LIFEWIND NEWS ALERT
05/08/2008
Click here to Donate to the Need in Myanmar
URGENT NEED IN MYANMAR
URGENT RELIEF and LONG-TERM COMMITMENT NEEDED
An enormous human tragedy is unfolding in Myanmar.
The death toll from Cyclone Nargis is rocketing. Initial estimates of a few hundred casualties jumped to 10,000, then 22,000, to over 100,000 or more. The number could go much higher. The ruling military junta resisted outside humanitarian aid, but has finally begun to let aid workers into devastated areas. They face enormous logistical problems distributing emergency supplies over the vast flooded area. An onslaught of disease and starvation looks unavoidable.
People’s lives are at stake and the situation is very difficult, but you can make a difference.
In response to disasters, LifeWind works with AERDO* partner agencies to channel immediate relief to the hardest hit areas. At the same time, we have been active for several years coming alongside communities in this part of the world. The need for help will continue long after the short-term relief agencies have left the scene. Long-term commitment is critically important.
Major catastrophes like the Tsunami or this cyclone follow a predictable pattern. The world’s attention is briefly riveted on the disaster. Relief agencies scramble to deliver emergency supplies. Public attention quickly fades and the emergency relief runs out. Survivors are left to pick up the pieces on their own. The real recovery work takes years, not days or weeks.
We walk with communities over the long-term, bringing hope in the midst of death and despair, helping people not only to survive but to rebuild their lives so they can thrive in every way. Myanmar has been one of the countries most closed to the Gospel. This is an opportunity to reach out and demonstrate God’s long-term love. Many are rushing to help now, but will just as quickly disappear. Very few will be there for the long haul—but that is our mission. We need your help to fulfill it.
Your gift to LifeWind for this crisis will be used this way: the first 20% will go to emergency relief through one of our trusted partners that we believe is in the best position to deliver emergency aid in Myanmar. Not every agency can do this. We are in touch with people close to the situation to evaluate where your gifts can have the most immediate impact bringing food, water, and medical supplies.
But the most painstaking part of the recovery process will come in the months and years ahead.
For that reason, the other 80% of your gift will be used for long-haul recovery, to fund what we do best—empowering local people to take effective action to overcome the many problems they will still face after the immediate aid is gone. That is what we did in Banda Aceh after the Tsunami, and after last year’s terrible floods in Nicaragua. As a result, communities hit hard by those events have moved out of despair and dependence, overcoming problems, preventing disease, growing their own food supplies, and thriving in ways they never did before.
This latest crisis calls for action and renews our calling to long-term commitment—to help people move from disaster to development to true transformation. Your gift today will help the relief effort in Myanmar and provide power to walk alongside communities wherever there is suffering and need for long-term development.
*AERDO is the Association of Evangelical Relief and Development Organizations, of which LifeWind is a member.
