identified the man as the perpetrator but

forgave him for what he had done, pleading

for a reduced sentence on his behalf – which

he received.

After a 14-hour bus ride high into the

mountains of Southern India I eventually

found he r g rave in Conoor. Many

Salvationists in the Kerela region knew of

her story and time and time again spoke of

their debt to the pioneering officers who

brought the gospel and the Army to India.

I didn’t always find it easy living in

another country and had to adapt to differing

styles of work practices, language and food

to name but a few things. But I found in my

weakness God seemed to use me more. I

guess it’s one of those mind-blowing

paradoxes of being a Christian. I actually

became stronger and the Bible became the

living word on which I relied.

I look back on my time in India with

much fondness and gratitude to the India

South Eastern Territory for its hospitality

and willingness to let me come to serve and

to learn.

I helped him find a hotel so he could

recuperate from his bike crash and we talked

about our respective purposes for being in

India.

The injured biker, Duane Bassoo, turned

out to be a photojournalist who was

travelling around India in search of scenes

that would represent the issues that affect the

day-to-day lives of Indians.

I told him about the work I was involved

in and he joined up with our team, taking

some extraordinary images of the people we

were working with. The pictures you see in

this issue of All the World are of children and

adults who are part of different health and

development programmes run by The

Salvation Army’s India South Eastern

Territory, from an HIV/Aids clinic to micro-

finance schemes and other poverty

alleviation programmes.

All the people featured are poor beyond

the understanding of most people in the

developed world, yet they have a strength of

character and community that puts us to

shame. And every person featured in

Duane’s pictures is benefiting from The

Salvation Army’s stated mission to ‘preach

the gospel of Jesus Christ and meet human

needs in his name without discrimination’.

I had gone to India to serve as a

community health and development worker

but I also had a personal mission given to



inspirations, frustrations and thrills

Left: Ben and friends on top of a new house (below

left) built by The Salvation Army in Nakanari; above:

Ben finds the grave of his great, great-aunt, Brigadier

Maggie Leed, in Conoor: bottom: a child from a

family helped through a Salvation Army HIV/Aids

project

IndiaIndia

There are people, even within world

health and development schools of thought,

who label The Salvation Army and other

faith based-organisations as irrelevant and

say we take advantage of a vulnerable

developing world. I have seen this first hand

not to be true. Our health and development

work is relevant, significant and provides

hope and futures for thousands of people

around the world. We should always be

proud that we are involved in these arenas.

People who go to Africa speak about their

affection for the continent and its people and

talk about not being able get the dust off

their heels. From what I experienced, and I

guess what my great, great-aunt had

experienced many years before me, India

compels just as strong a feeling – and I can

testify that you can’t easily get the dust off

your uniform either!

Ben Cotterill currently works for The

Salvation Army’s International Health

Services, based at International

Headquarters

PapuaNew Guinea


FOR the past two years Captain

Michael Hermuno has been sharing

the gospel message with about 15

villages in the remote Okapa area of

Papua New Guinea – villages that have

been fighting against each other for more

than 26 years. In Easter 2008 I visited the

area and Michael and I started work on the

idea of trading Bibles for weapons. I met

some of the warlords, shared my personal

testimony and encouraged them to try

peace – the peace only Christ can give.

I was thrilled to be invited back in

October 2009 to celebrate a formalised

peace treaty that will change lives.

Over the 26-year conflict, hundreds of

men from both tribes were murdered. Years

ago, when the war first began, it was with

bows and arrows but recent illegal activities

had escalated the problem to guns and

bullets.

swapping bullets for BiblesIn rural Papua New Guinea tribal battles cause terrible loss of life.

These excerpts from a report by Major James Cocker show how

The Salvation Army is helping to bring peace in a remarkable way.

This led the young mothers of the villages

to begin a desperate practice of their own. In

an effort to reduce the fighting forces for

years to come, they chose to smother and

kill male children at birth. It was a secret

infanticide that was known only by the

midwives and mothers involved.

Even as the men from the villages were

dying in their hundreds, the

women were also burying

dozens of male babies each

year.

While the women grieved

deeply for their newborns, they believed in

their hearts that if their babies grew into

young men, the pain upon their inevitable

death would be even greater. This secret

only came to light in the past year, when

peace was finally being considered.

