All The World (April 2010)

APRIL–JUNE 2010

VoL 48 No 2

food for thought

Haitifrom

Contents

2 ALL THE WORLD APRIL–JUNE 2010

same difference

Visit All the World online at:

www.salvationarmy.org/alltheworld

Editor: Kevin Sims

Artwork, illustrations and design: Berni Georges

Editorial Office: The Salvation Army International Headquarters,

101 Queen Victoria Street,

London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom

Tel: [44] (0)20 7332 0101; fax: [44] (0)20 7332 8079

Email: [email protected]

Founder: William Booth General: Shaw Clifton

Editor-in-Chief: Major Laurie Robertson

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(periodicals), 66-78 Denington Road, Denington Industrial Estate,

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Published by Shaw Clifton, General of The Salvation Army,

and printed in Great Britain by Lithmark Ltd

© The General of The Salvation Army 2010

FOR some reason the earthquake in Haiti

seems to have had less of an effect on the

public than the 2004 Indian Ocean

tsunami. I can’t really understand why. The bare

facts and figures – getting on for a quarter of a

million deaths, with hundreds of thousands of

people left homeless and without access to basic

necessities – seem similar but it seems the

tsunami resonated in a way that the Haiti

situation hasn’t.Extreme poverty in Haiti has made this

earthquake into probably the worst

humanitarian disaster of modern times. As the

many agencies and non-governmental

organisations (NGOs) look to the long term

they are having to start from scratch because

what existed before the earthquake is not worth

rebuilding.This situation was emphasised by a

colleague who had visited Haiti about six

months before the earthquake and seen how

desperate the situation was even before this

disaster. ‘I heard about the 230,000 deaths,’ she

said, ‘and I thought, “How terrible”. But then I

thought about the conditions facing the people

left and I realised that the ones who were killed

were in many ways the fortunate ones.’

Which takes me back to my earlier point –

why did the Indian Ocean tsunami affect the

public more than the terrible Haiti earthquake?

Unfortunately, the only reasons I can think

of are not good ones. Do people find it worse

when devastation is wreaked on a beautiful

coastline rather than a city that was already

extremely grim? Perhaps worse, did the

tsunami strike a chord because there were so

many tourists affected?

There’s something strange about human

nature that seems to place more value on

people ‘like me’. The national media plays on

this, giving attention to a major disaster in

proportion to the number of its own people

affected.I recall becoming extremely cross on my

journey home from work when I saw a

newspaper headline: ‘British girl, 2, swept to

death’. The girl’s death was a tragedy, no

doubt, but I knew that at least 300 people had

lost their lives in that particular disaster, yet the

only newsworthy part of the story – according

to this paper – was the death of one person ‘like

me’ or like its readers.Perhaps my job means attitudes like this

stick out like a very sore thumb. My aim is to

provide stories and features that people from

anywhere in the world will relate to. As far as

I’m concerned, everyone is ‘like me’, no matter

where they’re from or what their culture is.

I believe I’m in excellent company regarding

this attitude. Jesus, telling the now-familiar

story of the Good Samaritan, made it clear that

loving your neighbour – as instructed in the

Ten Commandments – included loving people

of a different race and a different culture. It’s

like he was saying: ‘Samaritans are people

too.’As you read in this issue of All the World

about The Salvation Army’s work in Haiti, it’s

worth remembering that Haitians are people

too – as are Chileans, Canadians, Moldovans,

Zambians ... you get the message!

– Kevin Sims, Editor

Contents

In the NewsRecent happenings

around the Salvation Army

world

Haiti 1Not just another disaster

Haiti 2Setting up a Salvation

Army camp

Haiti 3A first experience of a

major response

ChileGiving help after an

earthquake and tsunami

CanadaMaking the most of

the Winter Olympics

MoldovaProjects with a biblical

basis

ZambiaReflections on a

change in culture

5

7

12

13

14

16

18

3

(please note new email address)

APRIL–JUNE 2010 ALL THE WORLD 3

in the news

planting seeds of hopefor returning villagersDEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

THE Salvation Army in the Democratic

Republic of Congo is helping people

affected by years of war. Salvation Army

officers and personnel from Goma and

Kinshasa are working with repatriated

families in Masisi and Rutshuru territories

to recommence agricultural activities to

provide food and income to the most

vulnerable people.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has

been at the centre of what has been

described as Africa’s ‘world war’. The

conflict has claimed an estimated

5.4 million lives, either as a direct result

of fighting or because of disease and

malnutrition. It is possibly the worst

emergency to unfold in Africa in recent

decades, although the international

media coverage has been negligible.

The recent signing of an agreement

between some of the warring factions

has brought hope that the country is

entering a time of greater stability. In

some areas, families have begun to

return to their villages and homes to try

to rebuild their lives.

The Salvation Army has trained a team of

20 volunteers and obtained the services

of two agronomists (agronomy is the

science of soil management and crop

production) to live in two villages and

assist 750 repatriated families – around

3,750 people – to increase their

agricultural productivity.

Families are trained and supplied with

seeds and equipment to produce a crop

and encourage sustainability. Priority has

been given to households headed by

women or children.

Working in two teams, each under the

guidance on an agronomist, the

volunteers are trained to help set up

Above: returning villagers and a Salvation

Army officer show their new crops

in the news

‘sitting room will soon needelastic walls’

associations consisting of between 10

and 15 families. These associations will

share their expertise, develop seed

banks, encourage greater representation

and help stimulate income generation

and community development for the long

term.

Each family was given a three-month

supply of beans and rice to sustain them

through the growing season before they

can harvest their first crop.

SIERRA LEONE

A FOUR-BEDROOM apartment is the

first home for The Salvation Army in

Sierra Leone, west Africa, and – in spite

of limited funding and the unreliability of

electricity and water supplies – Captains

John and Rosaline Bundu are full of faith

and enthusiasm for the future.

The captains, officers (ministers) of The

Salvation Army’s Liberia Command, have

returned to their homeland of Sierra

Leone to open the work of The Salvation

Army there.

The first holiness meeting and Bible

study was held in the sitting

room/meeting room of the captains’

apartment, which is big enough for

around 60 people. Lasting three hours, it

was attended by 10 adults and eight

children. A regular Sunday Bible study

and holiness meeting have now been

established and the captains are

engaging in intensive house-to-house

evangelism in the local community. On

continued on page 4


presentation offers 1.4 billionreasons to end poverty

New Year’s Eve 2009, 39 adults and 16

children attended a special meeting – the

sitting room will soon need elastic walls!

