COMPASSION FUND/DISASTER RESPONSE

As we know, the earthquake that took place in early February impacted a large area across both Turkey and Syria. While the needs are still immense and ongoing, providing assistance in Turkey is relatively uncomplicated. On the other side of the border, however, there are significantly greater barriers. Fortunately, some of our field workers are well-situated to provide support for some of these difficult-to-reach communities. Due to ongoing war, there are significant populations of Syrians that live outside of the country but remain very connected to their communities that loved ones that remain in the country. Through trusted church leaders, over 1,000 families have been provided with basic humanitarian aid. The leaders are continuing to follow up with these families to provide psychosocial and pastoral support. They have also been assessing and providing direct assistance for home repairs and shelter to those in affected areas.

The disaster has created many opportunities. Unfortunately, it has also allowed for acts of violence, theft, and abuse of vulnerable people. In the midst of this, however, there have been extraordinary acts of kindness. Churches have jumped into action to serve their congregations and their non-Christian neighbors. Strangers have stopped by hospitals to pray for the medical bills of strangers. The Syrian diaspora across Europe and other countries has responded to help those who were impacted by the earthquake.

As the Syrian Church responds in the name of Jesus, our field workers are seeing unprecedented opportunities to communicate the love and mercy of Jesus through these acts of compassion. In a region that has seen war, violence, and now natural disaster, please continue to pray for those who are ministering love and mercy in the midst of these very difficult circumstances where the needs are so great.

Our field workers continue to make connections in the earthquake-affected regions and assess how to best resource their local partners to meet the longer-term physical and emotional needs. One of our teams, in partnership with the local church, is focusing their efforts on helping people who left the earthquake area with nothing and have come to their city to seek shelter and safety. What follows is the story of one such person.

One young man attended our church when he was teaching guitar to one of our church's high school students. He completed his master's degree in music and moved back to his hometown in the south. His city, ancient Antioch, saw some of the worst destruction in these earthquakes. He was buried under the rubble for 58 hours before being rescued. He suffered significant injuries and was hospitalized there and then transferred to a large hospital in our city. He lost everything and was rescued with only the pajamas he was wearing when the first quake struck at 4 a.m. and immediately collapsed his apartment building.

We have maintained contact with him in the three years since he left our city and learned about his situation when he wrote us from his hospital bed in the first days of his recovery. The local pastor and his wife visited him in the hospital and met his parents. The family is poor, and even before the earthquake, they were struggling with the economic crisis in the country. Trying to help their son (who was probably helping them financially) is close to pushing them over the edge financially because of the long period of recovery and probably future limitations in what he will be able to do. The church, in the name of Jesus, has given him a one-time amount to enable him to purchase a few things to get started again and will support him with a stipend for the next twelve months to help him through this critical time. He and his family wept tears of joy with gratitude for helping them at this difficult time. We pray that continued opportunities to share with this man and his family may be avenues of God's love and grace to draw them to Himself.

Within the earthquake zone in Turkey, there are many refugees from Syria. Through partner churches in the country that are comprised of Syrian believers, our field workers continue to be a conduit of aid to the needy. At least 30 families in two churches in the earthquake zone and an additional 50 families in these communities have received tangible assistance from these local Syrian leaders. The leaders have provided material aid, have hosted people in their homes, and have helped with logistics for those relocating to safer places. At the same time, they have also had opportunities to share about the One who motivates and strengthens them and have seen some receive this message with joy. While this work is rewarding in many ways, it is also exhausting, and after nearly two months of daily providing physical and spiritual aid to many, these leaders are weary.

Recently, a pastor and a couple of other believers from another country in the region were able to visit these leaders of the Syrian community and offer tangible aid and encouragement to them. Coming alongside these partner church leaders in Turkey, they assisted in visiting earthquake victims and providing aid to them. 

On one of these visits, they met two Syrian sisters. These sisters are living in Turkey while their parents remained in Syria. Sadly, they learned that their parents, whom they had not seen recently, had died in the earthquake. They were devastated. The visitors listened to their story, grieved with them, and offered them words of comfort: “For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in” (Ps 27:10). Questions and discussion followed, and the sisters stayed up all night talking about these words that had been shared with them. The next day, the sisters called the visitors who had shared these words of comfort and hope with them. One of them was ready to follow Jesus; the other one was still seriously considering what she had heard. 

While there is much to mourn and lament in the midst of so many lives that have been forever altered by the impact of the earthquake, we are encouraged by glimpses into lives that are also being forever impacted by the Hope that will remain with them, comfort them, and hold them through their suffering. May the Lord be praised as he works through His people in these hard places. 

Now six weeks after the earthquake that rattled Turkey and rippled into its neighboring country, the intense gaze of global attention has turned elsewhere. The effects of the earthquake, however, continue to reverberate, and stories of loss and grief continue to amass; the weight of them is overwhelming. 

Our field workers, alongside their local partner churches, are networking throughout the region to identify families in need of support. Below is a sample of some of the individuals and families who have received aid and support from them …

• Duygu, a university student, lost her home and some family members

• Selda lost her home and small business and now has nothing

• Seyran has no longer has a home and half of her family died

• Ethem and his family were rescued from under the rubble. He was in the hospital after this and now he and his family are staying with relatives. They have nothing left.

• Esma was saved from under the rubble and is now sharing a tent with seven people.

• Fidan was rescued from under the rubble and taken to the hospital, but her son and husband were lost. She again found herself under rubble after a strong aftershock.

• Rifat, a university student, lost his mother. He is alone now and has no home.

• Ilker, another university student, was living with his mother. Their home collapsed and his mother did not survive.

• Keziban’s husband died in the earthquake, and now she is left alone raising one child and living in a tent.

