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January 2005
Volume 22, Issue 1
Helping
The Tsunami Victims
This picture represents some of the Christian
believers who live in a predominantly Hindu environment on the Andaman
Islands in the Indian Ocean. It was taken before disaster struck on December
26, when a massive Tsunami crashed onto land around the Indian Ocean rim and
caused the largest natural disaster in recent history. There are over
150,000 confirmed dead, a number that will continue to rise as those who
were swept away without a trace are daily being added to the list by
remaining family members and friends. 1.5 million children are orphaned, and
vast areas of countless towns and villages in 11 countries have been
obliterated.
Although it is impossible for any individual to
begin to grasp the depth of grief and despair among such a huge number of
people, the outpouring of compassion and generosity from people around the
world has been unprecedented in history. More than 4 billion US dollars has
been committed to relief aid and help in rebuilding the communities that
were destroyed - so much so that some organizations have asked that people
stop giving to them, as the funds received are beyond their capacity to
utilize.
In the aftermath of the disaster, I prayerfully
considered what the involvement of The Bridge should be, if any, since we
are not directly involved in that region. The answer was affirmative when we
were given a direct connection on the ground into the most remote and needy
region: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
THE
ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS
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Click map to enlarge.
Map courtesy of
Maps of India
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FACTS
The Andaman & Nicobar Islands
constitute the remotest part of the Indian Union. This archipelago spreads
along 490 miles in the Indian Ocean - the southern tip of these islands
located only 91 miles from Sumatra - consists of 572 islands with a
population of app. 350,000 who live on 38 inhabited islands in 537 towns and
villages. Most of the people are ethnic Indians, many of whom are
descendants of freedom fighters and criminals who were sent to penal
institutions built by the British during their rule of India. |
The Nicobar Islands are also home to six stone-age
tribes, who, being isolated from and hostile to the outside world, have
maintained their traditions unchanged for thousands of years. We know that
Marco Polo encountered these tribes during his voyage through South-Asia.
They are unreached by the Gospel. The islands inhabited by the six tribes
are off-limit to the public, requiring special visitation visas by the
Indian government.
THE EFFECTS OF THE TSUNAMI
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands at the epicenter of
the massive underwater earthquake that shook the Indian Ocean rim, bore the
full brunt of the tsunami. The quake altered the topology of the underground
ocean floor in the region, causing several islands to disappear (one was cut
in half), and floodwater is permanently rising above many of the villages
along the coast-lines, making them a total loss to their inhabitants.
300,000 people have been directly affected by the tragedy; 6,000 are still
missing. The Indian government was slow to respond, and initially turned
down disaster relief help for the islands from the international community.
Their official relief aid organization has now rescued 41,000 from their
islands and moved them to refugee camps on safer ground. The region keeps
experiencing aftermath tremors.
Incredibly, the six indigenous tribes appear to
have survived much better than the Indians on the islands. The people obeyed
a warning that had been passed down orally through their elders for
generations: “When the earth shakes, you must leave the beach and
immediately run into the forest, because a big wave will come to swallow you
up.” As a result, some of the tribes people are now appearing from inland
hiding places. In a rare encounter, a Jarawa man told outsiders that all 250
members of their tribe survived on coconuts. A full survey needs to be done
to assess how to help people who continue to live on these remote islands.
VARUGHESE
AND SARAMA MATHEW INDIAN MISSIONARIES TO THE ANDAMAN ISLANDS
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PERSONAL TESTIMONY
”I was born in Kerala, Southern India in 1963.
My wife’s name is Sarama. I have two daughters, Reshma (18) and Rose (14).
I grew up in a nominally Christian home, but when I was a teenager, I got
involved in many bad things and began drinking and smoking. One day a
preacher came to town. He reached out to me, and through his care, I came to
understand that Jesus Christ loved me and gave His life for me. I received
Him and became a child of God.
After I finished my education, I studied
theology in Kerala. In 1988, the Lord spoke clearly to us students regarding
our further service for Him, and He asked me, ’Are you willing to go to a
place where no one, not even missionaries, will go?’ I responded, ’Yes,
Lord. I will go’.
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That year I moved with my young wife and baby
girl to the Andaman Islands. We arrived with two empty hands, trusting that
the Lord would provide for us. In the early years, we were sometimes so poor
that we did not have enough to eat. The people around us are Hindus, so many
times we experienced abuse, assaults and threats from Hindu fanatics. But we
trusted the Lord and He always gave us the faith and mental strength to
carry on the ministry without fear. We keep on reaching people with the Good
News, and many have come to faith in Jesus Christ and have been baptized.
Today our ministry, Indian Christian Fellowship, includes 13 churches, a
Bibleschool and an orphanage with 68 children.
HELPING TSUNAMI VICTIMS
By the grace of God, all of us at the ICF, the
Bibleschool,the orphanage,and all the church members escaped from a direct
hit, so we are all fine.
The situation is desperate on Little Andaman, and
the southern islands are still totally isolated. The government of Andaman
is airlifting as many as possible to safety and placing them in schools in
our capital. My wife and I, together with the believers from our
fellowships, visit the camps regularly and councel the victims while
extending our love to them.
There are still scores of people left destitute on
so many of the islands. They have nothing to eat or drink. Transportation of
relief aid is mainly done by small boats due to the destruction of bridges
and roads, which is very dangerous because of crocodile attacks.
In every camp, people ask us for rice, water
containers, clothes, baby food, dry food, blankets, oil, mats to sit and
sleep on, soaps, mosquito nets, etc.
In one village near Port Blair where we live, 300
fishermen and their families lost everything, including their homes, their
fishing boats and nets. We would like to help them re-establish their
families and livelihood.
On a permanent basis, we would like to buy 5—10
acres of land and build a village for 100 destitute victims and their
families, providing each of them with a one room house with a kitchen.
The Tribal Protection Regulations of the government
of India forbids anyone to go to the Nicobar Islands or have contact with
the six original tribes who live there. But now, due to the tsunami
devastation, several thousand of them have been brought from different
islands and placed in refugee camps in Port Blair. The largest camp is
located 3 miles from our office! Every day I visit them and ask about their
well-being. They have asked me for a TV.
God has shown me that the best thing I can give to
the people around me, is His love. I therefore desire to give them a TV and
CD player, so that we can show them gospel CD programs. Every evening we go
and pray for them and conduct children's classes. Since we could not go to
the tribes, they have come to us! Please pray that God will do miracles so
that His glory will be manifest, that many Nicobars will come to know God
the Father through Jesus Christ.
From
the Editor
As I joined millions of viewers who watched the
magnitude of the tsunami disaster unfold, I kept asking the Lord what He
would have us do. Any aid we might be able to send seemed insignificant
compared to the relief efforts of the US Army and Navy, the UN and the large
humanitarian agencies who flocked to the region with billions of US dollars.
Then I remembered what God specifically enables and
anoints us to do: cross paths and network with individuals who are called to
pioneer the work of the Gospel in unreached people groups and geographical
regions, and come alongside to help equip and support those individuals.
By God’s grace, I then learned about Varughese
Mathew'sin the remote, inaccessible Andaman and Nicobar Islands where no
international help had yet arrived. He is highly recommended as a man with
integrity who is a true pioneer for the Gospel by one of our partnering
ministries who has financially supported him for several years
This is an opportunity for you to bypass the red
tape of the mega agencies and get your contributions directly into the hands
of a spiritual marine who lives and works right where the need is,the
infrastructure already in place. The funds collected will go directly to
Varughese’s ministry to relieve the suffering of these desperate victims.
Please memo your contribution: Tsunami Relief Aid.
Donate
to The Bridge International
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