I flew into the peace ceremony on a

helicopter owned and operated by New

Tribes Mission Aviation. Accompanying me

were Lieut-Colonels Hans and Marja van

Vliet (The Salvation Army’s Chief Secretary

and Territorial Secretary for Women’s

Ministries in Papua New Guinea

respectively) as well as Divisional

Commander Major David Temine.

As we flew over the last mountain pass

we were greeted by a sight that will forever

remain in my memory. Giant flags hung on

bamboo poles were waving in the breeze.

Never has a lump in my throat been quite as

large as it was at the moment I saw the

Army’s red, yellow and blue flag wafting in

the breeze beside the national

and provincial flags.

About 2,000 people were

waiting for us and as the

helicopter landed you could

already sense their excitement. They were a

people anxious to have peace for the first

time in many of their lives. Only a handful

of individuals present had ever known

peace.

We were escorted up a hill to a large field,

to a bush-made grandstand where I was

warmly and affectionately greeted by a


Hundreds of menfrom both tribeswere murdered

PapuaNew Guinea

Above: tribesmen re-enact a famous battle


number of people I knew from my previous

trip. I was humbled that they remembered

me. It was wonderful to be welcomed not as

a stranger but as an honoured member of

their tribes who was returning.

The ceremony started with a number of

village elders providing speeches and

welcome gifts. This was followed by a

re-enactment of a key battle. The men of two

villages stood facing each other – one side

armed with spears and shields and the other

with their bows and arrows and guns. For

about 10 minutes the guns were fired and the

men re-enacted what had consumed their

lives for so long.

This was to be their final battle and, while

no one would be hurt, the men conducted

themselves as if the battle was real. They

were not acting out someone else’s events

from history, they were reliving their own

involvement in battles that had gone before.

Even the women’s wailing was real as they

remembered how much blood had been lost.

When the two warring clan chiefs entered

they turned to us on the platform and called

us to come and stop the killing. We went

down from the platform with only a Bible in

our hands. Once again we watched as one by

one the men asked for a Bible in exchange

for a gun.

When the men from each tribe had given

speeches and laid their guns on the ground,

they received their Pidgin Bible. A Bible

message was then given and translated.

Lieut-Colonel van Vliet told the villagers

that laying down weapons and items used in

sorcery was not enough. ‘You know what

tribal warfare is all about,’ he

said. ‘Many relatives have died.

Leaders, you are making the

promise not only in front of us but

also in front of God. You must

change within your mind, heart

and soul.’

He said the new chapter in their lives

should be one of love and care for their

neighbours. Then two live pigs were

presented, one each to the warring tribes as

tokens of appreciation for their peace efforts.

One of the most moving moments during

the ceremony was when a broken-hearted

woman stood and came forward. She said it

was the men’s actions that had given them

so much pain over the years, and because of

their actions they saw no value in raising

boys who would only take up arms and

bring more destruction.

When the woman had finished, a young

father came forward with his eight-year-old

son, who was carrying a home-made rifle.

The father pledged that his son would never

be allowed to grow up in the same way he

had been raised, but that he would have the

opportunity to know peace. He took the rifle

and placed it on the ground in front of us,

starting a pile that was to grow steadily as

the hours passed.

Eventually the pile of guns, bows and

arrows, shields and sorcery bags was

consumed in a large bonfire. Tribal leaders

then announced that their annual allocation

of government funds would be distributed to

The Salvation Army, New Tribes Mission

and Lutheran churches to help erect schools

and health centres.

When it was all over, the other members

of our team got back in the helicopter to fly

the eight miles back over the mountains to

where the Misapi Corps (church) and Health

Centre is located. I chose to hike the three-

and-a-half hours back up the mountains to

Misapi with Captain Michael.

It’s amazing that this remote place has no

government involvement, no police and no

services, but The Salvation Army is there. I

pray that the testimony of the officers and

soldiers of Misapi Corps will continue to be

the glue that holds the peace for years to

come.

