YWAM News that Bill finds Interesting

Fire at YWAM Belize Destroys the Kitchen and Dining Area

Bill Hutchison — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:30:33 +0000

I found this bit of news on the YWAM Belize web-site and made some follow up enquiries about the fire and what is happening with the rebuilding. Despite the fact that the fire happened almost exactly a year ago ow the YWAM Belize centre is still without a proper kitchen block and is working on raising the funds to build a new one.

Here is the story of the fire from Alyssa, who has been on staff with YWAM Belize for the last five years:

The story of the kitchen fire is actually quite interesting, it occurred a year ago this week (1 year anniversary). We are operating in a temporary kitchen and although it serves us well we have yet to begin rebuilding. We are in need of funds and skilled workers to build it. We also see this as a chance to build it even better (since the former one was over 20 years old). We would like to expand it a bit for our ever-increasing demand.

Story in nut shell…

All the staff of the base was headed some 2 hours away for a staff retreat. Our director’s phone rang when we reached our destination asking if we were burning something on our base. A neighbourhood pastor was passing by and noticed the smoke. We had a couple on base, Mission Builders, who were desperately searching for what they could do. Our director turned right back around and headed to the base to take care of the damages.

Upon arriving at the base he found the entire kitchen burned to the ground. Some iron pots were salvaged but nothing else. The blaze had complications … a local butane company came to fill up the big butane tank for the kitchen, not being aware of the open-flamed water heater close by. An explosion happened … the worker’s hand was burned but no injuries beyond that.

In short- we are still in need of funds to rebuild.

You can read more about the ministry of YWAM Belize, the fire and how you can give on their web-site here.

YWAM Ship Pacific Link has Arrived in Ulladulla

Bill Hutchison — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:46:26 +0000

From what I have heard from some of the medical crew on the YWAM Marine Reach Ship MV Pacific Link they have now arrived in Ulladulla in New South Wales, Australia.

Fortunately for the crew the trip from Darling Harbour in Sydney was a much smoother sail than the trip from Newcastle into Sydney. Unfortunately though it was not an uneventful trip as the anchor chain motor stopped working while they were trying to replace the anchor chain. I do not have an update yet about if they have got the motor running again.

The ship will be in Ulladulla until March 15 and while they are there they will be visiting the local Lions group and various church groups in the city. They will also be taking people on guided tours of the ship daily between 9am and 4pm.

The Lions group will be putting on a barbeque at Lions Park in Ulladulla on March 13 at 6:30pm where people can meet the crew and find out more about what the ship is doing. The Lions group is also working on collecting used glasses that will be taken to Papua New Guinea to help people there regain their sight.

You can read more about the YWAM Ship Pacific Link’s visit to Ulladulla here.

Worship Training Video Ideal for New YWAM Students

Bill Hutchison — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:50:16 +0000

I come from a church that has fairly conservative / traditional style worship, at least compared to the worship I experienced at YWAM Reef to Outback in Australia. Recently I was sent a copy of a training video on “How to Worship” that is geared towards people going into a Pentecostal flavour of worship, which is what I experienced in Townsville. I think that if I had been given the chance to see this video before attending my YWAM DTS I would have been much better equip for the worship experience…

What do you reckon, would this have been helpful to you when you came into YWAM or could this video possibly help new students at your Youth With A Mission location enter more easily into worship?

Latest Update from YWAM / JOCUM in Chile

Bill Hutchison — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:56:26 +0000

I just got this in the mail and wanted to pass it on before heading out for the afternoon:

We want to let you know that the family of Marcos Gallardo, our leader in Arauco, was rescued from a very difficult situation. The place they were staying in at the moment of the earthquake was turning into a chaos, this because of the fear of a seaquake, the constant replicas and the burglary into the shops and supermarkets. Today they are safe in Concepcion and we expect to have them in Santiago very soon.

Referring to Pichilemu, they are all fine, the base didn’t suffer any damage and since they live in a high zone of the city, several people from the town took shelter in the base. We have been helping each other and also many churches have sent their donations to YWAM Pichilemu. From there we have made an operative to Bucalemu, a coast city that was completely destroyed. The tragedy that we’ve been facing is constituted by three elements: 1 first earthquake, 2 the seaquake, 3 the burglary.

