27/03/2008
Transporting relief aid by home-made raft to flooded areas, braving bus-destroying roads, malaria and dengue fever – it’s all in a day’s work for Peruvian Christians responding to recent heavy rains in hill and coastal areas made virtually inaccessible by flooding.
BMS World Mission worker, Margaret Swires, has been helping in the effort and has reported on some of the dangers facing the relief work.
On the way to one of the worst-hit hill areas, a missionary colleague was badly injured when her bus rolled after sliding from the damaged road. Bruises, scrapes and some internal injuries are often just part of the job for workers trying to help communities in dire need.
One team of seven people, working under a Pastor Ryan, has been distributing relief materials to several communities, reaching up to 500 families within just a few days.
Much still needs to be done in areas where drinking water supplies have been sullied with diseased flood-waters, leading to epidemics of diarrhoea and stagnant pools have led to a massive increase in numbers of mosquitos.
By providing practical help and supplies to help those whose homes have lost their corrugated iron roofs and whose crops have been destroyed, as well as by bringing in clean drinking water, local Christians, assisted by BMS workers like Margaret, are able to make a real difference to the lives of thousands in their time of need.
If you want the opportunity to work with remarkable people like Margaret and the privilege of changing lives overseas, please contact BMS at: opportunities@bmsworldmission.org or 01235 517653.
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