The Bundus are organising prayer

meetings, weekday Bible studies and a

Sunday school, determined to lay a firm

spiritual foundation for the work. In

January three children were dedicated to

God.

When the captains arrived in Sierra

Leone in December 2009 they initially

stayed with family members but within

two weeks they found a suitable place,

which they secured by paying a year’s

rent in advance. The apartment has a

spacious kitchen, pantry, two toilets and

bathrooms.

The Bundus spent a week cleaning,

painting and making the building secure,

Project – it is a great, simple way for us

all to learn why there are still so many

people living in poverty, but also what we

can do to take action and end extreme

poverty once and for all.’

Other speakers at the event included the

Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr John

Sentamu, and Douglas Alexander, the

UK Government’s Secretary of State for

International Development. In addition,

actor Hugh Jackman recorded a special

message showing his support for the

cause in which he stated: ‘It’s time to

re-energise this movement.’

For more information, visit

www.globalpovertyproject.com

as well as reporting to local government

offices to begin the process of obtaining

official registration of The Salvation Army

in Sierra Leone.

On Sunday 20 December 2009 the

Salvation Army flag was flown for the first

time in Sierra Leone as the captains and

their young son marched through the

streets of the capital city, Freetown (see

photo on previous page). This new

opening brought the number of countries

in which The Salvation Army is at work to

119. (Editor’s note: The number has now

increased to 120, with the official opening

of work in Nicaragua.)

In the words of Captain John Bundu:

‘The light is on, the flag is up. We are

moving forward. To God be the glory!’

continued from page 3

Right, from top: making a joyful noise; lively

worship; the captains and congregation members

Speakers at the launch included Hugh Evans

(above) and the Archbishop of York (left)

UK

AN audience of more than 800 people

attended the launch of the Global

Poverty Project’s 1.4 Billion Reasons

presentation at St Paul’s Cathedral,

London, UK. The launch was co-hosted

by The Salvation Army’s International

Development Department of the UK

Territory.

Hugh Evans, chief executive officer of

the Global Poverty Project, appealed to

hearts and minds with the ground-

breaking presentation which – through

words, pictures and film – graphically

illustrated the need to eradicate extreme

poverty.

Hugh urged viewers to look beyond

stereotyped views of trade and aid to

help the 1.4 billion people who are living

on less than US$1.25 per day, claiming

that tackling extreme poverty is ‘this

generation’s greatest challenge’. He

drew attention to the United Nations

Millennium Development Goals and

warned that, despite pledges on the

issue, the global community is in danger

of falling considerably short of the

objectives it hoped to achieve by 2015.

The presentation will be rolled out across

the UK in 2010 to universities, schools,

different faiths and businesses.

The Salvation Army International

Development Department in the UK

Territory is a key faith partner of the

Global Poverty Project. It hopes to

deliver the 1.4 Billion Reasons

presentation throughout the territory in

2010 and beyond.

Graeme Hodge, the department’s

assistant director, said: ‘We are really

proud to be a part of the Global Poverty

in the newsin the news


Haiti

continued on page 6

Haiti

PREPARING to fly out to Haiti a few

days after the 12 January earthquake,

I was asked whether I was ready and

emotionally prepared for the sights I would

see and the situation I would encounter. My

reply seems rather blasé now – I politely

thanked the enquirer for their care but

reminded them that as an experienced aid

worker I had deployed to earthquake relief

efforts in Turkey, Pakistan and Peru and that

I had seen and experienced it all before.

Arriving in Haiti I quickly discovered

just how wrong I was!

Thankfully, I have never experienced a

major earthquake. I have usually arrived in

the field just days after the event, but

I don’t mind admitting that aftershocks I

have experienced over the years have

frightened me, and that certainly played on

my mind.

It didn’t help that on my first morning in

Port-au Prince we were rudely woken by a

large aftershock which had us jumping

from our beds and running for open ground.

For the next few weeks none of the

team slept soundly – anxiety for the

unpredictable tremor helped me empathise

with those who had survived the horror of

the initial earthquake and who remained too

frightened to sleep inside their homes.

I had expected to be camping in a tent so

our hotel was a pleasant surprise. The

exotically named Coconut Villa had

survived remarkably unscathed –

something which seemed all the more

surprising when confronted by the

completely flattened homes in its

immediate vicinity. The sight of homes

reduced to rubble was not new to me but I

quickly became aware of the extent of the

damage. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004

caused suffering on a huge scale but the

roads, homes and infrastructure just two

miles from the shore had been unaffected.

Haiti was a different situation altogether –

the damage seemed to go on for mile

after mile.

Haiti was impoverished before the

earthquake. Facilities were limited with

everything focused in and around the

capital city of Port-au-Prince. This situation

added to the challenges being faced by aid

agencies.

Port-au-Prince dock was damaged and

inaccessible. The airport was closed to

commercial passenger flights. Aid

agencies, search and rescue teams, United

Nations (UN) personnel and military units

all jostled for the very limited airspace and

tightly controlled landing slots.

Warehouse space was never plentiful but

many buildings had fallen victim to the

quake. Aid agencies had little choice but to

stage incoming relief goods in the open,

fringe areas of the airfield. With limited

space and a shortage of logistical facilities

we found ourselves under pressure to move

goods out immediately.

by Major Cedric Hills

a disaster

Above: a Salvation Army worker with local boys in

Port-au-Prince

HISTORY WILL RECORD the

earthquake that hit Haiti on 12

January 2010 as the most

devastating natural disaster of

modern times. More than 230,000

people are known to have died and

the figure keeps rising. The Salvation

Army reacted swiftly to this huge

disaster and much of this issue of

All the World is devoted to the Army’s

response, as recalled by three

workers coming from very different

perpectives.

Damaris Frick, an experienced

emergency services worker, reports

how The Salvation Army came to

take responsibility for a camp of

20,000 people – the first time in its

history that the Army has taken on

such a task. What she is too modest

to say, as manager of the camp, is

that outside agencies who assessed

the site took away footage of The

Salvation Army’s camp to show

others the good practices in place

there.

For Major Kelly Pontsler, Haiti was

her first experience of a major

disaster. She writes about being

placed into a situation that was totally

unfamiliar but one that she feels she

was meant to be part of.

First, though, Major Cedric Hills – a

former International Emergency

Services Coordinator – reports on his

experiences in Haiti, where even

somebody as experienced as he is

had much to learn.

like no other

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HaitiHaiti

The Salvation Army around the world

has developed many positive relationships.

