Salvation Army Finds Strength in Founder’s Mission amid Tsunami Relief

It has been reported that British Major David Ramsay, the Salvation Army’s Tsunami Relief Officer currently working in Tamil Nadu in India believes that the Salvation Army founder, William Booth, would be at the fore-front of the tsunami relief effort if he was still alive today.

William Booth founded the Salvation Army in East London in 1865, although it was called the “Christian Mission” until 1978. The organisation has now grown into one of the most recognised and established international evangelical movements in the world.

Major Ramsay’s comments come as the devastation from last December’s tsunami in south-east Asia remains. The tsunami was the result of an earthquake in the ocean on Boxing Day 2004 and left 227,000 people dead or missing across Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Assist News was able to speak with Major Ramsay as he was about to board a plane heading for South India, in the tsunami-hit region.

Ramsay reported to Assist News, “I believe that William Booth would definitely be here if he was still alive. Our motto in the Salvation Army is - Heart to God...Hand to Man - and I believe he would be at the forefront of our work to help the victims of this tragedy.”

The Salvation Army officer from Kent, UK reported that he arrived in India two months before, after working in Africa for a number of years. He said, “When I arrived, most of the devastation had been cleared -- other than rubble lying here and there. I went to a place called Nagappattinam which is down the south east coast and the horror of what happened was brought home to me when I saw a picture in a local office taken on the day after the Tsunami. It was of some little girls lying dead on a concrete slab. It was then that I realized the reality of what had happened.”

He continued, “The other thing that hit me was to learn about the height of the waves which were as high as 20 meters (more than 65 feet) and to stand there on the beach and try and imagine the size of those waves that actually came in made me realize how horrendous and frightening it must have been. It did affect me and I have been doing this for many years.

“Being here has been more difficult than I thought it would be. The statistics for the Nagappattinam area alone was 6,065 dead all in about 20 minutes. It’s all beyond comprehension. When you go and stand there and try to imagine that number of people dying, you can’t imagine it and I was just blessed that I was there.”

The Salvation Army has been able to help survivors of the Tsunami, and Ramsay reported to Peter Wooding, director of Assist News, “One of the first things we have done is to help with their livelihood. Many of them had lost their homes so we stood up temporary homes, as did other NGO’s, and now we are moving into the livelihood programs; supplying boats and setting up self-help groups with micro credit to help them rebuild their lives.

“The re-housing has been an issue but it has now been resolved and about two weeks ago permission was given more or less all over for the building to start and so we have about 120 houses approved to be built down in my area, which is the south-east and south west coast.”

Regarding the tsunami slowly coming out of the media eye, Ramsay said, “That is some of the problem. When it goes out of the media spotlight we seem to lose focus on it. I think we need continued committed prayer for the salvation of all nations. That is really the answer and for us to never lose that focus in our church life; we should constantly pray for the nations that God the Holy Spirit will be able to touch people of all nations and -- particularly this one.”

Assist News asked Ramsay whether he questioned God when an event such as this one occurred, but the Salvation Army General firmly stated, “No, I don’t think I do. I don’t know the answer as to why; I wouldn’t try to answer that one, but I trust God for everything He does and for whatever reason this has happened, He knows the answer and I wouldn’t even start to answer that question.”