MOZAMBIQUE PRESS RELEASE~Rolland Baker~
Bro. Holdridge
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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