Within North America we are widely

recognised, appreciated and supported. As

we endeavoured to find a way forward in

Haiti we found ourselves giving thanks for

this positive standing in the USA. Senior

officers from the US 82nd Airborne

Division approached us to offer their help.

Their willingness to provide security

support for distributions and essential

logistical assistance with freight at the

airfield came as an answer to prayer.

We were quickly engaged in huge-scale

relief distributions, often with up to

300,000 meals being handed out at each

distribution point. We joked that ‘The

Salvation Army only works in 6 figures’ –

but the support of the

82nd and the efficiency of

the food supply pipeline

created by our colleagues

at the Salvation Army

World Service Office

(SAWSO) in the USA,

made such huge figures

possible. I’ve witnessed Salvation Army

relief operations all around the world but

the scale of our programme in Haiti was

something new.

The enhanced relief activities required a

new approach to management too. For

some years the nine-position

‘Incident Command System’

has been employed as a way

of managing American

domestic emergencies. At an

international level we had

often discussed the virtues of

this structure and Haiti

seemed an ideal operation to

implement it.

The sys tem needed

adapting to suit the needs of a

UN-driven event.

Specifically, we needed

three team members working

full-time to ensure we

attended the various UN

cluster meetings and coordinated properly

with them and our colleague aid agencies.

Logistics specialists were deployed to

the field to ensure the smooth reception and

transmission of relief

commodities. In addition

to the f ield-based

command centre, a

similar centre was

established in The

Salvation Army’s USA

National Headquarters.

Specialists ensured that warehouse

operations operated efficiently, with flights

chartered to get relief supplies to the front

line as smoothly as possible. It was a

reminder to me that those in the field are

only as effective as the team providing the

logistical back-up and supply chain.

As I look back over five long and

demanding weeks in the field I am

immensely proud of the team effort that

resulted in more than 2.5 million meals,

hundreds of pallets of water and thousands

of tents and other relief supplies reaching

the people who so badly needed them.

Having witnessed the Army at work in

Haiti, can I now say I’ve seen it all? Ask me

again next time!

Major Cedric Hills is corps officer at

Portsmouth Citadel in The Salvation

Army’s UK Territory with the Republic

of Ireland


Those in the field are only as effectiveas the team providingthe logistical back- up and supply chain

a disaster like no other

Above left: Major Cedric Hills helps unload relief

supplies; above right: a Haitian officer translates

at the Salvation Army health clinic; below: military

support was vital in providing security

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THE night before I left Haiti the

emergency camp’s committee

arranged a surprise farewell party.

They had decorated our camp office and

brought soft drinks and a cake with

‘Je t’aime’ written on it. They had even

brought a tape player and, thanks to the

generator we and our partner organisations

had repaired to provide light for the camp,

we had music and sang and danced happily

along to ‘We are the World’. People from

the camp looked through the window and

the open door, and the whole atmosphere

was cheerful and celebratory.

A few weeks earlier I couldn’t have

imagined a moment like this. The

earthquake that hit Haiti on 12 January had

devastated large parts of the country

including its capital, Port-au-Prince. As of

27 January, the Haitian Government was

reporting that 112,392 people had died and

196,501 people had been injured by the

earthquake. But there were still countless

people missing and some estimates put the

death toll as high as 250,000. The number

of displaced people could be as high as

a million.

More than 400 spontaneous settlements

had emerged all over Port-au-Prince. One

of the biggest ones was right next to The

Salvation Army’s divisional headquarters

compound. In fact it was

actually on the Salvation

Army compound because

the wall that used to

separate the compound

from the adjacent football arena was broken

and so the shelters spread onto Salvation

Army land.

Major Lucien Lamartiniere, The

Salvation Army’s divisional commander for

Haiti, had decided against rebuilding the

wall and moving people off the land.

‘These are the people from our community,’

he said. ‘We need to put the signal out that

we are there for them.’

The camp was a mess. More than 3,000

families lived in small makeshift shelters.

There was no water and no sanitation. The

area was covered in all types of debris –

including human waste. Food was in short

supply, people were desperate and all over

Port-au-Prince the situation was tense.

The Salvation Army has

assisted in many emergency

camps all over the world,

working alongside the

Uni t ed Na t ions and

other non-governmental organisations,

usually filling the gaps that ‘bigger’

agencies could not deal with.

Now here we were in Haiti with one of

the biggest camps in the city next door to

our compound while the shelter and camp

management cluster led by IOM

(International Organisation for Migration)

was struggling to find NGOs willing to take

on the role of camp managers. After

consulting my line managers I raised my

hand at the camp coordination and camp

management meeting and The Salvation

Army was officially accepted as the camp

management agency for ‘Place et Parc de

la Paix’.

I had little idea what I had got myself

into but a few days later I was appointed the

camp manager – responsible for an

overcrowded camp that was home to a

We need to put thesignal out that weare there for them

we are the worldby Damaris Frick


HaitiHaiti

continued on page 8

A young girl carries

food for her family


HaitiHaiti

yet-to-be-discovered number of people. It

was a scary thought!

We had carried out an initial food

distribution but to do it properly and on a

regular basis we would need exact names

and numbers. Without that information,

how would we ensure we didn’t miss the

most vulnerable people, the ones who were

too old or too weak to push their way to the

front of the crowds that gather when a truck

is spotted?

Young people connected to the local

Salvation Army volunteered and an

assessment team of 40 was trained and then

sent to the camp. In pairs, they walked from

shelter to shelter and registered each family,

giving them a ration card.

At this point these vital cards were

simply Salvation Army envelopes with a

stamp and number so we could tell they

were genuine. In time they would be

replaced by more conventional ration cards

and then laminated cards, of which more

later.

For now, even these envelopes would

enable each family to receive the food or

non-food items they needed. It took the

team nearly a week to register all the people

in the camp.

By the time we finished we had

discovered that 3,216 families – 15,716

individuals – lived in our camp.

The problems in the camp seemed

overwhelming. Food was a priority and we

tried to deal with that immediately.

Healthcare was also vital. Fortunately,

The Salvation Army’s pre-existing mother-

and-child first aid unit on the compound

could be extended to a proper field clinic.

With the help of another medical group

which volunteered to partner with us, more

than 300 patients were treated there every

day.

