As Australia becomes the world's largest donor in the tsunami disaster, Sydney Anglicans are continuing to rally around stricken communities of South Asia as the crisis enters its 13th day.
The Archbishop's Overseas Relief and Aid Fund (ORAF) has raised more than $250,000, mainly through donations from Sydney parishioners. The money will be directed towards partner organisation the India Gospel League (IGL) and to CMS and Anglican networks in the region.
ORAF director Dearne Cameron said "the phones haven't stopped ringing" following a letter sent by Archbishop Peter Jensen to parishes last week requesting support for victims.
"Anglicans are always generous and parishes are the backbone of that generosity," she said.
Mrs Cameron likened the crisis to the genocide in Rwanda that is still having a grave impact on that country a decade later. "We're going to see the same thing happen with the victims of the tsunami," she said. “As well as rebuilding the infrastructure, the impact of such catastrophes continues for many years after the event, with those orphaned and widowed left little or no sustainable income options.”
IGL has suffered devastating losses, including the death of 21 pastors' families. IGL's Sri Lankan coordinator, Arul Prakasam, is still missing and 25 church buildings, worship places, and prayer sheds have been washed away along with members of the congregations.
It is reported that the southern Indian region of Tamil Nadu, where ORAF funds childcare and health centres, has suffered the Subcontinent’s largest number of casualties. IGL says there is still no news of families of the children left in one of its children’s homes on an island off the Indian coast.
“It is just too hard to take the news coming in each day of the loss of those we know,” said head of IGL, the Rev Samuel Stevens. “[But] instead of dwelling on the present or crying over the past I want to move ahead into the future with faith and hope. It is time to rebuild. There is much to do."
South Asia's death toll stands at 150,000 but the United Nations fears that could double if disease outbreaks are not contained and supplies of clean water are not made available.
Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen said the sheer scale of the crisis is a defining moment in history and shows "the weakness of religion" in failing to offer meaning and solace in the wake of such enormity.
"If we turn to religions to provide us with meaning and solace, a catastrophe of this magnitude simply outclasses them," he said. "They seem either to babble meaningless platitudes, or to be reduced to helpless silence. A religious response may well help us to cope with a domestic loss; but how can it speak to this colossal, international crisis?"
Dr Jensen, who was speaking at the annual Summer School of the Church Missionary Society in Katoomba, said unlike the war against terrorism, there is "no one to blame, no one to scapegoat" and the event has forced people to question God's character.
"Is he not meant to be a God of love? Is he weak, or is he a tyrant, or is he merely indifferent? These are sharp issues before which the religious understanding of our community falters and even quails, leaving us with a silent universe and an absence of meaning."
Dr Jensen echoed recent comments from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who wrote in Britain's Daily Telegraph that it is right for the question to be asked "How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?”
Dr Jensen said while there was no direct connection between suffering and God's judgement, the presence of pain ought to make the world question their standing with the God who reveals himself in the Bible, as opposed to the "trivialised and domesticated god of popular religion [who] fades away when disaster strikes".
Australian and international Christian agencies are making progress in their relief efforts. The National Council of Churches in Sri Lanka has bought emergency supplies that are being distributed by congregations of the Anglican, Methodist and Church of South India. A $50,000 grant from Action by Churches Together International has loaded the trucks with food, clothing, water, medicine and cooking pots for devastated communities in Sri Lanka. Training in post-trauma counselling is being organised and churches in the region are being used as temporary camps to house victims.
The Christian World Service and the National Council of Churches in Australia and partners in Sri Lanka and India yesterday announced that they plan to work together in tsunami relief and development efforts for the next 10 years.
World Vision Australia said their aid workers are overcoming obstacles of blocked roads and poor weather to deliver food, blankets, clothing, water and counselling to those whose homes have been destroyed. The charity will provide aid for at least five years to affected communities and has currently raised $16.4 million, including $2 million dollars from AusAID.
The Prime Minister John Howard has announced that Australia will commit $1billion in aid for Indonesia over the next five years. According to press reports, public donations have now passed $100million.
The President of the NSW Council of Churches and Senior Minister at St Andrew’s Cathedral, the Rev Chris Moroney, is encouraging Christians to keep giving to the relief agency of their choice.
"This is the worst natural disaster in recent years," Mr Moroney said. "The grief of so many people is beyond comprehension. It is my prayer that we can maintain and continue this desire to work together in a common cause. It will take a great deal of compromise and cooperation."
A special service to mark the National Day of Mourning will be held at St Andrew's Cathedral on Sunday 16 January at 10.30am. Archbishop Jensen will be preaching.
To read the full text of the Archbishop's address at CMS Summer School, visit www.sydneyanglicans.net/indepth/christian_mission_and_the_tsunami_in_asia/
To support the Archbishop's Overseas Relief and Aid Fund phone 1800 653 903 or visit www.archbishopsappeals.asn.au
Photo courtesy National Council of Churches Australia
