It was a hot, sunny August day in Indonesia when I sat and spoke with one of the tsunami survivors. The beauty of the day belied the depth of dark emotions within this woman.
“How are you feeling now?” I asked as gently as possible. Her response was representative of several others with whom I spoke: “I really don’t know what is to become of my life now.” Deep anguish was mirrored on her face; she had lost so many. Only her sister and daughter remained; 50-plus other relatives had been washed away by the mighty wave last December 26.
When I first arrived in this city, the atmosphere conveyed a “life as usual” feel: children returning from school; chaotic traffic; young people surfing the Web in Internet cafes. However, this apparent look of normalcy only masked despair.
In an effort to provide housing for some of those left homeless in the wake of the tsunami, World Vision constructed 19 barracks to house 95 families in the area, for which TWR provided televisions, VCD players and children’s VCDs. These people were strangers before they were forced to live in such quarters. But unsure if any real family members were alive, they formed themselves into makeshift families. When I jokingly asked if they fought like regular families, since they lived in such close proximity, they merely smiled and said life was too short and precious to be wasted by fighting.
In this part of Indonesia, it is risky to speak openly about the gospel. So how does one reveal the love of Jesus in such a situation? Over the last several months, TWR has distributed several hundred radios and begun airing special programs aimed especially for the survivors. TWR also partnered with Campus Crusade to install wells and toilets in the largest university in the province.
In a different part of Indonesia, where Christians are the majority of the population, the atmosphere was quite different even though they had suffered a devastating earthquake several months after the tsunami. A local ministry arranged with HCJB to install a new FM transmitter and for TWR to supply Bible teaching programs. The station is on the air daily from 5 a.m. until 2 p.m., and then again from 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. Most of the programming is done live, but TWR’s programs help reduce the work load on this small, dedicated team.
In October, another TWR colleague in the region visited several areas hit by the tsunami. “I could see that distribution of radios is a very good way to initiate contacts and show that TWR is concerned for the people,” he reported recently. “In fact, it seems there is a paradigm shift there. Now they consider Christians also as fellow human beings, because they see how Christians helped them when they were in great suffering because of the tsunami.” In some occasions, the colleague added, he had the chance to share his Christian beliefs and values without debate.
by McDaniel Phillips, TWR’s coordinator for the Asia tsunami