With a speed of 95 km/hour, Hurricane Noel landed on western Haiti and the north coast of Eastern Cuba in early November 2007, triggering serious flooding. A total of 81 deaths were reported in the Caribbean area. Learning about the devastated aftermath of Hurricane Noel, Master instructed fellow initiates to carry out emergency relief work and contributed a total of US$60,000 to Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico. Fellow initiates from different countries formed relief teams to distribute urgently needed supplies to the victims.

Dominican Republic and Cuba

A relief team from the USA was sent to Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, on November 5th. As suggested by the local Red Cross, they visited five shelters in Azua and Barahona provinces, the most severely affected areas, and delivered essential items such as food, water and baby diapers. They also contributed US$1,000 to the Red Cross as part of the US$10,000 monetary gifts and aid supplies to the country. The Red Cross was very appreciative of their relief efforts.

Next, the team flew to Cuba to help with the situation in the capital of Havana. The following day they went to the province of Santiago, where they were informed by the officer in charge of the rescue effort that all of the flood victims had been relocated to live with local inhabitants, while waiting for their houses to be fixed up or rebuilt. He thanked Master for caring about the people of Cuba.

The team members were very impressed by the positive attitude of the people in these two countries, who, despite their own unfavorable living conditions, tried their best to help their fellow countrymen.

Haiti

On November 9, with Master's loving instruction, a team of fellow initiates from the USA, Canada and Costa Rica was sent to Haiti to help the flood victims. With the assistance from the local Red Cross, they delivered relief items to six shelters in total and to the International Mission Church. The first shelter they visited had 771 people, who were in urgent need of more food. The team immediately brought back enough food, milk, water and some diapers that would sustain them for more than a week. Upon seeing the supplies, the disaster victims danced happily and said, “God has come, God is with us, and God has answered our prayers.” In another shelter, the victims said that they would put Master's picture up on a wall to remember forever that She was the first person to send them food and love when they needed it most.

With Master's blessing and guidance, the relief work in Haiti was successfully completed despite the challenging conditions there. The team even had the chance to introduce Master's teachings to a couple of missionaries from Cuba. They marveled at God's perfect arrangement of helping all beings physically as well as spiritually in all corners of the world.

Note: With relief efforts still underway in Mexico, a detailed report and related expenditures will be available in the next issue.

To view the Humanitarian Relief Activities by the Supreme Master Ching Hai and Her International Association, please visit:
http://www.GodsDirectContact.org.tw/humanitarian
(The list can be sorted by year, country/region and type of events.)

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