TEAR Fund NZ’s senior Programme Officer is currently in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. He is there serving our partner, Tearfund UK, and will be acting as the Director of their Disaster Response Team as they go about establishing their work in the area over the next few months. Ian has kindly agreed to share his experience through regular blog [...]

TEAR Fund NZ’s senior Programme Officer is currently in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. He is there serving our partner, Tearfund UK, and will be acting as the Director of their Disaster Response Team as they go about establishing their work in the area over the next few months. Ian has kindly agreed to share his experience through regular blog [...]

The following is reprinted with permission from the author, Saundra Schimmelpfennig. The original can be found here on Saundra’s excellent blog Good Intentions Are Not Enough.
Imagine that you’re at work when whatever natural disaster is most probable in your state strikes. For me it would be an earthquake, for you it might be a flood, volcanic eruption, or hurricane. The [...]

Disasters like the Haiti earthquake provide fertile ground for scammers to work their black magic. Such disasters and the ensuing media frenzy tug at people’s heartstrings and compel many towards wanting to help. With modern technology it’s not too hard to manipulate and take advantage of that desire only to use it for anything but helping.
A perfect example is a [...]

With the major rescue efforts being called off in Haiti and those resources being diverted to the continuing provision of emergency relief and care, alongside efforts to stabilise the country another pressing problem is becoming of increasing concern, child trafficking.
Child trafficking in Haiti was already a problem with several NGO’s noting a sharp increase in the number of children being [...]

It’s time to enter the discussion about Pat Robertson’s comments relating to Haiti.
The comment from the infamous televangelist that has caused much furor in the media and around the internet can be viewed over on Youtube. In the clip, Pat Robertson makes a connection between Haiti’s poverty and suffering and a “pact with the devil” that was supposed to have taken [...]

Forget the arguments and cynicism about aid.  The need in Haiti is massive and urgent.  Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world.  Its infrastructure is completely inadequate to cope with the effect of a 7.0 magnitude quake so close to its capital.  Rapid, effective foreign aid is vital.
It’s hard to get an accurate picture of what’s happening.  [...]

Al Jazeera has a report about the state of water distribution between Israel and the Palestinian Territories:
Israel is denying Palestinians adequate access to clean, safe water while allowing almost unlimited supplies to Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, human rights group Amnesty International has said.
“Swimming pools, well-watered lawns and large irrigated farms in Israeli settlements… stand in stark contrast [...]

Personal Journal #2 of Nancy E. Smith, RN Humedica and Koinonia. Click here to read #1.
Nancy Smith shares more of her experiences of helping the people of Bangladesh following cyclone Aila; working alongside TEAR Fund’s partners.
Tues June 9
We depart today in early daylight to allow for the two-hour boat ride to reach an area that has been cut off by [...]

The following images from Sri Lanka include a few from within the war zone during the last days of the civil war and the defeat of the Tamil Tigers (they are the images towards the end). We also have images from the war zone that we chose not to include due to their graphic nature – they are heart breaking. The [...]

The following are images from Bangladesh provided courtesy of Koinonia, our partner working on flood relief after Cyclone Aila, and also Dieter Schmidt. If you wish to use these images please contact us for permission first - frank (@) tearfund.org.nz
To read the diary of a humanitarian worker in the situation check out our post written by Nancy E. Smith from hurmedica.
Click on the images for the full size view.

TEAR Fund is meeting the needs of the suffering after Cyclone Aila struck Bangladesh last month through its partnership with the Integral Alliance and its local partner Koinonia. Medical field worker with humedica, Nancy E. Smith, tells the story of the work being done through her personal diary.
Personal Journal from Nancy E. Smith – humedica Bangladesh Team 2009
May 31, [...]

In this edition of the Podcast, with the Sri Lankan government declaring the defeat of the Tamil Tigers and the Red Cross pulling back from it’s aid operations with the victims of recent events due to the government restricting access, we thought we would catch up with Ian McInnes, one of our programme officers and the former director of our [...]

This just appeared in the Guardian UK:
Hundreds of civilians are being killed or seriously injured in artillery and gun attacks as the Sri Lankan army attempts to finish off the last Tamil Tiger rebels trapped in a shrinking pocket of land.
Injured civilians lucky enough to get out have told of carnage in this so-called “no-fire zone” – a 17 sq [...]

The following footage was taken inside the prison system of Zimbabwe and clearly shows the shocking conditions prisoners are living in. The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), part of the present power sharing government, comment in the video. The story is from Al Jazeera and some of the content may disturb:

In the future we will share information about the new [...]

Excerpts from the article:
A state of emergency has been declared on the southern Philippines island of Jolo after a deadline imposed by kidnappers holding three aid workers hostage expired.
The Abu Sayyaf group had threatened to behead one of three Red Cross workers held hostage if the military did not pull back its forces from their stronghold by 1400 local time [...]