CHIANG MAI, Thailand – The news continues to report the extent of the damage and the lives lost. While in Chiang Mai meeting my other team members to strategize on how we are going to implement our projects, we met a couple of gentlemen from a large NGO. (more…)

SINGAPORE – Yesterday I met with the Ambassador who was very happy to hear about Operation Blessing’s willingness to respond, but he indicated that he is waiting for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give the green light to issue visas. (more…)

SINGAPORE – It has been a long and frustrating wait since I first received the news about last Friday’s devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar. (more…)

While waiting for the DHL flight to arrive with our shipment of water purification systems, Dorca, a DHL representative, read me the day’s newspaper report: 1,500 acres of crops, bananas, rice and corn worth $6.5 million had been destroyed. People have left their homes for temporary shelters in fear of snakes and electrical poles falling into the water. In many places, there are no drainage systems and the wells have become contaminated leaving residents without a supply of clean water. (more…)

BARGUNA, Bangladesh – After a cyclone hit Bangladesh in November, OBI’s Kumar Periasamy went to the region to help distribute aid and make sure four water purification systems were installed properly in the hardest hit areas. The units are providing clean water for more than 12,000 people.

Early in the morning I was woken up by a call to prayer. It was 5:30 and it was still misty and cold outside. It made me wonder how people in the tents made it through the night. I went to check on the water units and I saw another non-governmental agency distributing relief items close to where the water units were placed. Just as I placed my camera gear on the ground, an old woman, very fragile, touched my knee and said, “Son, can you help me?”

I sat next to her and asked what I could do. She began to pour her heart out. With tears in her eyes she said, “I have been waiting here since 5 in the morning, hoping that someone would help me. I have not received much help. Each time I came to collect items being given away, the younger ones beat me to it. I am too fragile to stand in line and no one seems to hear my cry. She went on to say she had three sons; two died some years back and the one who was taking care of her died during the cyclone. (more…)