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World Vision staff on the ground in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala have been assessing the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Mitch in many communities or villages where there are World Vision sponsored children. This process is taking time both due to the extent of the damage and to the devastation caused by the Hurricane to the communications and transportation infrastructure in these countries.
We are sorry that, at this time, we do not yet have specific information we can share on individual children and the families living in World Vision project areas. Please know that World Vision is doing everything possible to supply food, medicine and shelter to those who have been affected by the hurricane.
However, please be assured that a process is in place to gather this information at the field level and transmit it to our headquarters here in the U.S. so we can inform sponsors of children whose families have experienced a death, injury, or a destruction of their home as a result of this disaster. We are working this process now and should have most of the information we need by the end of December.
During the month of December and possibly into January, we will be attempting to call by telephone specific child sponsors if and when we learn that the family of their sponsored child has experienced a death, injury, or the destruction of their home as a result of Hurricane Mitch. If we cannot reach a sponsor by phone, we will attempt to convey this information to the child's sponsor by letter.
As soon as we learn of a problem, we will attempt to contact the child's sponsor. If we have not yet contacted you and you have a sponsored child in Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, or Guatemala, you can safely assume either your child and his or her family is okay, or else we have not yet learned of their status.
Additionally, we will be sending more generic information by mail soon to sponsors of children in these four countries. Also, please refer to the information on our website regarding Hurricane Mitch.
Your prayers for the children, their families and World Vision staff in Central America are deeply appreciated. And we also appreciate your patience as we seek to assess and communicate the effects of this disaster.
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