Thanks for the prayers for the flooding! And importance of World Breastfeeding Week in the midst of Floods

 Greetings from Bangladesh!

We have the joy of preparing this blog post from our home in Bangladesh!

The camps inundated (IRC report)

We got our new visas (good for 6 months!) a week ago. The passports got to us on Tuesday and Thursday  we began our trip back to Bangladesh from Albania. We appreciate your prayers.

As we write to you, we are watching it rain outside our window. The rains have not stopped, but mercifully they have slowed down. This really made a big difference in the camps (though the emergency is not over). This graphic from an International Rescue Committee impact reports gives a good summary of what some of the impacts have been: 

It is just heart-breaking that 1432 Rohingya shelters have been affected. And it is truly unfortunate that there have already been 11 deaths because of the rains (admittedly, this is not an unusual problem in Bangladesh during the monsoon season - but that makes it no less acceptable). 6 of the deaths are Rohingya and 5 are among Bangladeshi in the area. Most of the 6 Rohingya deaths are from landslides (the water-logged soil on hillsides in the camps giving way and crushing shelters). There was also at least one drowning of a child during the flooding. All the Bangladeshi deaths were children living in areas that they share with refugees. 

This is a heavy toll on the Rohingya! And this certainly only adds more misery to the daily challenges of the refugees. But the news isn't all bad either. We are truly thankful for the fact that the rains have slowed in the camps, or it could have been worse (with greater loss of life and more shelters affected). In the last blog post we also posted a picture of nutrition staff and volunteers working to keep the food commodities from getting wet. Everyone working together meant that they were able to get the food out of the way of the water! This is a huge win! We thank the Lord for these victories!

In the midst of persistent rain and floods the work goes on. This past week was 'World Breastfeeding Week (WBW)'. We'd love to know how many of you knew this was going on over the past week! Probably missed in the country you are living in. During WBW an emphasis is put on the key messages surrounding the importance of breastfeeding. One of the messages is: Infants should be exclusively breastfed until 6 months of age. When mothers follow this recommendation thousands of infants' lives are saved yearly. Bottle feeding has a high risk of causing diarrhea which often leads to death. Diarrhea comes from using unsafe water to prepare formula and/or wash bottles. One of the highest disease risks currently from the flooding is from contaminated drinking water and surface contact with contaminated water. Imagine trying to ensure your baby has safe water to prepare formula. The benefits of breastfeeding in this context are indeed huge. 

Home visit to share messages with mother

Community volunteer sharing messages on
breastfeeding with mother

Praise:

• For the amazing work of volunteers in the camps during the flooding - they spent their days averting the worst and caring for their people. For our dedicated volunteers.
• That the vaccination campaign starts next week with community volunteers!
• For the miracle of 6 month visas for both Christine & Phil (we were not allowed to travel to Rome,but did this through a visa agency there)
• For access to good, affordable health care during the time that we were in Albania - Christine twisted her ankle badly, and we finally went to see a doctor who told us the bone was broken where the ligament pulled off of it. 

Prayer:

• For ongoing dissipation of the rains across Bangladesh! Today it rained pretty hard again and there was flooding in at least one camp. 
• For the death toll of COVID-19 currently in Bangladesh. We have a number of colleagues who have fallen ill with the virus, others who have lost parents to the virus, and the virus is ravaging the camps as well. We pray that the limited vaccination in the camps will nonetheless have a huge impact - the Rohingya remain dependent upon the Lord to spare them from the worst. 
• For prevention of diarrhea - this was already a problem in the camps before this recent flooding (which risks making it much worse! Most concerning have been cases of cholera which can escalate rapidly following flooding.

Flooding in Rohingya Refugee camps - Monsoon rains have arrived in Cox's Bazar

The camp environment without rain

 

Around the world we have heard of torrential     rains and flooding. This reality has now arrived   in Coxs Bazar as heavy monsoon rains and   wind began last night and are continuing 24   hours later. We are asking you to PLEASE   PRAY for the thousands of Rohingya refugees   living in bamboo and tarpulin homes at high   risk for flooding, destruction from landslides   and drowning.

Camp environment with rain - today

Nutrition centre with flooding up to bamboo benches

Staff and volunteers working today struggled to keep things dry as waters rose in the nutrition centres. Some were sandbagging and rearranging food supplies to protect them from rising waters. Others covered food and equipment with extra tarpaulins while standing in water. Access roads in and out of the camp were flooded making it difficult for staff to leave at the end of the day. 

