When I arrive at headquarters, I am surprised to learn that CRASH (Christian Relief Assistance Support and Hope) was only founded in 2004. It helped organize disaster relief efforts for the earthquakes in Haiti, Sichuan, and Chile. It seems that many volunteers came to CRASH headquarters right after the earthquake in March. It becomes apparent that CRASH headquarters is a rotating cast – there are long termers who are here for the long haul, but there are also a lot of people come and go from all over the world. There are Canadians, Australians, Singaporeans, Americans, Japanese of course. In the office Japanese and English are spoken equally.
I’m told that several volunteers just left recently, returning to their regular calling as missionaries in Japan. CRASH was a small operation that suddenly had to balloon overnight in March. Ramona, the head of HR, explains that things are still moving here. When she says that at first I think she is referring to the fact that working in crisis mode makes every day a new situation. Actually, she means literally physically moving. Aftershocks are still happening here about once a week, not as noticeable as the huge aftershock that hit Tokyo soon after the big one epicentered in Sendai, but still perceptible. She explains that until the end of March they were happening everyday, and up north they remain still more frequent.
Ramona is a tall, African American woman whose radiant smile exudes calm and warmth, and whose speech exudes grace and truth. She wants to hear all about how we ended up at CRASH. Ramona’s face lights up as she describes how everyone here has a unique story about how they felt called to come to Japan for God’s purposes and how we have all been brought together to meet and work side by side as part of God’s plan. “There are a lot of divine appointments taking place here!”
She explains the different ministries here, and I am struck in particular by their Emotional Care ministry. CRASH volunteers are reaching out to survivors to help them cope with the stress of the disaster. Different areas have different needs: in the south, where survivors were evacuated by the threat of radiation, the survivors are mostly frustrated and in search of answers. They want to know when (if ever) they will be able to go back home. “In reality, only God knows what the longterm outcome of the radiation will be,” says Ramona. Pastoral outreach is also important. Since the earthquake, pastors have been constantly looked to for answers by their congregants, and the pastors are getting burned out. CRASH recently took them on a pastoral retreat, a chance for them to take a break and be renewed.
This place is like a corporation with God as the head (that is actually exactly what Ramona’s whiteboarded org chart displays). Morning devotionals take place at 9am, and evening devotionals take place at 5pm. I feel like I’m at my first day of an internship as I make the rounds meeting staff in all the departments: IT, Finance/Accounting, Public Relations, Operations, etc. Headquarters are open from 9 to 6. I spend my first day registering volunteers, who hail from all around the globe including France, Malaysia, Norway, Indonesia, Taiwan to name a few. The volunteer database is huge. I know that the way we’re doing things is definitely not the most efficient way to handle things, but CRASH doesn’t have the resources to do a million dollar software implementation like a for-profit company. As the day goes on, I immediately regret not planning to come here longer than two weeks. There is so much that can be done here! My head spins with all the possibilities. But I have to remember that God has a perfect plan and that hindsight is 20/20.
No comments:
Post a Comment