The army went out to the streets and the peace was restored. They called out a curfew and this has allowed a better security. It also allowed the people in charge of reestablishing electricity, water, telephones, etc. to work better. The fire fighters could also work more calmly.

Today there are 799 deaths, these are just the ones from the earthquake, they still need to count the ones from the seaquake because nobody knows exactly how many there are. They are waiting for 7 to 8 days to pass, because this is the time that the ocean will take to return the bodies. We have to add to this, all the missing people that were left under the bridge and buried in the mud.

Here we are preparing a plan of action to reach the places of most need. We are sending scouting teams and talking with the mayors and pastors from the different affected places. To give you an idea, there are close to 2 million people that will be left without a house. The depression is huge.

From Monday the 8th we will start to send the first teams to help remove the debris. We also need specialized teams: Those in the area of health, rescuing and construction. Also tools, generators of electricity to be able to work. We are creating 2 week time unit, in other words, every team can come for a minimum of 2 weeks.

The teams can arrive to our base and then travel to start the work. We are seeing which are the places where the teams can stay near the zones that are most affected and where they also can buy food.

There are many people that already started to take food to the most needy places, but our teams will have to buy their own food in the nearby cities and take it there. Also in those nearby places we’ll have a place for the teams to stay in. In the towns and cities that where more affected, the teams will have to bring tents, for example, in the city of Linares they can receive us and there we can buy food and there is electricity, there we also have a place to stay. In other cities and towns 25-30 minutes or even up to 2 hours of distance there’s no electricity, or water or food or places to stay.

From each base that wants to send teams we need to know how many people there are coming, for how long they will stay and in which way you can help.

The first phase is to supply food, water and medical attention. The second phase, that’s the one we want to start now, is to remove the debris. In a third phase we’ll have to help in the construction of houses, but for that we need teams of constructors and a lot of money, so we are enabling a bank account:

For donations from any part of the world, or for updated information check our web page www.jucumchil.cl where we are updating information constantly.

A big hug for everyone and we’ll keep in touch.

Ricardo Rodriguez

For photos please visit:
http://www.ywamsandiegobaja.org/articles.aspx?id=27705&menu=Resources

YWAM News Podcast Launched

Bill Hutchison — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 05:44:06 +0000

As a partner to this web site about news in YWAM I have now launched a new YWAM News Podcast that you can find at ywampodcast.com.

The podcast will include some of the news that you read here on my YWAM News site, plus some extras. I asked late last year what you, my readers, wanted out of a YWAM News podcast, and the top request was for Outreach Stories, which I’ve focussed on for the first two episodes. In the latest episode I included an interview with Russell Sanche about the YWAM Vancouver Olympic Outreach event.

Unfortunately the recording for the interview did not go as planned and I had to get Russell to record his side of the conversation while I recorded my side of the conversation. I then had to mix it all together after, which will not work in most circumstances.

To conduct future interviews for the podcast I am going to need to purchase a new laptop. The one that I am currently using is 4.5 years old and as well as being slow, the hardware in the computer is starting to fail. The computer shuts off randomly on me a few times a day and it sometimes takes hours to start up.

If you want to donate to help me purchase a new computer to help in my ministry with Youth With A Mission please do so here.

Hoop Homes Are Arriving and Going Up in Haiti

Bill Hutchison — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:02:40 +0000

The hoop homes that are being donated by Esbenshade’s Garden Centre are starting to arrive in Haiti and are already being put together at the YWAM clinic at St. Marcs. There were 200 hoop homes sent to the YWAM centre to help provide some temporary accommodation for the thousands of people who are now homeless in Haiti.

Along with the huts there is also a team of construction volunteers on the ground in Haiti to get the assembly of these houses started. The 200 shelters should be able to provide housing for about 1000 of the homeless. There are plans for more houses to be sent, but there need to be more donations and volunteers for that to happen.

YWAM Haiti is in the planning stages for putting together a temporary tent city to house the many homeless that they are registering in St. Marcs. Most of these people are refugees from Port Au Prince who have moved to St. Marcs after loosing everything in the earthquake. The plan for the tent city is to not only provide food and shelter, but also to provide education and training for the people there to help in the rebuilding of the nation of Haiti.

Here is a short video of what they are hoping to achieve with the hoop homes, including future uses for the shelters once more permanent accommodation is found for the thousands of homeless in Haiti.

