Update : confirmation that all YWAMers are safe in Chile.

The powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit the central region of Chile on the morning of Saturday, February 27 has caused widespread damage and left tens of thousands homeless.

Telephone and cell phone coverage is erratic or unavailable and much of the nation is without electricity, hampering communications with the most damaged regions. Youth With A Mission regional leader for the Southern Cone, Ricardo Rodriguez, reports from Santiago that this northern centre is undamaged but they have not been able to get to some other YWAM centres, which have been cut off due to damaged roads and bridges.

YWAM Argentina’s first relief team to Haiti left on February 6, travelling with the Argentinean humanitarian aid and peace-keeping agency "White Helmets".

YWAM accompanied the White Helmets on a one-week rescue trip and were able to take with them medical supplies they gathered following the earthquake.



The White Helmets, presided over by Gabriel Marcelo Fuks and reporting to the National Government, worked with YWAM in 1994 when the two teams traveled to Rwanda during what later became known as the Rwandan Genocide. Ninety YWAM volunteers traveled with the White Helmets and made camp inside the conflict zone for three months, providing help of incalculable value.

“My heart was beating fast, I felt confused and lonely,” said Anu. “I felt deep pain in my heart. I was with Silas (my husband) as I prayed out loud. ‘Jesus, you know the best and may you be glorified.' I had all the faith to believe God could heal Silas, yet I wanted to submit my will unto His. I felt Jesus was holding my hand.” After suffering a stroke, Silas Dongardive went to be with the Lord at 8:15pm on May 10, 2001. Silas and Anu had been married for eight years and had two daughters, Ailsha and Sunayana.

Four months earlier, on January 10, 2001, Silas and Anu had pioneered the YWAM ministry Vanitashray, based in Pune, India. The name comes from the Marathi Script Sanskrit- Vanita, meaning woman and Ashray, meaning shelter. This ministry cares for destitute widows and orphans/abandoned children. As they began, Anu did not know that she herself would soon identify with the widows heart and grief. She says, “I was devastated when Silas died, but God told me three things. He will be with us and never leave us nor forsake us. All that matters to Him is my relationship with Him and He will lead me in the calling He placed over my life.” Lastly, God told Anu, “Take one day at a time.”

Youth With A Mission’s University of the Nations (U of N) made history in Nigeria last weekend when it graduated its first student within the country. Previously, Nigerian students graduated from the U of N in various other countries around the world, but for the first time on Saturday, October 3rd 2009, Nigerian student Patience Ashe Anyaku graduated with an Associate of Arts Degree from the College of Communications in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. David Hamilton, Provost of the University of the Nations, officiated the ceremony, and Loren Cunningham, Founder of YWAM, handed Patience her diploma.

“When I think about how uncomfortable I have often felt doing street evangelism, God reminds me that he gave me gifts and talents to bless the world with,” said Rob Darby. He and Lydia Calssen from YWAM Restenäs, Sweden wanted to bring a positive view to a city near their base whose reputation is ugly and boring, so they planned a photography exhibition.

“The amazing thing about this photo project,” said Rob, “was how God used our cameras as tools to open doors into the hearts of people whom we might never speak with otherwise.” They simply walked around the city and asked people if they could take their picture. One man they photographed had been wandering around the city in a desperate attempt to find peace from his depression and anxiety. When they understood this, the YWAMers stopped what they were doing and talked with him for a while. In the end he let them pray for him.

The Haitian city of St. Marc is more than 60 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake which hit the nation on January 12. Still, the YWAM Haiti centre there felt the devastating shock of tremors running through the ground.

On Monday, January 18, hope was slim for finding survivors underneath the collapsed buildings in Port au Prince, 6 days after a 7.0 earthquake devastated the city.

But YWAM rescue teams have an unending supply of hope, and when they came upon a group of survivors seeking help, they sprang into action. A four-month old baby girl was discovered pinned under a building. She was removed from the rubble and rushed to a makeshift hospital with a large cut on her head. Local people said that the infant's mother was still under the building, but presumed dead. Undeterred, the YWAM team began digging to find her. To everyone's surprise, she was found alive - extremely dehydrated and in need of hospital care, but alive and expected to recover!

The city of Juárez, Mexico is like a war zone. It has recently been named the most violent city in the world. As of September 2009, there have been more than 1,700 homicides in the city, mostly related to the drug cartels. But the cartels are not the ones affected by the violence. Each of the victims had a family. Parents, spouses, and children – along with friends and neighbors – tragically lost someone this year. These 1,700 victims multiply into thousands of people who have lost a loved one in a violent way this year. Some were involved in the drug trade, but many were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The 8 foot by 10 foot corrugated tin house which is called a clinic by the YWAM Mercy team in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was buzzing with activity when one of the team noticed a thin young woman squatting in the dirt path outside. When asked where she lived, she replied vaguely, “relatives”. A few more questions revealed that Ruma’s husband had left her with nothing but a baby. To keep herself and her daughter, Shumi, from starving, Ruma’s only choice was to beg for food.