Staff and volunteers trying to move food away from rising water in the storeroom

A community health volunteer 

Please pray for safety for people living in the camps, for protection from mudslides and drownings. A mudslide was reported earlier today that killed 5 people. Pray for the rain to stop. And pray for all those helping. Our Mobile Medical Team will likely be deployed tomorrow.

None of our staff can be in the camps after working hours. This is a video of camp volunteers (refugees themselves) from the Camp 20 Extension health post helping other Rohingya and looking for injured people. They are really the frontline workers for our work in the camps!

Medair on the front line of vaccination campaigns

Medair's work around the world focuses on serving the least served and targeting the most vulnerable with projects primarily in health, nutrition and shelter. In humanitarian aid settings an outbreak of measles can contribute to very high rates of death amongst children under 5, particularly if they are aleady malnourished. An outbreak of cholera can spread rapidly through a refugee camp as densely populated as the one in Coxs Bazar. COVID19 now presents itself as a similar emergency in a population that is already vulnerable. 

In the graph to the left you can see the total number of deaths from COVID19 in BGD as a whole from the 23rd of June through the 7th of July. The cases in the camps may not be rising as dramatically. It is still a bit difficult to say exactly what is happening in the camps. 

Vaccination campaigns are something that Medair has done for years, and does very well. The first step is awareness raising around the vaccination. As soon as vaccines arrive, staff and volunteers are on the front lines giving vaccinations to those who are eligible. 

Another role of Medair, as any international NGO in the humanitarian aid setting, is to advocate along with other organizations, for distribution of vaccines to the populations we serve. This distribution is totally dependent on a government receiving vaccines. However, as those supplies come in to the country, we continue to push for allocations for the vulnerable population groups. 

Please take time to visit Medair's web page on vaccination campaigns featuring Lebanon.

https://www.medair.org/covid-19-vaccination-campaign/

75 percent of the world’s COVID-19 vaccinations have gone to just 10 countries.

You may have read in the news that the power grid in Lebanon is pretty much nonfunctional and people are lucky to receive 2 hours of electricity per day. 

On July 6 the health sector, which brings together all health actors in the Rohingya Response, was informed that vaccines should be arriving soon and we will be vaccinating all adults >55 years of age in the refugee camp. Our community health volunteers will start their awareness raising when they do their monthly household visits this week. Our vaccination teams will receive a refresher training (the initial plan was to vaccinate in March and then no vaccines arrived). 

Volunteers conducting household visits

Vaccination campaign to start most likely after EID, an important holiday in this context. By that time the strict lockdown may have lifted as well.

As of July 1, I, Christine, have fully transitioned to the role of Health & Nutrition Advisor for Medair in Bangladesh. In this role I will be overseeing the technical quality of the Health and Nutrition programmes Medair is running. On the forefront right now is this roll out of vaccines. In the last health sector meeting I raised the point that originally the government's vaccination plan included vaccinating our community health volunteers as well as health staff. Volunteers have not been vaccinated yet so hopefully they will be included as well.

Praise:

• For donations through COVAX (the worldwide sharing mechanism for vaccines) - thankful the USA donated 2.5 million doses which arrived last week in BGD
• That the vaccination campaign should be starting soon for refugees >55 years
• That 5 health staff who contracted COVID19 are all recovered and will return to work soon
• Thanks for good dental care in Albania - Phil had a abscess taken care of that the dentist (who teaches at the University here) thinks may have been a problem for him for the last 10 years! Incrediby grateful! Hopefully this will help with his recurring sinus infections!

Prayer:

• For health and safety of people living in Bangladesh - particularly our staff and volunteers and the Rohingya refugees, during this current COVID19 surge. The health sector is also closely watching an increase in confirmed cases of cholera in the camps. 
• For our ongoing visa application - we've received word that our application to get new visas has been accepted by the BGD Embassy in Rome. We need to travel to Rome to submit our passports. Pray that we will get visas of the type and duration needed to return to BGD.
• For me, Christine, in my new role as Health and Nutrition Advisor. I've already had a couple of difficult situations to handle since I started in this position.

 It has been a long time since we have updated you - both on our family and our work among the Rohingya. A lot of events have taken place since our last blog post in March. But we did send you all an email on the 11th of May announcing the death of Christine's mom, Faith Lindell. It was (as has always been the case over the years) the prayers of God's people who sustained us in that difficult time. And hearing from nearly 100 of you was truly a gift of God's grace to us!