You can read a report from the construction crew that just arrive in Haiti here, and find out how to volunteer and donate to the project here.

30 Kit Homes Shipped to YWAM for use in Haiti

Bill Hutchison — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:48:27 +0000

Gulf Coast Supply and Manufacturing has recently shipped 30 International Relief Homes to Youth With A Mission in Haiti. The homes can be assembled in less than a day by an experienced crew once the foundations have been poured. The home can be assemble on packed dirt, pavers or a concrete pad. In Haiti, where they are prone to hurricanes, they should hopefully use a poured concrete foundation, with the anchor system set-up to withstand hurricane force winds.

The homes are 15 x 18 feet, with two rooms, one door, two windows, two skylights and a guttering system to collect rain water. The homes only cost about $2000 USD each and Gulf Coast is gearing up to produce more of the homes to meet the current need in Haiti for housing.

If you check out the YWAM Haiti website (www.ywamhaiti.org) the video describes how YWAM is in the process of planning and building tent cities to accommodate the refugees who no longer have homes. It’ll be interesting to see how they fit these new kit homes into the plan.

The best way I have to describe the home is akin to an oversized backyard metal shed. I’ve seen many sheds in Australia converted to offices, retreats and bed-rooms, so it looks to me like a similar conversion. I know that the sheds in Australia can be built to withstand cyclone force winds, so I reckon they have done the same thing with these relief homes.

You can read more about the Gulfcoast Relief Homes here.

Chile Earthquake and YWAM Bases in Chile

Bill Hutchison — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:41:26 +0000

A 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Chile on February 27th causing major damage and deaths throughout the nation.

So far reports from Youth With A Mission centres throughout Chile have been positive. The Santiago, Pichilemu and Castro locations are all okay, but without power. The Santiago base is also without water at the moment as they rely on a pump for water.

Twitter is reporting (that always sounds funny to me) that Pichilemu Chile experienced 17.5 foot waves after the earthquake. The water washed all the way into the centre of town. Quite a few people from the community are currently taking shelter at the YWAM base as it’s located higher than other parts of the city.

The Santiago YWAM base was having their DTS graduation on the day of the earthquake, so quite a few families that lived in the city were at the YWAM location and so they reportedly escaped the damage that happened in the main part of Santiago.

YWAM Ship Pacific Link in Sydney, Australia

Bill Hutchison — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:09:13 +0000

The YWAM Ship MV Pacific Link is now in Sydney at Cockle Bay, Darling Harbour. The ship will be staying there from March 2 – March 9 before heading down to Ulladulla where it will be berthed at the Harbour.

The ship spent a very successful week in Newcastle where it was open for tours of the ship, and opportunities for people to meet the volunteer crew. YWAM was donated supplies to take on to Papua New Guinea and is still collecting glasses to donate to PNG where over half a million people could have their sight restored simply by being provided with corrective spectacles.

On the trip from Newcastle to Sydney the ship hit some pretty rough seas. The rough seas were caused by the tsunami that occurred because of the earth quake in Chile and tested the sea legs of everyone on the ship, some of whom are still pretty new. Here is a photo of the ship hitting some pretty decent sized waves:

Mercy Trucks Sends Ambulance to YWAM in Haiti

Bill Hutchison — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:25:48 +0000

Youth With a Mission Haiti was already using it’s trucks and vehicles as make shift ambulances in Haiti after the earthquake that hit the country on January 12. Seeing the need YWAMs Mercy Trucks began to work towards providing a vehicle, medical supplies and other necessary equipment for use by the YWAM team that has been operating in Haiti since 1991.

On February 12th the 28 foot ambulance arrived in Haiti, packed with medical and other much needed equipment.

YWAM has been working feverishly in Haiti to provide as much support as needed to the hurting people in that nation. Here are just a few of the things that they have been involved in:

The above mentioned ambulance
Registering the refugees who arrive in St. Marc from Port au Prince
Providing 200 tents for temporary accommodation for refugees
Renovating an old condemned hospital so that it can again be used
YWAM Medical teams working in front of the old capital building in Port au Prince

Many YWAM teams from around the world have joined the staff already in YWAM Haiti to help serve the people there. There is plenty of opportunity for individuals or teams to go to Haiti to help, and of course donations of finances, medical supplies and other needed equipment are very welcome.

You can find out more about YWAM Haiti and how to help here.