Crisis Relief Services
& Training

CREST & Crises

Today we see an alarming rise in what is now termed Complex Humanitarian Emergencies --- millions of helpless people displaced by recurring civil/ethnic strife and genocide within a country. Many of these are women and children, their lives forever changed by the horrific events that they have undergone. Each day more than 10,000 refugees are added to the total statistics.

Since the inception of CREST in 1998, CREST team members have been there for people facing difficulties and danger. Our help has given them opportunities to renew their lives out of the devastation around them.

In the face of all these, any one organisation (or person) will be overwhelmed by the needs presented. How can your partnership with us make a difference? The following story will give you the answer.

A man was walking along a beach at low-tide. He had to walk carefully as there were thousands of starfish stranded on the hot sandy beach. He saw a boy pick up a starfish, run to the edge of the outgoing tide and throw the starfish back into the sea. The man stopped to watch. The boy kept running to and fro, saving one starfish at a time.

Looking at the thousands yet to be helped, the man asked the boy, "Is what you're doing going to make any difference, son? Look at the thousands yet to be saved!"

The boy did not reply. He picked up another starfish, ran to the edge of the water and threw it back into the sea. as he came back to pick up another starfish, he said to the man, "It made a difference for that one, sir."

The man was moved. He had nothing else to say. He rolled up his sleeves and trousers and joined the boy, saving one starfish at a time.

One person's life can either build a community or destroy it. It just takes one life to make a difference.

CREST members have made a difference not only to just one life, but to whole communities. Our trained team members have, both on their own as well as by networking with other NGOs, contributed to the relief of crises caused by natural disasters and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies.