JAPAN – The severed bow of a fiberglass fishing boat jutted out from under a huge pile of mangled ropes and rotting fishing nets. Under mounds of smashed plastic crates and pieces of foam were fragments of countless other boats. These vessels, once afloat and filled with fishermen’s catch, were now in a boat graveyard filled with the wreckage of the local fishing industry. In a separate pile, mangled metal had been separated for recycling. (more…)

KENYA – Today we visited a Masai village where Operation Blessing is building a new school. This building will prevent the need for children to walk over two miles through tall grasses where they have sometimes been trampled by elephants and attacked by lions. (more…)

Juba, South Sudan — We are staying in a camp on the bank of the Nile River. The camp is run by a safari outfitting company that caters to relief organizations and nature enthusiasts. There is armed security and a series of tents and shipping containers set up like tiny apartments, with gravel walkways and banana trees providing shade. The camp serves two meals a day in a breezy, open dining area with a roof made of palm fronds, right on the mighty river’s edge. David and I are among the lucky ones who get to sleep in an air-conditioned 20′ container. It’s sweltering hot, and there are lots of mosquitoes at night, but we all have mosquito nets, safe water to drink and plenty to eat. (more…)

JOPLIN, Mo. – Yesterday while visiting our various projects in Joplin, I kept thinking that something was different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until late in the day. It was the trees! Trees that looked dead a few weeks ago were sprouting leaves. The struggle of the trees seemed a perfect metaphor for the struggle of the people. (more…)

URATO ISLANDS, Japan – Shiogama is known as the tuna capital of Japan and the center of a huge fishing industry. There are tuna statues and art work depicting tuna everywhere. The oceanfront was decimated by the tsunami, but much of the wave’s velocity struck four islands just off shore. (more…)

HAITI – We are leaving at 7 a.m. for a three hour drive north to what I call “The Mesopotamia of Misery,” otherwise known as the Artibonite River. The Artibonite seems to be the main source of the cholera bacteria in Haiti. (more…)

ST. LUCIA – Just over a week ago, Hurricane Tomas caused huge panic as it moved toward Haiti. With over one million people displaced from their homes and living in flimsy shelters, the media was focused on the camps in Port-au-Prince as the nation braced for the storm. (more…)

“Worm-buster” pills arrive to Haiti for the first time since the earthquake to help free children of harmful parasites.

Find out how a unique partnership between Operation Blessing and Tide is helping the largest hospital in Haiti.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Even as darkness fell, sticky heat smothered Port-au-Prince like an electric blanket turned all the way up. As I stepped from the cool sanctuary of the Land Cruiser, my glasses fogged up; so I took them off and slipped them into my shirt pocket. (more…)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Despite suffering quake damage that destroyed or damaged several buildings and killed hundreds of staff, Haiti’s largest hospital is still functioning 24/7. Doctors and nurses working long hours amid sweltering sauna-like heat are performing heroically in spite of broken and dilapidated equipment and entire departments are functioning outside under tents. (more…)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – This tiny girl is Betty; she is about two years old. To my untrained eye, Betty seems alert and aware, but Loune, from Partners in Health, says she is “a bit slow.” (more…)