The Philippines are no stranger to severe storms. It was just a year ago, in December of 2011, when Typhoon Washi roared into the islands bringing death and destruction. Over 1300 people were killed; many of them victims of the flash flooding that occurred after torrential rains battered the islands. The government of the Philippines scrambled to create more storm shelters and to increase the warning given to residents in the wake of that storm. They knew that more storms would be coming and they worked hard to create scenarios where there might be less loss of life.

The people didn’t have to wait long to see their systems tested again. Typhoon Bopha is hammering the Philippines. And it is a much bigger storm than Washi. The storm is now over the western island of Palawan and is expected to move out into the South China Sea by tomorrow. The hardest hit area was Compostela Valley province. Neighboring Davao Oriental province was also badly affected. Early reports say that about 50 people were killed in Davao Oriental province. The stories coming out of Compostela Valley province is worse. At least 156 people have lost their lives. In Andap village, people were huddled in a school and a village hall that were set up as shelters as the winds and rain raged outside. The roofs held and the people seemed safe. Unknown to them, however, catchment basins for farms higher up in the mountains were being overfilled by the rain. The walls of the basins failed and the subsequent rush of water and mud roared down upon Andap village. At least 43 people were killed when the shelters were overrun with the muddy water. They had followed the storm plan, but the storm plan wasn’t adequate for the fury of Bopha.

The recovery effort will need to be a long-term project, because the same waters that wiped out the shelters have also wiped out all of the crops. The main livelihood of those who survive the storm will be destroyed by the storm. Provincial Governor Arturo Uy told Reuters news agency that the typhoon has destroyed 70-80% of the plantations. The main crop of the plantations is bananas for export. As is often the case in severe storms, a full assessment can’t be completed because fallen trees and collapsed bridges make travel to and from the most damaged areas impossible.

The typhoon is causing its most severe damage in southern parts of the island nation, while last year’s storm hammered the north worse than the south.

I have never traveled to the Philippines, but I have paid attention to them for years. Our church has long had a presence and multiple partnerships in the Philippines and agricultural development has been one of the important aspects of work there. One of the stories of my growing up years was the work that we did one year to convert a used pull combine into a stationary harvesting machine. We then applied a fresh coat of rust-resistant paint and crated the machine for shipment to the Philippines. The project was inspired by the visit of a missionary to our church and a subsequent visit by that missionary to our home and my father’s business. Later, when we were serving in North Dakota, we paid specially close attention to the Philippines. Rev. Lloyd Van Vactor who was serving with his wife, Maisie, in the Phillipines, had grown up in a nearby town. The Van Vactors served in the southern Philippines, in Mindanao region, from 1954 until 1981. We had the opportunity to meet them when they returned from the mission field. Lloyd served the church administering One Great Hour of Sharing for another decade after their return from the Philippines. They retired to Washington State, but we saw them again when they were vacationing in the Black Hills after we had moved to Rapid City.

So I notice news from the Philippines, in part because my awareness of the people there has been raised by my relationships within the church. It makes sense to me that One Great Hour of Sharing funds will be among the first relief dollars to go to work as the Philippines struggle to recover. Our church has been forging partnerships in the Philippines for more than a century. Those partnerships will endure despite changes in politics, severe weather, and many other challenges. In a nation that is predominantly Muslim, we have found a way to live our Christian faith with our Christian brothers and sisters. Pioneering work on Christian Muslim relations has grown out of the Philippines – work that has already made a difference in the Middle East and will continue to guide us as we learn to live in an increasingly multi-religious world.

Funds from One Great Hour of Sharing continue to support recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy as fall turns to winter and work continues. Sometimes when we are receiving special offerings like One Great Hour of Sharing in the spring or the Blanket fund in the fall, it seems like we are contributing to things that are far away. We do have a long reach for our mission efforts. Blankets Hygiene Kits and Cleanup Buckets are already available in the Philippines. Our funds are already at work in recovery efforts. But those resources were also available for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. We serve both at home and around the world. Severe storms don’t differentiate between victims. Our assistance also goes to the places of most need.

I used to have a vision that we might repair a broken world. I was out to save all of humanity with my work within the church. Now that I am older I know that we cannot fix all of the ills of the world. I know that there will be more storms next year. I know that there will be more victims, more grief, more suffering. But I still feel the call to do what I can to help. It was a call that was instilled in my at a very young age as I watched my parents figure out how they could support distant missions. It is a call that will remain strong as storms bring destruction to people in distant places. I am grateful to be a member of a church that is so generous. Next year the need will be even greater. Next year our generosity will need to grow as well. Our role is not to fix the world’s problems. But we are called to join with God in acts of compassion.

Copyright © 2012 by Ted Huffman. I wrote this. If you want to copy it, please ask for permission. There is a contact me button at the bottom of this page. If you want to share my blog a friend, please direct your friend to my web site.