Major James Cocker is Personnel

Secretary for The Salvation Army’s

Papua New Guinea Territory

They were reliving theirown involvement in battlesthat had gone before

PapuaNew Guinea

PapuaNew Guinea


swapping bullets for Bibles

Left: a tribesman swaps his gun for

a Bible; below: bringing rifles to be

destroyed; bottom: a man and his

son hand over their rifle

Indonesia


DRIVING from Padang Pariaman,

the nearest town to Padang Alai

where The Salvation Army in

Indonesia is operating, you cannot fail to

notice many people with boxes on the

roadside holding them out to the passing

cars. ‘What do they want?’ I ask Lilian,

my translator. ‘Anything,’ she replies,

‘money, food ...’

devastatingly simpleAs I watch I see some of the cars slow

down so people can put small parcels of

food or some rupiah in the outheld boxes.

‘This has only happened since the

earthquake,’ Lilian explains. ‘People are

desperate.’

On 30 September an earthquake

measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit West

Sumatra, Indonesia. The epicentre is near

the area where, just a few days later, The

Salvation Army started its relief response.

Another two huge earthquakes triggered

landslides, leaving a trail of destruction.

At least 1,119 people lost their lives or

have never been found in the rubble. Many

more lost their possessions. More than

200,000 houses were damaged or destroyed

and a total of 2.5 million people have been

affected in some way.

Today is Sunday and we watch the

slowly moving cars in front of us, including

those that carry people who have made

their way here to hand out little things – and

to see the destruction. Some keep within the

safety of their nice cars and throw 1,000

Rupiah notes – worth about US$0.10 – onto

the road through a small gap in their

darkened windows.

Children run and crawl on the ground to

pick them up. It is mainly children standing

on the sides of the road. But the saddest


It breaks my heart seeing it but at the sametime it makes me angry

by Damaris Frick

Indonesia

Above: a child in front of his destroyed home in

Padang Pasar Alai; left: a Salvation Army medical

team makes its way through the floods


sight for me is the elderly people who stand

there too. Frail women and men who

deserve a peaceful old age, surrounded by

their family members, are now reduced to

the humiliation of begging for help or

picking up money from the dust and the

mud on the side of a road.

It is such a degrading and deeply

undignified situation for them. It breaks my

heart seeing it but at the same time it makes

me angry. People shouldn’t need to do this.

Well-meaning people give what they can,

some in a real caring and genuine manner

but others in a rather arrogant and

patronising way.

The Salvation Army team members I

was with spoke to Nur Baini, an old woman

from a town called Patamuan. She told us

she and a cousin are the only survivors in

her family. Her husband, five children and

her grandchildren were all killed when their

house was swept away by a landslide.

Seeing these children and especially

these old people, I felt like opening my

purse and putting everything I had in their

boxes. It may have satisfied some people’s

hunger for a short while and it would have

relieved my conscience – but it would not

have changed their lives significantly.

Tomorrow they would be in the same

situation – hungry, without shelter and in

need of medical assistance.

In Indonesia The Salvation Army

operates several hospitals so it seemed

natural to use these resources and send

medical teams to the affected area. From

early October the team members worked

hard during the days, dealing with minor

injuries that happened due to the

earthquake or with health issues caused by

the difficult living conditions. At night they

moved the medicines and tables to the side

and slept in the same tent. They washed in

the river which was a 15-minute walk away.

Our international team, including me,

joined them a short while later. We had to

sleep in the tent for only a few nights then

we all moved to a team house – which

included the ‘luxury’ of a cold bucket

shower – a short distance away from our

base camp.

As I write, the medical work is still

ongoing. The team works in our base camp

and in five locations where we provide a

IndonesiaIndonesia


Above left: Salvation Army medical team member

Dr Lilian speaks to Nur Baini (centre) who lost her

family in a landslide; from top: a home that collapsed

in a landslide; Nurse Sintra conducts examinations at

a Salvation Army mobile clinic in Batang Piaman;

Salvation Army team members Nurse Isur and Dr

Bambang treat a wounded child; below left: Damaris

Frick distributes food

devastatingly simple


regular mobile health service. This service

will continue for a few more weeks.

The Salvation Army and other

non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

distributed tents or tarpaulins after the

earthquake. But these are not long-term

solutions. In a few weeks the rain and sun

will have ruined most of them. The people

are desperate for better accommodation.

‘Please help us with a house,’ one person

wrote on the tarpaulin under which his

family was sleeping.

The next stage of Salvation Army relief

work will include assisting the most

vulnerable people to construct a shelter.

Old materials from their houses will be

used and we’ll provide whatever new

material is necessary along with people to

help with the building work.

