Mozambique Disaster Relief Update, June 2019

The need is still great in Mozambique. It's now three months since the first of the two cyclones ravaged the city of Beira in Mozambique and then went on to destroy so many other areas in central Mozambique, southern Malawi and eastern Zimbabwe. And the second cyclone hitting Mozambique again, this time further north.  So much loss of life, the harvest destroyed which would have fed them until the next harvest in April 2020, tens of thousands of houses with collapsed walls and missing roofs. Desperate families wondering how they will survive now without the missing family members and not able to buy the available food now at exhorbitant prices.

			Above, Pastors Moses and Jequecene are ministering to an elderly woman who came to them crying because she had lost her husband and children. She has no help, so we have provided some temporary help and a promise to connect her to longer term support from the government or any other ministry that may be able to help. On the left is a boy with a physical disability who is staying with his elderly grandmother. Thank God that the government was able to povide a wheelchair for him. But he urgently needs food, clothes, a blanket and other basic daily needs. And he needs unconditional love. Our team was able to supply him with temporary relief, but they are concerned that it will not last very long. Of course we can keep supporting him as long as donations keep flowing in, but we must find a longer term solution.

Wheresoever has been blessed to be able to supply some relief in those areas where we have presence. The focus areas are near the city of Tete, the city of Beira which had the brunt of the storm, and the southern tip of Malawi. A drop in the ocean compared to the need, but a huge help to those few who are blessed by it. We have distributed two waves of relief, with a third coming very soon. We have been able to distribute mostly food, but also roofing materials, propane stove oven (must boil water until electricity restored), and basic needs such as blankets, mosquito nets, soap, Bibles to replace the ones washed away, etc. Out of all the critical needs, the one that our team always hear people asking for is food. And of course, sharing the Gospel and love of Jesus Christ is most important.

The Wheresoever strategy has been to identify those who have the most critical needs, and target them and those who can help them. And helping pastors to get back to a situation where they can again spiritually feed their flock effectively. Here are a couple of examples of Wheresoever sharing God's love with those in need.  
 

New tent camp near Tete City
Unloading food	Soap bars
Preparing to distribute and sharing the Gospel
Distributing the food and other items

The latest relief effort that the African Weresoever team has attended to is to the areas near Tete city. Before and during the storm, many houses had been damaged and 622 families had to move into the school that was provided as a temporary camp. So many more people than space, so the majority having to sleep outside, some in tents provided by the government. By now, many of those families have moved back to their houses, with or without room or walls. The rest have been relocated to a tent camp nearby, about 8 miles from the school.

It's a much better situation than the school was, but there are no toilets yet (holes in the ground) or places to bathe. Given the great number of people there, we pray that these will be prepared very soon to avoid cholera. The tent material is plastic and tends to rip when the wind blows and in the heavy sun. Still this is a great improvement over the overcrowded school.  

There is an obvious need to continue our relief work, and we can as long as the donations for this purpose continue. The government is doing what it can, but is overwhelmed. Many other ministries are also like us doing what they can, but also so much less than needed. We praise the Lord and thank you for making possible what we have been able to do, and pray for the donation flow for cyclone relief to continue.