Watch video on team return

October 14 Update
CARY (BSCNC Communications) - Two teams recently returned home after volunteering overseas with NC Baptist Men. Devastating floodwaters sent a three-person medical team to serve in the Philippines. They assisted 748 patients in the Manila area during six days. This team went at the request of Hungarian Baptist Aid and worked with Hungarian Baptist Aid and the Luzon Baptist Convention. Volunteers were also assisted by local pastors.

A three-person Search and Rescue team served in Padang, Indonesia, on a team called Rescue 24. Their work in Padang was coordinated by the United Nations as well as Search and Rescue teams from other countries. After two days of work, Indonesia ended all search and rescue efforts. This team then traveled to Manila to assist the medical team.

October 13, 2009: Following is an email recieved from a member of a Baptist church in the Philippines:

Manila, Philippines
4th October 2009

The BWAid Rescue24 International Medical Team consisting of a doctor and two paramedics from North Carolina, , USA, a doctor from Singapore, a doctor, a paramedic and a professional relief worker from Hungary has completed its second day among the typhoon and flood victims of Manila.

With the worries of a second typhoon hanging over their heads the medical team has assisted 117 sick and needy persons in the past two days.

As the floods most severely effected the poorest of the poor, the places and the stories where patients are coming from are heart breaking. Many had to leave shanty houses that were taken shortly after by the flooding river with all their possessions inside. Many were afraid to leave, risking another typhoon in homes that have become life threatening.

“We met a 3-year old little boy today who had to walk in shoulder high water to find something in the room that serves as the living space of the entire family.

Our medical post was set up next to a Government evacuation center - a basketball court with a roof but no walls. The people there are crammed together with the belongings they could carry out before their homes were submerged in water. Many came with wounds inflicted by underwater objects, bronchitis, pneumonia, skin diseases, sleeplessness and anxiety.

The team could administer more than medicines they brought and purchased locally. The good words, the smiles and the visits to the most desperate places gave a little bit of hope for a tomorrow that looks rather grim for many of the victims.” – says David GÁL, BWAid Rescue24 coordinator.

Manila Baptists are sending volunteers to assist the BWAid Rescue24 efforts and at the same time, hundreds of food aid packages were handed out by churches all over Manila. It is a great pleasure to see Baptists from four nations working together to be the hands and feet of Christ reaching out to the desperate.

CARY (BSCNC Communications) - In the last 40 hours NC Baptist Men received three requests for disaster relief assistance. An assessment team is in Georgia. Flooding in the north Georgia area killed at least eight people and the damage total is estimated at $250 million.

A team of three North Carolina volunteers, including one doctor and two EMTs, leave today for the Philippines. This team is going at the request of Hungarian Baptist Aid and will work with Hungarian Baptist Aid and the Luzon Baptist Convention. Floodwaters in the Philippines have killed at least 140 people. In the Philippines, the average rainfall for September is 15.4 inches. Last weekend, the capital saw 13.4 inches of rain in just six hours. At one point last weekend more than 80 percent of the capital was under water.

A three-person search and rescue team also deploys today for Indonesia to work alongside Hungarian Baptist Aid and the Indonesia Baptist Convention. The death toll is now over 500 from an earthquake that rocked the country and was felt as far away as Singapore and Malaysia.
 
"God has blessed us with disaster relief trained volunteers and equipment, and North Carolina Baptists want to minister to hurting people wherever they are," said Richard Brunson, Executive Director-Treasurer of NC Baptist Men.