The first houses won’t be brick houses –

nothing fancy, nothing big. But they will be

big enough, with two rooms and a separate

toilet, to provide safe and dignified living

conditions for up to two years.

We worked with village leaders to come

up with a list of the most vulnerable people

and then walked from house to house to

check out each situation. You could see

people’s eyes light up with hope when the

Salvation Army team approached.

It is good to be part of an NGO like The

Salvation Army and to have the opportunity

to operate projects that can bring a

significant change in difficult times. The

combined little bits of money from

individual donors and bigger sums from

territories or other donors provide The

Salvation Army in Indonesia – assisted by

International Emergency Services – the

opportunity to do something worthwhile.

You could see people’seyes light up with hope

when the Salvation Armyteam approached

Helping Nur Baini and other people like

her is not about easing my conscience and

making me feel better. In fact it has nothing

to do with me at all. To me it is not even

about charity or preaching the gospel – it is

about justice. These people are our fellow

human beings, loved by God and therefore

deserving our assistance in an unfair world.

For me it is as simple as that.

Damaris Frick is a member of

The Salvation Army’s International

Emergencies Services team at

International Headquarters

Above left: Salvation Army team members speak

to a man who wrote ‘Please help us with a house’

on his tent; above right: two beneficiaries compare

treatment; below: a Salvation Army team member

looks at what used to be a main road

IndonesiaIndonesia

Taiwan

29 September

After being confined to a number ofgovernment office complexes, hotel roomsand vehicles I finally had a chance to getout into the mountains and see some of thepeople affected by Typhoon Morakot.

It was late afternoon when we left the townand headed into the mountains. It had beenraining off and on for two days and thebitumen in town was slick with rain and oil.But as we travelled higher into the

the end of the road

mountains the road surface became evenmore of a challenge – it wasn’t there!

Where there was once a narrow mountainroad, now piles of road and rock debriscreated a muddy, undulating avenue,courtesy of the heavy machinery that hadcleared access routes. On the right of ourvehicle, high mountains of shale stretchedinto the sky, still unstable and falling lightly;on the left was a precipitous drop to whathad once been a wide, clear river, nowguarded by temporary road barriers and

string.

The river, apparently oncewide and clear, hadbecome a collection ofnarrow streams containedby thousands of tons offallen mountain debris.But this is one of thelucky places – therewere no houses on theroute taken by theselandslides. Thesemountain areas arehome to Taiwanese

aboriginal people. No one else can buy orown land in these areas. The villagers wholive in the shadow of these awesomemountains are poor people –agriculturalists, predominantly Christians,whose families have inhabited these landsfor centuries.

With one of our vehicles loaded with riceand other food we drove into the forecourtof the village church to be met by a dozenprimary school-aged children who werehappy for any excuse to put their homeworkaside, even if it meant unloading boxes ofsnacks and drinks. Eighty-nine people livein this village, primarily grandparents takingcare of children and farms while the mumsand dads travel and live in nearby towns totry to get work and income.

They have very little and need our help –and yet these are the lucky people. Thistime, anyway.

30 September

The Salvation Army in Taiwan has supplieda number of schools with essentialequipment to replace damaged ordestroyed materials. The Salvation Armyteam has also conducted interviews withhundreds of victims of the typhoon andestablished new partnerships and contactswith government and other communityorganisations.

Yesterday I was welcomed into one of theschools in Tainan like a rock star. It wasvery embarrassing. Around 250 grade sixand seven kids stood and clapped as Ientered a school assembly. (That neverhappened at my school!)

I gave them some of the gifts and then Ihad to speak. The children were told tolisten carefully to someone who would‘speak the English more proper than yourEnglish teacher’. Talk about pressure!

This work can be taxing, it has majorfrustrations and complications, but theprivilege of being part of a person’s life

Typhoon Morakot caused devastation in Taiwan in August 2009, wiping out wholecommunities and killing more than 500 people. Major Daryl Crowden assistedThe Salvation Army in Taiwan as it tried to deal with the aftermath of the typhoon.Below are extracts from his online blog – used with permission – that showsomething of the difficulties faced both by the people of Taiwan and The SalvationArmy in its efforts to help them.

