from rich in sri lanka

Finally, a report from my brother in Sri Lanka, through his wife. First, a bit of background:

Children's Emergency Relief International (CERI) received an urgent request from Gospel for Asia (GFA) and the government of Sri Lanka to open five new emergency child care centers for the care of children orphaned by the flooding devastation in the country.

The area of Sri Lanka they are concentrating relief efforts from Batticaloa south to Pottuvil. There is an estimated 30,000 people who need relief in this area.

GFA has two child care centers set up in schools in Batticaloa which opened on January 5th. One has about 1000 and the other 800. GFA has approval to set up more child care centers including in their target area.

The CERI team currently consists of two senior staff members with expertise in emergency shelter operations and foster care programming, medical director with experience in providing medical care in 3rd world countries, a communications officer from the BGCT, a specialist with significant training and experience in mass care mitigation and planning, a specialist in long-term foster care management, and [my brother] Richard [an experienced psychologist and family counselor specializing in children].

January 9th: CERI's 1st day at actual work site

CERI, UNICEF, TBM, UN, and several other organizations are currently in Batticaloa (east coast — one of the worst hit areas). There are many scattered tiny villages up and down the coast. Everyone on the CERI team feels healthy and safe (there is a strong military presence).

Environmental Experiences:
· Hot, steamy, humid — everything covered in gritty sand
· Terrain in ruins, looks like a war-zone, took more than 9 hours to travel less than 200 miles
· The stench is overpowering

Spiritual Experiences:
· Church was held in rooms in someone's home
· Many awesome things (good and bad) have already been experienced by the men. One of the MOST awesome events (to date) was talking to a joyous Christian man. Although he had lost his home, his wife and 10 children, he was thankful and praising God! He was thankful for the CERI team. Wow! His faith is inspiring (and humbling).
· They kneel down and hold hands when they pray. Very powerful, spirit-filled worship.
· Church was an overwhelming experience for the team: long — full of worship, praise, random prayer and choruses. They have a translator so they were able to 'follow along.' They sang 'This is the Day the Lord Has Made.' What an incredible experience, these spirit-filled, joyous people singing this chorus in their native song and our team singing with them in English.

Observations:
· The people are very polite, respectful and deferential. Rich had a small flying toy and the children actually lined up in a straight line and waited patiently and quietly for their turn.
· The children were amazed, intrigued and tickled by the digital camera. When they were shown their photograph, they would laugh and laugh... and then... they quickly became children and were all over Rich wanting to see their picture. The adults came over to see what was going on and they too were amused. What a great moment. A few minutes of pleasure and joy to take them away from their losses.

Pray For:
· All the victims, the relief teams, missionaries
· The children who are hiding — terrified and traumatized
· The CERI team and guidance for their mission

For additional information, or if you are interested in supporting CERI, go to their web site.