A joint release of Eastern Mennonite Missions and Mennonite Central Committee

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Last fall, still reeling from Hurricane Katrina, many in the United States scarcely noticed that Tropical Storm Stan triggered deadly mudslides and devastated large swaths of Guatemala.

But after hearing the news, Steve Shank, EMM's representative to Latin America, initiated a $2,500 gift from the EMM Relief Fund to Iglesia Evangelica Menonita de Guatemala (IEMG) to assist the partner church in responding compassionately to its own country's needs.

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) also donated $2,500 to IEMG – part of MCC's $634,000 response to the flooding and mudslides in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

Last month, Concepción Villeda, president of IEMG, sent North American Mennonites a 20-minute video that details how the church used these gifts. "We wanted to respond to the national disaster," Villeda said. "And we were very excited to receive your gifts, which enabled us to do so much more than we could have done alone. Together we are called by God to bring peace to the suffering."

After receiving the $5,000, Villeda said the church organized an emergency committee that oversaw the training of volunteers in crisis intervention and planned responses in Santiago Atitlán, the region hardest hit with mudslides.

Trained volunteers from a variety of churches ministered to the needs of more than 1,000 people affected by the hurricane. The storm damaged more than 24,000 homes and caused an estimated 1,500 deaths.

Over a three-month period, the Guatemalan volunteers delivered emergency food aid to 500 households, provided crisis counseling for 200, dispatched medical teams that treated 500, and assisted with cleanup for 70 households. They also held worship services and provided pastoral care in the region.

"It's amazing all that the Guatemalan church was able to do with the little bit of relief money we shared with them," Shank said.

-Jewel Showalter

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