Under very basic circumstances the local

and international medical staff had to do

surgeries but were also able to assist in


I literally spent manynights worrying about the

desperate situation

Far left: registration

in the camp office;

left: photos were

taken so that ration

cards could only be

used by the people

they were assigned

to; below right: in

front of the

destruction a small

sign of hope as

goods start to be

sold again; below

left; the first ration

cards were Salvation

Army envelopes;

bottom left: Damaris

Frick uses the

innovative UPS

Trackpad system

we are the world


giving birth to several beautiful babies. So

that was one need ticked off my list.

But then there was the lack of water and

sanitation, the need for more-durable

shelter, waste removal, protection issues,

children-related issues ... the list of needs

seemed endless. I had meetings with the

camp committee, a group of 10 men and

one woman that had been formed out of

their own initiative in an attempt to deal

with the needs in the camp.

These meetings were intense and the

people were angry and frustrated with the

situation but also with the humanitarian

community. Aid just didn’t seem to get into

the communities fast enough.

My heart felt heavy and my head ached

after these meetings. How do you explain to

continued on page 10

Above: the Salvation Army camp; below:

obtaining water was a priority for the camp

desperate people all the logistical

challenges?

Captain Agnes Wahli, a Swiss Salvation

Army officer, was working in the camp

with me. We spent many nights worrying

about the desperate situation, trying to find

solutions and making plans. Many days we

worked till late at night and sometimes I

even got up in the middle of the night to get

back on my computer because of urgent

thoughts or things to do.

Fortunately we don’t have to do

everything by ourselves. We found really

good partners. Two agencies took on the

responsibilities for water, sanitation, waste

management and hygiene promotion.

Another group wanted to do supplementary

feeding for children. UNICEF (United

Nations Children’s Fund) came and

discussed education topics. Every week we

met with these partner agencies to share the

present situation, the needs and the plans

for the next few days.

And things started to change. After a

short time we had a water supply in the

camp – at least enough to cover the need for

drinking water. By the time I left the first

latrines were under construction, 12 pre-

existing washing facilities were cleaned

and ready to be used, the generator had

been repaired so there was light in the

evenings, a mother-and-child breastfeeding

tent was set up and a child-friendly space

was almost finished.

We added four women to our camp

committee to slowly reach a more gender-

balanced group and installed 10 people

from the camp to keep an eye on security

day and night. We had also received

a donation of a Trackpad barcode

system from the delivery company UPS,

which really helped our distributions and

record-keeping.

The Salvation Army’s logistics officer,

Craig Arnold, an American Salvationist,

was employed by UPS and through him we

established a great relationship with his

company. Not only had they released him

for three weeks to assist in the immediate

disaster relief, they also transported lots of

supplies for free.

A discussion about how to improve the

distribution arrangements led to the idea of

adapting UPS’s Trackpad system –

designed to track parcels – so it could be

used to monitor the families in our camp.

Every family was then invited to

re-register at our camp office. That gave us

the chance to add some more data and also

verify the information for families that had

reported their cards being stolen or lost.

Each family got a new laminated card with

a barcode that could be read by the hand-

held devices supplied by UPS. We took

photos so that we could be sure the person

who turned up at a distribution really was

who they claimed to be.

The new plastic cards replaced the

previous paper ones that broke and got wet

and had to be replaced frequently, taking up

valuable time and energy. With the new

cards it was also much easier to record and

report the data, using a laptop also supplied

by UPS. This was an important step to be

even more accountable to beneficiaries, the

UN cluster and coordination system and

eventually to donors.

With the people from our camp coming

to re-register we got to know them much

better. Behind the huge numbers there were

suddenly all these individuals, all their sad

stories, all the tragedies.

I met Natalie, a 20-year-old who lost two

family members and is now all by herself.

She told us she slept in the camp, on the

floor under a piece of sheet. In spite of all

the safeguards we put in place, it worried


HaitiHaiti

me to think of a young, pretty girl being

alone in the camp.

Another woman we met was Desilma,

who lost all her belongings and four

members of her immediate family in the

earthquake. With nine other family

members she had made a small makeshift

shelter out of some bed linen. This might

offer at least some privacy but no

protection from the rain. When it rained

Desilma sat on a bucket with her baby on

her lap. Her family was assigned the

number 1121 and with her card she had so

far received food on a weekly basis, a

hygiene kit, a jerry can, a bucket and a

tarpaulin. The tarpaulin would provide at

least some protection against the rain.

Natalie and Desilma were just two of the

thousands of people who came to our office

to get their new cards and have their photos

taken. You can see in the photos (see facing

page) the grief in their eyes.

Over time, our camp became a place

where the UN and other groups came to

visit and bring visitors. Our most famous

visitor was probably Kris Allen, last year’s

winner of the most popular TV show in the

USA, American Idol – although being

slightly ignorant when it comes to shows

like that I had never heard his name before!

His visit lasted an hour but I reckon his

appearance may well have raised awareness

of the ongoing situation in Haiti. If some of

the money raised through his visit goes to

help people in camps like ours then I will

be pleased.

By the time I left Haiti life in the camp

had improved but it was still tough. There

were by no means enough toilets and hardly

any privacy for bathing. We had distributed

tarpaulins to give some protection from the

rain – there was not enough space for

everyone to have tents – but we still had

worries about the upcoming rainy season

and potential flooding. Most people were


Below left: Damaris Frick (right) and Captain

Agnes Wahli (left) with some members of the

camp committee; below right: a child plays

between the shelters in the camp

we are the world

without livelihoods and had little hope of

returning to their own homes.

Every day brought new challenges. But

every day also brought some small steps in

our attempts to improve the situation, some

tiny rays of hope and a growing friendship

with the committee and the other people we

interacted with.

Singing along to the cheesy song ‘We are

the world, we are the children’ with them at

my farewell party was fun, but it was also a

symbol of people from different parts of the

world uniting in their attempts not to give

up but to make a change. In the many

farewell speeches – one by every member

of the camp committee and the security

team – one person said: ‘Our community is

blessed because we have The Salvation

Army living in the neighbourhood.’

I pray that I and The Salvation Army can

try to carry on acting in the way the Army

has acted in Haiti – not putting up walls or

closing our eyes to the unpleasant and at

times scary situations we see, but being a

radical, life-changing blessing to the people

around us.

Damaris Frick is a member of

The Salvation Army’s International

Emergency Services team

Left: Kris Allen, 2009

winner of ‘American

Idol’, plays with a child

in the Salvation Army

camp; right: putting

faces to the numbers –

some of the thousands

of people registered as

living in the Salvation

Army camp in

Port-au-Prince

We are the world

We are the children

We are the ones

who make a brighter day

So let’s start giving ...

