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Local People Help With Emergency Rescue & Relief Work during Visit to India
Added: (Tue Oct 20 2009)
PRESS RELEASE
19TH October 2009
Local People Help With Emergency Rescue & Relief Work during Visit to India
Denmead Baptist Church on the 3rd October 2009 sent a small team of five people to visit India to offer encouragement to fellow Christians and to run a play scheme for one of their orphanages. However on their arrival into Andhra Pradesh one of the states of India they discovered that it had been hit by the worst flooding in over 200 years.
There had been 600% more rainfall than expected which followed a period of extreme drought and the waterways were soon overflowing. The state government were forced to open the flood gates which left 200 villages underwater. During the process 3,000,000 million people have now been left homeless with 750,000 children needing emergency medical help and the basics of food and water.
Very quickly, the team, Steve Ansell, Tracey Ansell, Kim Sheridan, Sue Slack and Mary Harmer put to use their skills and knowledge gained from life experiences in the UK to good use. Steve was out on the boats helping people off roofs and tree tops, Kim was able to use her medical expertise and Tracey set about using her strategic and organisational skills. The team also provided extra pairs of hands for helping with the distribution of food, water, blankets and utensils to those that had lost everything.
The organisation that they were visiting, Harvest India, is an Indian Charity that takes compassion to as many villages as they can. As this tends to involve providing emergency food, water and clean blankets, they were in a good position to respond quickly and directly where it was needed in this current disaster.
Stocks of blankets and clean saris were quickly loaded onto as many vehicles as they could muster from their own organisation and neighbours vehicles and mobilised as quickly as possible. The team went with staff from Harvest India to emergency relief camps to distribute and offer encouragement and support.
“It came as quite a shock that we arrived when such a devastating disaster had taken place” said trip co-ordinator Tracey Ansell. “Denmead Baptist Church has been planning this visit for a number of months and we were all so pleased to be going, and it was such a blessing that we arrived at such a time as this to be willing volunteers offering practical support on the ground, right at the heart of where it is needed.”
The team arrived back in the UK on the 17th October 2009 and can’t believe that so little coverage has taken place. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it was on the news for weeks and much publicity given to the help needed. This disaster is 10 times the scale of Katrina, and the people affected do not have insurance policies to replace their homes and what little belongings they had. Most have also lost their livelihood as small shops floated off with the waters and a complete wipe out of crops affecting the hugely agriculture area and leaving farmers with no crops to harvest and the ground not ready for sowing. “The despair and lack of hope on peoples faces was heart breaking to see“ Tracey added.
The team are keen to keep the story of the Andhra Pradesh floods in the news and also to raise money to help with the relief work. Harvest India UK is being set up as a charity here in England to help with fundraising efforts, and hope to hear any day of their charity number. Just £5 will help support a family with medical help, food, water and essential utensils to get them back on their feet. Every penny that is donated will go to front line resources with no administration costs involved with this relief work.
Even the Indian local press were amazed to see white people in the midst of the rescue work and the Denmead Team were snapped and all over the local news paper which then generated an interview with the state newspaper!
“Too often when we see disasters on the TV, we become sceptical about how the relief will reach them, but every penny that is raised will go to India and provide food, water and blankets. Please dig deep and generously and do what you can- even if it is just for one family. Donations should be made payable to Harvest India UK and can be sent c/o Denmead Baptist Church Anmore Lane, Denmead, Hants, PO7 6NW
Press contacts:-
Tracey Ansell, 02392 361788, tansell@live.co.uk or 07852994586
Please feel free to distribute this information. www.harvestindia.org