(5/7/08   3:30 pm) – Myanmar Cyclone Disaster Update

Paul Maxfield, executive director of Children of Promise, spoke again by telephone with the director of the Children of Promise program in Myanmar, as well as with the assistant director. While most phone lines are down, they miraculously had phone contact.

The good news is that, as far as program leaders and pastors can determine, all of the sponsored children are safe.   However, most of the children’s homes have been destroyed.   Small, 10’ X 12’ bamboo frame structures with walls of reed mats, and roofs made of thatch simply could not withstand the high winds and torrential rains of the storm. It is likely that all their personal possessions were destroyed as well.

The leaders shared that food is in short supply and prices have skyrocketed due to high demand for staples. Water can only be obtained through purchasing it from private sources at high prices. They are still without electricity and are cooking in large groups so as to conserve charcoal, the fuel source. Gasoline prices have hit $20 per gallon. Roads to outlying areas and churches continue to be impassable. Again, the church is blessed with sporadic phone contact among the leaders of the different churches.

Half of the roof of the church headquarters/office/Bible training school is gone. The roof of the girls’ dorm was also blown off.  (This information was not relayed in our previous conversation.) Three church roofs were also blown off, as reported yesterday. 

When asked how they were coping, one of the leaders replied, “Physically, we are surviving fine. Mentally and emotionally, we are hurting. It was so frightening.” 

Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Myanmar. The past year has seen violence, upheaval, increased persecution, surging prices, and now, natural disaster. “Our family in Myanmar needs us. God will provide through us. This truth was brought home to me during a children’s lesson in a church I was speaking in this past weekend in Ohio. God uses people to answer prayers,” Maxfield shared.  “Join us in becoming answers to the Burmese peoples’ cries for God’s intervention and help. Donations are urgently needed for continued relief and rebuilding.”

The Church of God leader requested an immediate need of $50,000. Children of Promise, Church of God Ministries and Women of the Church of God have given the initial $25,000 from their emergency and relief funds. Additional funds are arriving in the Children of Promise office currently via telephone and internet. Debit and credit card donations are being accepted as well as personal checks and cash currency. Each donor’s contribution is tax deductible; each donor's church will also receive credit through Church of God Ministries.

Funds cannot be wired directly to Myanmar; however, funds will be transferred to the Myanmar church  through a courier on May 15.  If you would like to help Myanmar, you may make a special donation to the Children of Promise Emergency Fund, earmarked for Myanmar. You may do this by visiting our website at www.echildrenofpromise.org. Select Sponsor/Support, then select Make A Contribution, and then select Emergency Fund. When completing the form select Emergency Fund and in the comment box type in “Myanmar”; then click on Submit. You also may call the Children of Promise national office at 800-848-2464 and make a contribution using your debit or credit card. All other donations should be mailed to Children of Promise, PO Box 2316, Anderson, IN 46018.

Over $5,000 has already been received from donors and sponsors of Children of Promise today alone. “We are grateful for this early endeavor and pray that the Lord would encourage others to do what they can,” Dr. Maxfield responded.

If you would like to make a big difference in an individual child’s life, you may want to consider sponsoring one of the 19 Myanmar children who are waiting for sponsorship. Sponsorship changes not only the child’s life but the life of the family and the Church of God globally. You may sponsor a child by visiting our website or calling the national office, as listed above respectively. 

Donations are also being received by Church of God Ministries. Their website is www.chog.org.