Blog: Disaster Relief

Dzia’s Journey

Dzia* was named after her great-grandmother, who came to Syria in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide, toting Dzia’s grandmother - an infant at the time - and two great-uncles at her side on the arduous journey. As a second generation Armenian-Syrian, recently Dzia found herself in a position eerily similar to her great-grandmother’s.

Many have known the corner of the world we call the Middle East as a place of consistent tumult filled with intermittent bursts of violence. This land harbors some of the most beautiful and intriguing sites for tourists and explorers, but foreigners are often warned to tread the ground gingerly for fear of getting caught in life-threatening violence. Currently, savage acts are holding the lives of the innocent in the balance as they cry out for relief...for an end to depravity and a beginning of a sustained way of life.

We finished our Disaster Relief Team Training on the beautiful island of Maui. The training went great and all who attended were excellent.

It was also fun.

April 25th, 2015 was a day that many Nepali people will not forget. The earth shook…and shook and shook and they wondered, “Is this the end?”

No other relief organization has reached this area yet.

Desperately needing tarps for shelter, their homes collapsed from the violent shaking, families gather hopelessly in destroyed villages.

“Everyone thought this is the last day of their life. Not only one time, but hundreds of times the quake hit and the earth shook,” shares Kiran Karki, National Leader of Nepal in his official report of the event. Not only has Kiran and his team been tending to their families, but their neighbors, as well.

While our staff is safe, there are many thousands who were not. Seven days after the earthquake hit, nearly 6,000 people were found dead and about twice that number were injured. Various news sources estimate once all the rubble is cleared, lives lost will total much higher.

“My children are traumatized by the sight of seeing many of our neighbors killed in the earthquake. Hundreds of our neighbors are camped out in our front yard.”

These are the words of our National Leader, Kiran as we talked on the phone a few minutes ago.

I am sure you are aware the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Nepal two days ago has been followed by over 100 after shocks. In Kathmandu, our leader reports there is no one in the hospitals because they are sleeping in the open air. The roads are blocked; food and water are becoming very rare.

After a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Nepal on April 25th, many are in desperate need of relief. We have been in contact with our local staff and are glad to report they are safe.

While news reports show that relief is being brought to some areas affected by the disaster, currently access to rural villages is extremely difficult due to road damage. We are assessing the situation in order to bring aid to these harder to reach victims who have lost so much.

Your gift will help the suffering so we can provide relief!

A spotlight has been shone on the Yazidis, a religious minority from the mountains of Northern Iraq. Targets of violent acts with other religious and ethnic minorities, headlines began reporting the woes of this particular group in late February 2015.