It’s true we’ll make a better day

Just you and me

From ‘We are the World’ by

Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie


OUR small nine-seat airplane swayed

back and forth as it descended

through the strong breeze into Port-

au-Prince. It had been a long day of travel

from the USA. As we touched down, the

pilot rolled the plane off the tarmac and onto

a patch of open field.

Stepping down from the small cabin and

into the hot and humid night, I wondered for

a moment what I’d gotten myself into. But

in the next instant I sensed the quiet confi-

dence that this was where I needed to be.

My journey to Haiti had begun a week

earlier. I don’t have the credentials of formal

disaster training, although my service as a

Salvation Army officer has taken me to

many countries. In response to the breaking

news of the earthquake’s destruction, I

would have been content to make my

donation and let others do the hands-on

work. But the Lord had other plans! The

welcome from the team was warm and I felt

quickly at home in the strange surroundings.

As the group met together the next

morning, my own role began to formalise,

with tasks assigned to me relating to

administration, finance and public

information. While the operation of the

disaster response was new to me, organising

and documenting are skills that come pretty

naturally. And so I hit the ground running,

picking up where others had left off.

Viewed from a distance, the

work of any disaster team may

appear to be chaotic and

confused. People seem to be

running in every direction at

once, but it is more like a

complex but well-orchestrated

dance, every element of

movement needing to be in

coordination with all the rest.

And I have to say, the view of the

action from my chair in the

admin office was impressive!

I landed in Port-au-Prince just

two weeks after the 12 January

earthquake. Nerves were raw and

people still in shock. Those who

HaitiHaiti

survived the destruction were still too afraid

to go inside the buildings left standing.

Some of the scenes etched in my mind are

almost beyond description – buildings of

historical importance or national pride now

toppled over or flat as pancakes; the

crowded conditions of the camp near our

property as families of five shared space

enough for one; the stench rising off the

piles of waste as they baked in the hot

Haitian sun; the signs posted everywhere,

saying: ‘We need help’.

Too much to be done, hard decisions to

be made, where do you start? A few days

before my arrival, Lieut-Colonel Danny

Morrow prayed on behalf of the team: ‘Let

us do no harm,’ and it became a focus for

decisions in the days that followed. The

team strategised and solved problems. And

as they did, they ministered God’s grace

with confidence and compassion. By divine

appointment, I was privileged to be a partner

in that process. That was perhaps the most

impressive part of all.

I will remain eternally grateful for my

experience in Haiti. As I boarded the flight

home I was thoroughly exhausted but

content. I’d been where I needed to be!

Major Kelly Pontsler is Divisional

Secretary for Business in the Golden State

Division of The Salvation Army’s USA

Western Territory

where I neededto beby Major Kelly Pontsler

Above: Major Kelly Pontsler with a baby born at the

Salvation Army clinic in Port-au-Prince;

below: Major Lucien Lamartiniere, commander of

The Salvation Army’s Haiti Division, with his family.

Their home was destroyed in the earthquake

Those who survived thedestruction were still too

afraid to go inside thebuildings left standing

Chile


IN the week after the earthquake, aid was

collected in Santiago. I offered to be part

of the team that took the donations to

Concepción, known as ground zero because

it was the place closest to the epicentre of

the earthquake. We could see clearly the

massive structural damage suffered by the

town.

The plan on our first day, Saturday 6

March, was to offer help in the seaside

town of Dichato but we discovered that the

Navy had sealed the town off because of the

number of bodies and the risk of

contamination.

We returned to our base – the Salvation

Army centre just blocks from ground zero

in Concepción – to receive new

instructions, unload our personal things,

have something to eat and wait for the truck

that was bringing food donations. The truck

was under military guard as there had been

significant looting.

We unloaded the donated goods and kept

watch over them to avoid them being

looted. We put together 800 family

hampers, each one with a kilo of

sugar, salt, a packet of noodles, a

packet of macaroni, a packet of powdered

milk and some hygiene items such as a

toothbrush, toothpaste and soap.

The next day we carried out our first

emergency operation in Caleta Tumbes, a

fishing town on a beautiful bay, which was

devastated by the tsunami. One person told

us the earthquake had caused no damage

but that 30 minutes later the wave arrived,

sweeping everything away.

The place was devastated as the sea had

risen about five metres above its normal

level, taking the wood and brick houses

with it.

We prayed with people and distributed

400 food hampers. A community leader

said there were up to 2,500 people in the

place but that only one aid delivery had

arrived.

There was a desperate need for food and

water. The people also needed detergent

and bleach to clean with, clothing and

shelter. We gave food hampers to those who

were staying on their own property and to

those who were perched on the hillsides,

waiting for the aftershocks to stop and for

the Government to send help so they could

build shelters.

The Salvation Army teams worked to

give strength to the people by distributing

food, praying and showing them that they

were not alone, but that God was with

them.

We helped to clear the rubble from

people’s homes until 3.30 pm, when we

returned to base. A group of volunteers

from Concepción Corps (Salvation Army

church) stayed behind to continue

supporting the families.

The next morning one van left with

people to work in Las Salinas and another

took volunteers to Dichato, which was no

longer under quarantine.

A colleague and I visited several

residential zones in Concepción, finding

that many of our neighbours’ houses had

been flattened and they were having

problems getting help to remove the rubble.

We gave out hampers and told Major Carlos

Aguilar – corps officer (minister) at

Concepción – what we had seen so he could

form a team of volunteers to help these

people.

The volunteers who had gone to Las

Salinas returned to report that the town was

devastated.

Those who went to Dichato said the

community of 3,500 inhabitants was very

organised but that it was the most

devastated place they had seen, almost as

though an atomic bomb had been dropped.

Most people were living in camps and,

while they had received food from other

organisations, they needed medicines. The

volunteers dedicated their time to cleaning

the camps and talking with families.

It was decided that the group from

Santiago would concentrate on Dichato,

while the people from Concepción will go

to help another community.

Now my group will focus on Dichato,

supporting this large group of people who

became homeless in an instant.

scenes of devastation

Chile

After an earthquake and tsunami caused devastation in Chile,

Tamara Sepulveda volunteered to help The Salvation Army, along

with her university friend Mariela Alarcon, a Salvationist. Tamara ended

up travelling to Concepción and saw some of the places that had been

worst hit by the disaster, as she reports here:

It was almost as though anatomic bomb had been dropped

Left: Salvationists working to

clear debris pray with local people

in a tsunami-hit community

SPECIAL OFFER SPECIAL OFFER SPECI

Canada


There’s a Boy Here‘When God made John Gowans he threw away the

mould,’ writes Retired General John Larsson of the subject

of There’s a Boy Here, the autobiography of the man who

led The Salvation Army from 1999-2002.

