ONWARD Page 2 March 2004

HURRICANE DISASTER APPEAL

SEPTEMBER 15, 2004

TO: Moravian Churches in the US and Canada

FROM: Will Sibert, Executive Director, BWM

The situation: Hurricane Ivan struck several islands of the Caribbean and thousands of people are making courageous efforts to cope with the disastrous results. Among them are Moravian sisters and brothers in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Hurricane Ivan was one of the deadliest hurricanes in recent memory having destroyed much of the islands of Grenada and Grand Cayman, and damaging large part of Tobago and Cuba. Over a hundred people are confirmed dead and the numbers continue to climb. Estimates of the financial toll of Hurricane Ivan in the Caribbean alone are in the billions of dollars, with the storm now approaching the southern coast of the US.

The Board of World Mission will send Mark Ebert of our Crisis Response Team to Jamaica in the next couple of weeks at the invitation of the Jamaican Province. Mark will bring a caring spiritual presence and words of encouragement, as well as participating in assessing how best to organize work crews coming from the US to rebuild church facilities.

In Jamaica, damage to church facilities was greatest. Quoting a report just received from Br. Livingston Thompson, president of the Jamaican Province,

We anticipate that no less than forty of the 55 congregations in Manchester, St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland have been affected. A full report will be prepared, as soon as we are able to do a proper on-site visit to all the locations.

Hurricane Ivan passed by the South Coast of Jamaica over two days, September 10-11, 2004. Happily, it skirted the coast at a distance of about forty kilometers but with hurricane-force winds extending to 95 km from the center, and storm-force winds extending to as much as 295 km, it was easy for the system to cover the whole island.

A trail of damage with the Parishes of St. Thomas, Clarendon, Manchester, St. Elizabeth being the hardest. At the time of this report, most of the island was still without running water, electricity and telephone. Unable to hear much from the parish one can only hope that the damage there was no worse than what we have seen so far.

Except for the five congregations in the Surrey District. (Kingston/St. Andrew/ St. Catherine), the Moravian Churches are basically located in Manchester, St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland. It so happens that these parishes were among those experiencing the worse devastation. The Hurricane came menacingly close to destroying a significant part of the Moravian building heritage, which, for the most part, dates back to the first decade of the 19^th century.

We rejoice in the mercies of our God for even though the hurricane has done considerable damage to the Church property and the homes of members, there is as yet no report of loss of life in the Moravian community as a direct result of the hurricane.

It is clear that the effects of the hurricane are summoning us to consider structural renewal of our properties. Our prayer is that there will also be a renewal of the total well-being of our Church, as we commemorate 250 years of witness.

The needs are great and as in years past, I have no doubt that our Moravian brothers and sisters here are ready and willing to be generous with their resources as a manifestation of love and support for our Jamaican brother and sisters.

How Moravians can respond.

The Board of World Mission urges sustained and continuing intercessory prayers for the victims of the hurricane and for those governments, disaster agencies and individuals who are trying to help. Moravian congregations participating in the Unity Prayer Watch in the next several months should by all means include the people of the Caribbean, especially Jamaica and the Cayman Islands in their prayers.

The Board of World Mission is able to send immediately some funding to the Jamaican Church from reserves we now hold for just such emergencies. However, much more will be needed than what we have on hand. We encourage individuals and churches to make generous financial contributions to aid in the recovery and reconstruction efforts. The BWM is able to receive such gifts and will be happy to act on behalf of individuals and churches to direct financial gifts where they can be most effective. We prefer that financial contributions be designated broadly for “hurricane disaster assistance,” but we will honor the wishes or designations of any congregational or individual donor for a more specific use. Our plan is the following:

First, we shall participate with other churches and ecumenical Christian organizations to help in the immediate disaster recovery efforts in Jamaica. The need here is truly great. Church World Service, an ecumenical disaster and relief agency, will publish appeals on its behalf and provide on-the-ground assistance in the recovery efforts. The BWM proposes to channel financial gifts through CWS to aid in the needs of people. See CWS link below: http://www.cwserp.org/reportview.php?entry=454

Second, as we learn of the repair costs of the damaged church properties in Jamaica and on Grand Cayman, we propose to channel financial gifts to the Moravian Church, Jamaica Province to assist in those repairs.

We are already sending Mark Ebert to Jamaica before the end of October to formulate in consultation with Provincial leadership a comprehensive rebuilding program. We anticipate that work teams will be needed well into 2005. The BWM invites persons wishing to volunteer for this kind of service to contact the BWM office in Winston-Salem, 1.336.773.1732.