In regards to the fire (this feels like old news to us), the initial emergency response to the fire was really well done (that is what we reported on). Unfortunately it has been a fiasco since then. The positive thing is that families took the emergency shelter materials they received and began to rebuild their shelters by buying other supplies themselves. While there was significant dithering on a new shelter plan (without which new shelters could not be built) and site management plan (particularly to try and rationalize support facilities and create more fire breaks in camp 9 which was entirely burned to the ground), 90% of households have now rebuilt their shelters. That is simply a travesty - the fact that the Rohingya had to do this on their own without the assistance of organizations ready to help but unable to do so because of road blocks. There is an ongoing extensive community engagement effort with the affected Rohingya to try and make some improvements to the camps and rebuild more substantial shelters - some two stories with metal frames (but this would require demolishing the ones they have just rebuilt). This is an ongoing issue, and it is hard to know how it will be resolved. 

Lydia, Christine, Phil & Annika after the
memorial

The LD clan playing frisbee golf on the weekend we went
camping just before leaving for Albania

In the meantime, we found out about Christine's mother's diagnosis of glioblastoma. Christine & I were scheduled on flights to return to the States the day that the new lockdown (to counter what has ended up being an ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases) started on the 14th of April in Bangladesh. So our flight was cancelled when they banned all flights in and out of the country. She was finally able to fly back on the 22nd of April. Christine went into quarantine after landing, but was out of quarantine 5 days before her mom died on May 8th. I returned a week before mom Lindell passed away.  Christine & I, along with all the kids and extended family, were able to be at mom's bedside throughout the day on the 7th. It was a wonderful time of singing hymns, sharing scripture and releasing mom to go to be with the Lord. Needless to say, it was incredibly healing for us to be with mom at this time. We are very thankful to have made it home in time to say goodbye. 

We had a wonderful memorial service celebrating mom's life and life in Jesus on May 13th. With a loosening of COVID19 restrictions in Minnesota, it was possible to invite extended family to join us for the service.  Following the unexpected passing away of Christine's mom there was alot of business to be settled and ongoing work by the daughters on deciding what to do with mom & dad's personal belongings. As many of you know, Christine's dad is in a memory care unit. He was moved into a new apartment in nursing care shortly after mom's death as well. So there were really a lot of moving pieces before Christine & I left the States on the 24th of May. Lots of work still remains to be done which is largely taken on by Christine's two sisters who live in Minnesota. 

As you can see from the pictures, we did have some time to spend with the kids both during the time we were in Minneapolis,  and during the weekend away with them camping.

We also had the privilege of getting COVID-19 vaccines while in the States (and, believe me, this felt like a privilege when we had thought for several months that we would be able to get the vaccine in Bangladesh, as humanitarian aid workers - but it never worked out). We are incredibly thankful to have gotten the vaccine.

Phil, Christine and Rudi's family - Tela, Miri and Rei

Our Bangladeshi visas expired on May 9. The fact that the document Medair has with the Bangladesh government expired on the 14th of June meant that it didn't seem to make sense for us to get new visas that would have only been good for 2-3 weeks. So we were looking to work remotely from Europe (since there is only a 4 hour time difference between much of Europe and Bangladesh). After navigating the 11 hour time difference for 5 months last year, Christine & I were not interested in working remotely again this year from the US. We could have worked from Switzerland (where Medair is based), but the canton in which HQ is located was not open to having Americans enter. So we were stuck. About that time I went to the airport to pick up Annika's boyfriend Rudi. When he heard that we couldn't go to Switzerland, he suggested that we go to Albania where Rudi is from! So that is what we have done. Rudi's family have welcomed us royally, found us an apartment to rent (which had internet already), stocked the apartment with food and have helped us navigate life in Albania. We have settled into life here, working remotely with our teams in Bangladesh. 

We thought we would be able to get visas once we got here, but it has gotten incredibly complicated. We are continuing to look at different possibilities for getting visas, but it is also possible that we will end up working out the rest of our contract here in Albania. This would not be our desire! But we are thankful every day that we don't have to navigate an 11 hour time difference with our colleagues in Bangladesh!