The book gives a unique insight into the background, life

and thoughts of Retired General Gowans, from his childhood

in northern England through to officership, on to his writing

of Salvation Army musicals and then to leadership in the

movement in France, the UK and the USA – right up to

holding the Army’s highest office of all.

To order copies at the special price of £3.50 including post

and packing (usually £4.95), send a cheque made out to

‘The Salvation Army’ to: Communications Section, The

Salvation Army International Headquarters, 101 Queen

Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EH, United Kingdom. Please

be sure to include your name and address. There’s a Boy

Here is also available from territorial trade departments and

on amazon.co.uk. Prices may vary.

SALVATION Army volunteers in Vancouver, Canada, served

more than 600,000 free cups of hot chocolate and coffee to

spectators, vistors and residents during the 2010 Winter

Olympics and Paralympic Games. This was just part of The Salvation

Army’s work in association with the organisation More Than Gold,

which promotes the Christian faith to the large number of people

who gather at events such as the winter and summer Olympics and

the soccer world cup.

The Vancouver Sun reported: ‘The 2,000 volunteers are mostly

locals with some teams from other parts of North America and

Europe. They can be seen serving coffee and hot chocolate at

TransLink stations, Vanoc bus depots and wherever crowds are

gathering.’

Local police commended Salvation Army volunteers, saying that

the offer of free drinks had a positive impact in crowded areas,

taking the edge off any potential problems.

Throughout the Olympics, the drop-in centre at The Salvation

Army’s Vancouver Harbour Light – a centre for the homeless –

hosted guests from the downtown eastside area of the city, many of

whom enjoyed watching the games on a 65-inch big-screen TV in a

home-like environment. The drop-in centre was decorated with a

Team Canada theme and guests could enjoy snacks and

refreshments, and even some live entertainment from local

musicians.

Kecia Fossen, who works for The Salvation Army at Vancouver

Harbour Light, thinks it’s significant that The Salvation Army

provided a place for the homeless community of the downtown

eastside to celebrate the games.

‘It’s so nice. Rather than being told they need to feel a certain

way about the Olympics, they can at least have the opportunity to

participate in enjoying the games and the Canadian pride taking

place in our city.’

The Salvation Army provided free Olympic big-screen viewings

in other Metro Vancouver communities as well, including in North

Vancouver, South Vancouver and Burnaby.

For more information on The Salvation Army’s work at the

2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, go to

www.saolympics.com. Information on the More Than Gold

programme can be found at www.morethangold.ca

more than sport

£3.50SAVE £1.45

INCLUDING POSTAGE & PACKING

Canada

Publicising More Than Gold on a parade through Vancouver

Moldova


THE Republic of Moldova, one of the

countries of the former Russian

Federation, is the poorest country of

Europe. More than 70 per cent of its

inhabitants live under the poverty line.

Outside the larger cities people have no

electricity and they still have to go to a

public well to get water. Carts and horses are

a common sight but there are few cars. For

someone from one of Europe’s richer

countries, a visit to Moldova is like a trip

into the past.

In 1994 The Salvation Army started its

work in Moldova, where it is now growing

faster than in any other country of the

Eastern Europe Territory.

An hour’s drive from the capital,

Chisinau, on roads which are badly effected

by the cold winter weather, is Rusca Prison.

Almost 300 women are imprisoned here.

For many of them freedom is many years

away, but together with The Salvation

Army they work at improving their future.

Most of the buildings of the prison were

built before the Second World War and

need to be replaced. The building in which

the women live, however, is more modern.

The rooms for two, four or six women don’t

look like prison cells and are shared by

women of a similar age. The youngest

inmate is 16, the oldest over 70. Sentences

vary but the woman with the longest

sentence is only halfway through the 25

years she must serve.

The regime is particularly tough during

the first six to nine months of a sentence.

During this period the women have to stay

in their room on the ground floor almost

constantly. Twice a day they are allowed

out for an hour, to take in some fresh air in

a cage behind the building.

After those first months the rules are not

so strict. The women move to another floor

and can take part in work programmes,

making uniforms for prison guards and

customs personnel for instance. They can

grow grain, bake bread or cook the meals.

Those who adhere to the rules and work

hard will have their sentence shortened by

up to 45 days. It motivates the women to be

busy during the day and to get used to a

certain kind of discipline.

For a few years they have also been able

to have computer lessons, which are given

by Salvation Army personnel. Once a week

there are two classes for 20 women, one in

the morning and the other in the afternoon.

At lunchtime the Army also provides a

meal and gives the women an opportunity

to talk about the God who can change

their lives.

The women share their thoughts with

Salvationist Anna Stasiuc, who coordinates

the work and prepares the meal.

Change can be seen and heard in the

stories of some of the prisoners. Twenty-

six-year-old Elena* is four years into a

nine-year sentence. She suffers from

examples of faith

‘Then the King will say ... “Come,

you who are blessed by my Father;

take your inheritance, the Kingdom

prepared for you since the creation

of the world ... I was sick and

you looked after me, I was in

prison and you came to visit me ...

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for

one of the least of these brothers

and sisters of mine, you did for me.”’

Excerpts from Matthew 25:31-40

Today’s New International Version

Elena threw a knife at hermother-in-law and killed her

and loveWords and photos by

Ruud Tinga

continued on page 16

Moldova

A guard from Rusca Prison talks with Anna Stasiuc – coordinator

of the Salvation Army work in the prison – and Major Vivien

Callendar. The major and her husband, Major Ian Callendar, are

leaders of The Salvation Army’s Moldova Division

*Not her real name


depression and has had difficulty

controlling her emotions. She is in prison

because, during an argument, Elena threw a

knife at her mother-in-law and killed her.

To make matters worse, while Elena was

in prison her father had a fight with her

husband, hitting him so hard that he died

from his injuries. Her mother now looks

after Elena’s six-year-old daughter.

Elena is seeing a psychologist but she

believes her new-found faith will make an

even bigger difference. ‘I know that I still

have many years to go before I get out,’ she

says, ‘but this computer course run by The

Salvation Army will help me to get a better

future. It will be easier to find a job after I

am released.

