by Sue Sprenkle, posted Friday, July 08, 2005 (19 years ago)
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Tough love
A man in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, receives medical care from missions volunteers Dr. Donald Kuenzi of Kansas City, Mo. (right), and nurse Nicki Crow of Liberty, Mo. Few of the medical issues volunteers addressed months after the tsunami resulted from the disaster; however, the teams helped people who could not receive local medical care. Many medical professionals were among those killed Dec. 26, so even though hospitals had reopened, they could not operate at full capacity. Photo courtesy of IMB
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SOUTHEAST ASIA (BP)--Foam mattresses, half-open suitcases and footlockers fill all available floor space. Shelves bulge with medical supplies and medicines. Hot, sweaty Americans sprawl on the front porch and in the courtyard -—almost too exhausted to talk about their day.
Welcome to the volunteer team house for tsunami disaster relief, where up to 60 volunteers from Southern Baptist churches across the United States eat together, sleep on the floor and share just about everything in order to help victims of last December’s tsunami.
“It’s hard to describe the mass destruction here,” volunteer Royce Sweatman says as he stands next to a coal barge blocking what used to be a highway.
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A daunting task
Southern Baptists have given more than $16 million in relief funds to minister to victims of the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami. In one Muslim village a leader said, “The Christians care about us and are showing us love. The Christians are welcome to stay.” Photo courtesy of IMB
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“As far as your eye can see, it’s a bunch of rubble, Sweatman, of Arkansas, says. “There’s so much that needs to be done -— it just breaks your heart.”
Days start early for the volunteers. They cram into various means of transportation —- from pickups to canoes -— to journey into affected areas and help pick up the pieces. They do everything from medical clinics to fogging for mosquitoes, working practically from sunup to sundown. Read More