Bangladesh is definitely continuing to experience a surge since April - and while morbidity in the camps had remained lower than in the general populace, just this morning there was a message saying that the test positivity rate in the camps is 25%. You have probably seen the reports of the COVID crisis in India (as this made international news while we were back in the States). The Delta variant (sometimes called the Indian variant) has definitely made it to Bangladesh. This is part of what is pushing up the cases in Bangladesh. This weekend the government announced a stricter lockdown from Thursday for a period of 7 days. It sounds like it will be difficult go out of one's home, offices will all be closed, and it will make it difficult for economic activity to continue. It remains to be seen what this will mean for services in the camps (which have continued, this year, at a slightly higher level than last year during COVID). Through this severe lockdown the government is really looking to try and get the  COVID infections under control. Infection rates for those tested have gone over 20%. On April 19th of this year, Bangladesh had the most deaths reported (nationwide) in one day - 112. Last Friday the nation logged 108 deaths from COVID-19. All of these factors have pushed the government to declare the severe lockdown. 

The test positivity rates of COVID-19 had remained lower in the camps than in the general populace - until now. The high positivity rate in the camps is very worrying. There have been certain sections of the camps that have had higher rates.  And quarantine and isolation facilities in those sections of the camp are now entirely full. These facilities are nearly empty in other areas of the camps. We are thankful that the Rohingya now have much more confidence in health facilities than this time last year! They are going to health facilities for treatment and have been willing to go to quarantine facil.  

Over the last couple of months we have also had a few staff who have contracted COVID-19, both those who work in the camps and those who work at the base. So we are working very hard at infection control measures at this point. When a family member contracts the infection, then our staff have to isolate at home. And we have procedures to follow for staff returning to work after an infection. 

We are very concerned about the COVID-19 situation in Bangladesh. We will try and update you more regularly. Your prayers mean so much to us and to those who we serve!

Praise: 

1. To have been by mom's bedside before the Lord took her home!
2. For the faith heritage we have from both of our families!
3. For the privilege of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. 
4. For the opportunity to have camped one weekend with our kids while in the States. 
   
5. That the Rohingya have greater confidence in camp health facilities and are coming to the health posts that Medair runs, and accepting to be put into quarantine or isolation units as well - this is super positive! But the population density in the camps remains a condition ripe for breeding the virus.

Prayer:

1. For peace based on justice in the Rohingya's homeland - the coup has only make the possibility of the Rohingya returning to Myanmar more remote.
2. For getting COVID-19 under control in Bangladesh (and the subregion). 
3. For safety from COVID-19 for Medair staff and refugees.
4. For us to get visas to return to Bangladesh - it looks like it will take a greater miracle than any of the previous visa miracles!

Rohingya camp fires - another update

 Greetings all, 

Lean-to's popping up on the scorched earth

When Rachel, the Country Director, and Phil went out on Wednesday to encourage the shelter staff in their hard work, we saw up close and personal the devastation wrought by the inferno! As mentioned earlier, our shelter team had already distributed some emergency shelter kits and the team was continuing the process. People immediately set up their small lean-to's so that they could begin to have a little bit of shelter from the elements. Hot season seems to be in full swing now, so the shade was really needed!

Here are the numbers, from International Organization of Migration (IOM), regarding how many households are affected (around 17,000 households from one fire!): 

Refugees returned immediately from where they had fled during the fire and reclaimed their spots on the sites of their burned down shelters. All were sifting through the ashes of their lives to see if they could find anything of value. Signs of resilience were quite evident. Some were clearing away rubble and cleaning up their little piece of land.  Some Rohingya had already set up tables to begin again their business of selling small items in order to support their families.  LPG gas bottles were being handed out so families could cook again. 

Google Earth view of the scorched earth where Medair
SHE team is working

In addition to the shelter kits other organizations responsible for the affected camps were distributing solar lights, water, and food. These few items really helped people to begin to reestablish themselves on the site of their home. 

One of the factors that enabled this immediate response is that sectors working in the refugee camp (whether they are shelter, health, nutrition, or food security) have prepositioned emergency supplies. Prepositioning emergency supplies is mandated due to the known vulnerability of this location in the case of monsoon flooding or cyclones. Thanks to this prepositioning, the day after the fire these supplies were being distributed to those in need because the supplies were already in the camps!

Transporting the kits to 8E - SE Asia style!

Medair is also going to be distributing Home Isolation Kits to households in 8E most likely tomorrow. As mentioned in the first update, we are also in the midst of a surge of COVID19 here in Bangladesh. As Rohingya have lost everything, including essential buckets, containers and other hygiene related supplies their vulnerabilty to COVID19 is increased. The kits will give them some basic cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and some face masks. 

