(Photo credit GFA)
Nepal (GFA/MNN) — August was a month of destruction as Nepal floods and landslides, triggered by severe monsoon rains, affected over 200,000 people. Gospel for Asia (GFA) is one of the groups responding to this disaster, giving food and the hope of Christ to flood survivors.
In one village, flood waters completely destroyed three temporary church buildings, and two more permanent church structures were filled with water. As pictured below, a line of GFA workers stood in knee-deep water in pouring rain to hand packets of food to 100 needy families.
The leader of GFA’s work in the area gave a message of encouragement, and the team handed out packets that included 22 pounds of rice and 4 pounds each of dal and potatoes.
“I don’t have words to say thank you for this item of ration,” said one recipient. “My family is in great agony…. My house is under the water now; we are living on the village pathway under the plastic sheets provided by the government.
GFA workers gave food packets to 100 families in this flooded Nepali village. (Image courtesy GFA)
“We are seven members in our family. The ration items given by the church are more than sufficient for us to eat for several days. My children will not starve to death now. Thank you so much.”
The same flooding that ransacked this village forced its way into a total of 80 villages in the region. Last week, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies issued an emergency appeal to help families affected by the Nepal floods.
Back in the village mentioned above, most believers are staying on the streets because their homes are flooded.
Many children who attend one of GFA’s Bridge of Hope centers live on riverbanks. Twenty-nine of these children have lost their homes. Now, the students are not only homeless but also without food, clean water, or clothing.
“We have nothing–nothing,” cried one mother. “What we had has been taken away by the flood. We do not have home, food, water, proper clothes. How shall we survive?”
The home of a GFA-supported pastor.
(Photo credit GFA)
“I have given all to make this house,” shared the father of a Bridge of Hope student, “but the flood has taken away all my life’s effort, making my family empty-handed. This was my 20-years saving and effort. Now I am old and I have no hope of rebuilding it. I do not know what steps I should take.”
Gospel for Asia is working to aid individuals along with the families of the Bridge of Hope students who have been affected by Nepal floods.