Taiwan


Above left: a house swept away a landslide; above right: a road comes

to a sudden stop; left: Major Daryl Crowden helps unload supplies;

next page: Major Crowden presents gifts at a school in Tainan


when they need it the most is so amazingly humbling. To be able toshare what I have with those that have lost everything reminds me ofwhat it really means to try and be like Jesus. I have the privilege ofdoing what I can to rebuild and transform a life, not just physically butspiritually.

1 October

Maolin was one of Taiwan’s ‘must-see’ places and was famous for itsscenery.

At the end of the road, deep in the mountains and almost at their foot,is the little village of Duona – famous for its hot springs. Today thesprings are buried beneath what looks like half a mountain. And yet,miraculously, no one died in this place. The village still stands.

When the typhoon hit Taiwan, more than 2.5 metres of rain fell in twodays in this area. Roads around the mountains disappeared,revealing what looks like awall of solid rock. Bridgesthat closed gaps over therivers were swept awayand roads just finish inmid-air.

It's hard to describe thescene, and photos don’tdo it justice. At one stagewe drove on a new‘road’ alongside the oldone. Huge concretesupport structures hadbeen swept into thevalley hundreds of feetbelow and houses thatwere in the way endedup half buried in mud and silt.

On the way in we asked for directions. A man who we think wasserious told us to ‘follow the yellow line down the middle of the road’.We did, and normally it would have ended in Duona. But now theroad ends in mid-air. Just as well we didn't follow it!

Almost two months after the typhoon the villages have been cleanedup and people are getting on with their lives.

But so much has been lost. For the people of Maolin and Duona theirlivelihood was tourism but there are few tourists heading this way atthe moment. Life has a long way to go before it can be described as‘normal’.

1,959 books, 895 uniforms, 1,280 sports uniforms,

1,364 pairs of shoes, 1,276 bags and 1,494 items

of stationery were provided to schoolchildren in

Tainan County at a cost of about NT$3.1 million

(US$99,000).

Water filters and piping were replaced, and a video

camera and weighing scales were provided for

schools in Kaohsiung County. Projects costs were

about NT$1.2 million (US$39,000).

Clothing and equipment were provided for

schoolchildren in Chiayi County. These included

208 books, 210 uniforms, 304 sports uniforms, 142

pairs of shoes, 178 bags and 446 sets of

stationery. This project was valued at NT$550,000

(US$17,000).

120 assessment interviews were conducted in

remote mountain areas in Chiayi. These interviews

will make the work of non-governmental

organisations (NGOs), the government and other

agencies more effective by directing their

resources to where they are most needed. This

project cost around NT$114,000 (US$3,600) to

carry out.

In addition to these major projects, numerous other

smaller projects included:

1,800 disinfectant packs distributed to homes in

Tainan County;

More than 1,000 hours of cleaning carried out in

flood-affected areas and homes;

From 15 August until the end of September

Salvation Army personnel were assigned full time

to providing assistance to Morakot victims;

100 sleeping bags provided for victims and relief

workers;

Members of Salvation Army corps (churches)

personally donated about NT$350,000 to help the

victims of Morakot as well as putting in many hours

of hard work on the frontline and behind the

scenes;

Salvation Army personnel spent many hundreds of

hours in discussions with village chiefs, school

principals, government officials, directors of NGOs

and politicians to find the best ways that The

Salvation Army can serve the affected communities

and promote a coordinated long-term approach.

THE SALVATION ARMY

has completed the following

major projects in response to

Typhoon Morakot:

Major Mike Coleman, commander of The Salvation Army’s TaiwanRegion, writes: ‘We are indebted to The Salvation Army’sInternational Emergency Services for expert help and support, and tothe overseas personnel – Major Francis Ng, Lieut-Colonel MikeCaffull, Captain Julian Wong and Major Daryl Crowden – who werewilling to dedicate several weeks of their busy lives to help thepeople of Taiwan.’

He adds: ‘Despite the fact that the emergency relief work is over, therebuilding is not. Indeed, it is just beginning and The Salvation Armyis talking to two county governments about longer-term projectsincluding the possibility of managing community care centres.

‘If accepted, the centres will be set up in local communities toprovide a place where typhoon victims can go for help. They will offera range of services including the provision of material aid such asfood and clothing, financial counselling, skills training, micro-creditloans and referral to in-depth counselling.’

TaiwanTaiwan

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Documents

All The World (January 2010)