Here are a couple of links to stories put out by Medair. One has a video in it of one of our SHE staff and Rachel: 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/medair_bangladesh-medair-responds-to-deadly-fire-activity-6781122778608214016-kXjh

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/medair_bangladesh-activity-6780896194735415296-QwVv

If you are interested in supporting these efforts in some way there are also links in these two articles to donate. But you can always go on medair.org to make donations. Right now there is a link on the home page with more information on the fire (where you can also donate). 

Praise for:

1. 

   The kits being loaded into the distribution point out
   of which we took the prepositioned emergency 
   shelter kits

   Preparedness (a big part of humanitarian aid work) which allowed needed supplies to get to those needing them in short order
2. The hard work of many teams (including the Medair SHE team in particular) responding to the need even during this weekend. 
3. Successful surgery on Christine's mom's brain tumor.

Prayers for: 

1. CiC's (Camp-in-Charge) to give us the permission to start our kit distribution tomorrow - it looks like we have it, but these things can change quickly
2. resilience and comfort for those who have lost so much
3. the next steps to get the Rohingya into more permanent housing - rain is forecasted for Tuesday!
4. the reestablishment of paperwork for those whose paperwork went up in smoke
5. Christine's mom - thanks for all the prayers and expressions of solidarity with the Lindell family!

Update on Christine's mom (Faith Lindell)

I want to give you an update on my mom following her surgery on Wednesday. Her brain surgery showed that she had a glioblastoma - one of the most aggressive types of brain cancer. She came through the surgery quite well and spent an overnight in the ICU. Yesterday she was recovering well enough to be moved into a regular room and has been up, standing a couple of times. The tumor was located on/close to the speech part of her brain, which is how we first realized something was going on. Mom had all of a sudden started having difficulty finding words. The surgeon informed my sister that he thinks he was able to get 80-90% of the tumor, which is actually more than he was expecting given the type of tumor. We are not sure what the next steps will be - typically for this type of surgery there is radiation and chemotherapy which follows.

One of the risks of this surgery, given the location, was damage to speech. Mom has been able to say some words and already has a speech therapist who has come to work with her. So we are hopeful that with time and a decrease in the swelling, that her speech will improve.

We are grateful that the surgery went as well as it did and grateful that the surgeon was able to take out as much of the tumor as he could. We understand this is an aggressive type of cancer so at this point, we are most grateful to still have some more time with mom. 

Thank you for all your prayers and well wishes. And we'd like to ask for your ongoing prayers.

We appreciate it alot.

Christine

Updates on refugee camp fire and prayer request for Christine's mom

Personal loss, sadness and tragedy - today we mourn the loss of so much here in the Kutapalong refugee camp. This day comes to a close with results from rapid assessments on damage caused by the massive fire that swept through the camp yesterday. As we hear of the loss of life, belongings and homes of thousands of refugees here in Kutapalong refugee camp, we also are saddened by the discovery last week of a brain tumor in Christine's mom.

Annika, mom (Faith) and Nathan

Faith Lindell (Christine's mom) experienced a very sudden onset of not being able to come up with words when she was talking. A CT scan last week revealed a brain tumor. Siblings and grandkids have rallied around her and dad during this difficult time. We are grateful for so many family members living close to her in Minnesota. It is difficult to be so far away. Mom will be undergoing surgery on Wednesday morning (central time USA) in St Paul, Minnesota. We ask for your prayers.

In addition we ask that you continue to join us in praying for the ongoing emergency here in KTP.

This morning our shelter team headed out early to camp 8E to begin their emergency response to the loss of homes from the fire yesterday. 12 hours later they finished up for the day and have sent some photos.  The team did their initial assessment of the damage and then began distribution of emergency kits. They managed to do an initial distribution of 228 kits. The team will be back in the field again tomorrow and will continue with the kit distribution. They will likely be working on emergency response for some time to come.  

In the areas of the camps where the fire swept through nothing has been left untouched

Shelter team setting up for distributions

'The tiny beginnings of a new home' for 228 families today

Shelter kits include the following items:

Rope 6mm: 1bundle
Tarp: 1 pcs
Floor Mat: 2pcs
Mosquito Net: 1pcs
Blanket: 2pcs
Jute Bag: 3pcs
Face Mask: 3pcs
Muli Bamboo: 3pcs

Initial rapid assessments show 8 adults and 3 children died in the fire that swept through yesterday. Approximately 10,000 homes were destroyed and 100s of other facilities (health posts, hospital, distribution sites, schools, etc). We will continue to hear more details in the coming days.