‘I started reading the Bible and that gives

me peace of mind. My faith in Jesus Christ

gives me the power to go through this

punishment for what I have done wrong. It

is not easy, but I accepted that I have to stay

here for another five years.’

Next to Elena sits 50-year-old Janka*,

who has completed half of her 12-year

sentence. She explains that some so-called

friends asked her to collect money. ‘I was

too naive to realise what I was doing,’ she

says. ‘I had no idea that I was involved in

human trafficking. I gave that money to my

“friends”, who disappeared. Then the

people who gave me the money wanted to

know what had happened. I was stupid – I

should have known better.’

What hurts Janka most is that she has not

seen her children for years. Her son and

daughter were 13 and 15 when she was

imprisoned. ‘When I was arrested,’ she

says, ‘I lost my house so my children had to

live on the streets. There was nobody who

could take care of them. As far as I know

they still are still homeless and I do not

know if they are all right.’

Anna and the Salvation Army workers

who go to the prison have promised they

will look for Janka’s children and ask them

to get in touch with her. This promise eases

the pain a little, but Janka admits that she

still worries about her children. ‘I feel that I

failed as a mother. I ask God and my

children to forgive me because I could not

live up to their expectations.’

‘Although the regime is not very hard,’

says Anna, ‘it still is a prison. The women

do not always want to talk about their

personal feelings. The little attention I give

along with my testimony

about what God means to me

and how he can change

people’s lives give them

confidence that they are not

written off.’

EVERY Saturday, Salvationists Nicolae

and Tatjana Caraman depart for one of

the many small villages in the Moldovan

countryside where time seems to have stood

still. Medical care is unknown to most

villagers. When they need it, they cannot

afford it. According to Nicolae there are

1,600 villages and medical care is available

in only 600.

That leaves 1,000 villages – and

hundreds of thousands of people – whose

only opportunity for healthcare lies with

organisations like The Salvation Army

and the dedication of people like the

Caramans, both of whom are medical

doctors.

During the week Doctor Nicolae runs a

Salvation Army clinic in the capital,

Chisinau. The Salvation Army has also set

up a mobile medical programme which sees

Doctor Nicolae and his team of doctors and

nurses visit various villages. Each village is

visited every six months and while this

seems less than ideal the Salvation Army

MoldovaMoldova


Top left: inmates enjoy the meal

provided by The Salvation Army;

above left: Anna Stasiuc teaches

computer skills; right: a doctor

examines a woman’s eyes for

signs of disease

examples of faith and love


team offers the only healthcare the villagers

will receive.

On a bitterly cold morning people gather

at the derelict town hall in Clisova. One of

the nurses puts the Salvation Army sign

outside and four offices become a clinic.

Four doctors will examine the people today.

The medical instruments they use are

outdated but still do the job.

The eye doctor changes the lenses in the

old-fashioned frame. One of his colleagues

takes the blood pressure of a woman. In the

same office Doctor Nicolae explains to a

16-year-old girl how a hearing aid works. It

is a model that was used in more-developed

countries more than 30 years ago. He puts

an earpiece in her left ear and then one in

her right ear. The girl’s face lights up – she

can hear!

Dr Tatjana Caraman examines a 15-year-

old girl who has been diagnosed with breast

cancer. To buy the girl’s medication, her

father sold a cow, which was – to them –

worth a fortune. But Dr Tatjana has a

difficult message to tell the girl and her

parents, who also have health problems. The

medication did not work and the only

solution is an operation in Chisinau. ‘My

husband will do everything he can to get you

into a hospital,’ she tells the girl, explaining

to her parents: ‘If your daughter does not get

this operation, she will die.’

The doctor sees the devastation in their

eyes and leans on her faith to provide words

of comfort. ‘God will help you and keep

you,’ she says. All she can do is tell them

once again that Dr Nicolae will make sure

the girl gets the surgery she needs – free of

charge.

A woman comes in with her 13-year-old

grandson, who has mental problems. She

explains that she cannot pay for the

medication he needs. His parents work in

Italy and, although they send money on a

regular basis, it is not enough for the drugs

to keep him calm. To her relief, Doctor

Nicolae is able to prescribe the medication

the boy needs.

Because it will be at least four and maybe

up to six months before the medical team

returns to this village, patients such as this

boy leave the temporary clinic with a bag

full of medication. There is no charge,

because these poor people only earn the

equivalent of £30 to £50 a week. The cost of

their medicine would sometimes be more

than they would earn in a year.

Second-hand crutches and wheelchairs

are also distributed.

While the clinic is running the corps

officer (minister) and Salvationists from one

of the larger cities organise a programme for

young people. They sing Christian songs,

play together and listen to a Bible story.

Parents are also welcome to join in. All of

the children go home with toys. Smiling and

happy faces all around!

Later that day Doctor Nicolae makes

home visits to patients who cannot get to the

town hall. One visit is to an elderly woman

who can hardly walk because she did not get

enough vitamins when she was young. Her

legs are bent and she needs ongoing

physiotherapy.

‘My dream is to open a physiotherapy

centre where we can treat people like this,’

says the doctor. ‘A place where they can stay

for a while and where we can improve their

quality of life.’ He does what he can but he

knows that it is not enough, because some

of the patients he has seen today need

medical treatment more often than once

every four or six months.

When it gets dark, the people head back

home, maybe to a place without heating or

electricity. At least something good has

happened in their village today.

MoldovaMoldova

To buy the medication,the girl’s father sold acow, which was – tothem – worth a fortune

Left: Dr Tatjana Caraman speaks to an

elderly patient; below: Dr Nicolae Caraman

fills out a prescription


Zambia

AFRICA was the last place I

imagined I would visit. It certainly

wasn’t on the list of places to travel

in my retirement!

It has been said that once you commit

yourself to a trip such as mine, your life will

change forever. This has been true of my

experience in Zambia.

My journey began with a request from a

former soldier of Tuggeranong Corps

(church) in Australia, Anthony Watson, who

is stationed on The Salvation Army’s

Chikankata compound. He needed a

volunteer to assist him. I only had a vague

idea of the place, knowing officers who had

served there, but I’m retired and have time

on my hands so, after discussing the trip

with family and friends, I was on my way.

The experience was very rewarding,

especially after I became accustomed to the

cold showers, power cuts, limited food and

mosquito nets. But hey, what did I expect? I

came to realise time and again how fortunate

we are in Australia with comfortable homes,

cars and easy transport.