• Orhan pulled his friend’s body from the rubble with his own hands and now lives in a tent with four children.

These brief snippets can easily be multiplied thousands upon thousands of times. The grief and loss are difficult to imagine, and the enormity of what will be needed to restore lives and livelihoods is massive. Our teams are small and funds are not unlimited. Pray with us that the Lord would multiply the “fish and loaves” being given to the hungry crowd and that His great name would be praised from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Our field workers in the earthquake region continue to work with local partners and churches to meet immediate needs and evaluate how to long-term provide resources for those who will have to rebuild their lives after losing everything.

Items of clothing, food, and other material aid continue to be distributed to needy families, providing them with the basics they need to get back on their feet. For example, one pastor and family rescued from the rubble are trying to rebuild their lives by cooking for Russian families who have come to the country, and through this, they are earning a little bit of income. Providing aid for families like this is primarily happening through local believers seeking to help both believers and relatives in networks of relationships throughout the area.

While meeting immediate needs, our field workers and local church leaders are meeting and finalizing plans for helping families over the coming year. Long-term priorities include rental, and food assistance for many families affected, relocating away from the quake zone, and temporary housing provisions such as a container home for those in rural areas needing rebuilding time. These ongoing efforts to address physical and emotional needs will be critical for families rebuilding their lives.

Here are some ways you can pray: 
Pray for endurance for those providing food and other necessities to those who have lost homes, etc.
Pray for wisdom for our field workers and local partners as they seek the Lord’s guidance for where and how to engage in ongoing assistance for those impacted by the earthquake.

Even though local groups of believers in the earthquake zone and surrounding regions are relatively few, our field workers are encouraged that churches are working jointly to provide aid. For example, one church has converted its sanctuary into a place of refuge for survivors. These churches are also collectively asking the global Church to work with and through local churches and organizations to provide aid. This is our aim: to work with and through our long-time partner churches to assess both immediate and ongoing needs and provide appropriate aid.

Thanks to the generosity of donors and in partnership with these local churches, our field workers have been able to distribute material and financial assistance to many who have been left with very little or nothing at all after the earthquake.

On the Turkish side of the earthquake zone and through this network of church relationships, some of these funds have been used to provide basic supplies in multiple areas throughout the impacted region. Several families who are staying in temporary dormitory housing were provided with money to purchase food and other necessities. Some other families, including one with a special-needs child, were also provided with funds from the church to purchase food, clothing, and other needed things. Through another church connection, hygiene items, supermarket gift cards, and electric heaters have been given to needy families. 

Through a direct partnership with a church of Syrian refugees, nearly 40 families have been helped in material ways. This has included providing food, bedding, clothing, and transportation, as well as helping some families relocate and providing medical help as needed. The church is faithfully worshiping together each week and making pastoral and mercy visits throughout the week. 

There continues to be a great deal of anxiety in regional quake-prone areas and many people are having their buildings assessed for safety. Some local friends are already in the process of moving to safer locations. Yet another 5.6 tremor today caused more injuries, destruction of more buildings, and one death in Malatya, Turkey, a city which already had considerable damage from the first earthquake. The emotional needs of survivors and surrounding communities will be significant in the months ahead. In light of this, some of our field workers are beginning to equip both themselves and local brothers and sisters in basic trauma care in order to minister to survivors in an informed and caring manner.

Some ways you can pray:
Pray for those who have been left alone with no surviving family members. Many stories are emerging of entire families, save one, who died in the earthquake.
Pray for local bodies of believers to be strengthened, resourced, and further equipped to help provide care for those who have been so terribly impacted by this earthquake. Continue to pray for wisdom as they come alongside those in the region with the love of Christ.
Pray for our field workers as they continue to work with and through local partners and churches to help with both short-term and longer-term needs.

Exactly two weeks have passed since two massive earthquakes hit southern Turkey and northern Syria. The devastating quakes have taken over 40,000 lives and destroyed hundreds of thousands of apartments and homes. Rescue teams from around the globe have wound down the rescue efforts to find the living amongst the rubble of buildings. After the news fades from the front page, the long road of restoration begins.

From cities across Turkey, aid and workers continue to head to the disaster region with supplies and building materials. In coordination with several believing churches in the region, efforts are being made to provide water, clothes, and temporary shelter to the smaller cities and villages that are requesting aid. Many families have fled the region to stay with relatives or friends in the inland cities. Some of those fleeing have expressed a fear of loud noises or of any slight movement indoors. These things bring immediate trauma and fear that they are reliving the nightmare again. This is only helped when aftershocks like today’s 5.6 quake continue to shake and topple already damaged buildings and are felt 200 miles away.

Our MTW field workers are working through partners and networks of believers to provide immediate aid where possible. Some of our field workers are relaying much-needed money via trusted couriers to some of the areas that are most difficult to access. One partner church has sent diaconal funds to relatives who lost family members, their home, and have nothing left. In one of our local partner churches, a family is hosting their parents who lost their home; they have made expressions of thankfulness to God for His protection and are now attending church and desire to be baptized. 

While immediate aid is needed, knowing how to help people in the long-term is the primary goal of the churches and MTW field workers in the region. We have committed to a two-year plan of providing support to those who have lost their homes, believers and their families who have been impacted economically by this disaster.

Here are some ways you can pray for the people here this week:

Pray for the Syrians affected by the earthquake and for the government there to not impede the doctors and aid heading to that region.
Pray for the children and hundreds of thousands of pregnant women who have been displaced by the quakes.
Pray for the MTW assessment teams visiting believers in the region this week.
Pray for the churches to be equipped with wisdom to come alongside those in the region with the love of Christ.