Chikankata has an amazing history. It was

set up by The Salvation Army in 1928 and

since then has had a prominent presence in

Zambia as a hospital with supporting health

services, high school for 800 students and

five corps (churches).

Serving a population of more than

90,000, the hospital strives to support the

sick in tuberculosis, HIV, children’s,

intensive care and general wards with a team

of dedicated staff. However, it is always

struggling with a lack of funds for vital

equipment.

Through funds supplied by my friends

and Tuggeranong Corps I was able to

purchase much-needed medical equipment

and plaster of Paris, and to give toys,

clothes, shoes and stationery to the patients.

My main role was to supervise projects

and staff at the Chikankata Development

Programme. This included buying 100

laying hens paid for by Tuggeranong Corps

and purchasing – with funds donated from

the United States – five large white pigs for

meat production. I have recently been told

that one of the sows has given birth to five

piglets.

The major task, though, was rebuilding a

number of huts, showers and a toilet block

with funds supplied by Salvo Stores in

Melbourne. These huts, made of mud brick

with thatched roofs, will be used by visiting

groups to Chikankata to enable them to

experience living the Zambian way.

A personal highlight for me was

travelling with the nursing staff to rural

clinics. I watched as more than 120 mothers

and children, walking up to five kilometres

under the hot summer sun, attended a pre-

and post-natal clinic. It was intriguing to

watch the babies being weighed on scales

attached to a branch of a tree.

In 2009 Peter Trick – a Salvationist from Canberra, Australia – spent

three months as a volunteer at The Salvation Army’s Chikankata Mission

Hospital in Zambia. He wrote about his experiences for the Australian

Eastern Territory’s publication Pipeline, which has given permission for

the article to be reprinted here:

to Zambia with love

Zambia

to Zambia with love

Above: Zambian children receive

gifts from Peter Trick


I was challenged while visiting one of

these villages – Godson Farm – and seeing

the abject poverty. It broke my heart. This

farm, once a flourishing coffee plantation

with full employment, was recently closed,

leaving many people out of work. The

people are really suffering – little food,

clothing and home comforts – yet they are

still happy! I took three tennis balls with me

and such fun was had playing ball with the

children.

I was so challenged by what I saw that I

went back to the village with bags of

clothing to try and help but was besieged by

hundreds of people in want. There was a

crushing riot with small children in danger

of being trampled. Even if a container-load

of material were sent it would not be

enough.

During my stay at Chikankata, a 14-year-

old boy was abandoned at the hospital by his

family. He tested HIV-positive. Children are

also brought to the hospital with burns,

malaria and malnutrition. One poor child of

eight was diagnosed with tetanus and died

the following morning as there was no life-

saving vaccine available to save her.

A special lady at my corps had knitted

toys that we were able to distribute to the

very ill children in the wards. I was so

appreciative of this support from home.

On the positive side, The Salvation Army

in Zambia is thriving and there are more

than 23,000 senior soldiers. Eight thousand

attended the territorial congress, led by

General Shaw Clifton and Commissioner

Helen Clifton, which was held while I was

there.

I also had the pleasure of worshipping at

the main corps in Chikankata, which is led

by an American officer, Major Beryl Pierce.

It is a thriving corps with a small brass band,

rhythm group and many different singing

groups, a huge junior soldiers’ group,

guards, scouts and home leagues. I found

God’s Spirit so strong and alive in these long

meetings which included testimonies,

prayers and songs. There were so many

young, faithful people alive for Christ.

One of the special spiritual highlights

each Sunday evening was visiting the

nurses’ chapel and enjoying the a cappella

singing from the students and nurses and the

wonderful songs – eight or so from the

Salvation Army song book –

being sung so harmoniously.

The gripping sermons given

by the students also provided

much blessing.

I met so many people

without shoes, so in an act of

compassion I commenced a

project to seek out people

who didn’t have any

footwear. For only Aus$3 I

was able to purchase new

shoes for them.

One officer I met had

walked 28 kilometres to a

meeting at Chikankata as he

had no form of transport. I

was able to give him donated

money so he could buy a bicycle to ride

when he visits his congregation. It was a

humbling, wonderful experience for me that

he rode the 56-kilometre round trip to say

goodbye.

So many of these poor people did not

speak English yet the joy and gratitude

expressed by their beautiful smiles – and the

special thank-you Zambian hand claps – was

so overwhelming. I also was able to pass on

clothing and shoes that had been supplied

from friends in Australia.

I experienced many joys and times of

sadness during my three months in Zambia,

with many heart-lifting and soul-warming

moments. It was a God-glorifying time in a

special part of his Kingdom. I feel truly

blessed by being asked to go to Chikankata

and I would certainly return if there were

future projects for me to undertake.

I am also truly thankful for the support I

have received from Tuggeranong Corps and

friends. I pray that in a small way I was able

to make an impression and give hope to

someone at Chikankata.

One officer I met hadwalked 28 kilometres

to a meeting atChikankata as he hadno form of transport

ZambiaZambia

Top right: a parade of flags at the

Zambia Territorial Congress;

above right: Peter Trick plays

with the territorial band at the

congress; left: a Zambian officer

with his new bicycle

It’s not just a packet of rice.

It’s not simply food.

It’s not merely a handout.

It’s not only a source of nutrition.

It’s a sign someone cares.

It’s ‘You’re not forgotten’ wrapped in plastic.

It’s thousands of grains of ‘God loves you’.

It’s heart to God and hand to man.

It’s the gospel preached without words.

It’s not just a packet of rice.

Kevin Sims

‘PrEACh ThE GOSPEL AT ALL TImES. USE wOrDS If NECESSAry.’

This quotation is often attributed to francis of Assisi but modern scholars can find norecord of it within 200 years of his death. what is clear, however, is that its messagealigns itself well with the thoughts of the man who told his followers, ‘Let all thebrothers ... preach by their deeds.’

The packet of rice, dried vegetables and chicken flavouring pictured on the cover of All the World – put together by Numana for the Salvation Army world Service Office(SAwSO) – certainly fulfils francis’s ideal. It contains a meal for five people and isidentical to many hundreds of thousands of packets given out by The Salvation Army in haiti. It also has words of advice and encouragement in English and haitian Creole.

for more than 20,000 people helped by The Salvation Army in haiti these meals havebeen the difference between life and death. But for people who wondered if the worldcared or even knew they existed, these packets have been far more than just food.

Message

in

a

packet

All The World (April 2010)

Documents

Transcript of All The World (April 2010)