THUNDER BAY — A North Bay man has travelled to Africa to help some of the tens of thousands of families left in desperate situations by a cyclone that devastated parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
John Best is one of five Canadians on a 67-member team dispatched to Mozambique by Samaritan's Purse, an international, nondenominational evangelical Christian organization that has provided relief to disaster victims around the globe.
Since Cyclone Idai struck on March 14, about 600 people in the country have been confirmed dead. Nearly 130,000 people have been displaced, and cholera is spreading rapidly among the survivors.
Samaritan's Purse has flown in relief items including medical supplies, tarpaulins for shelter and water treatment equipment.
Best will work with the organization's water, sanitation and hygiene team through the end of April.
The group is repairing and chlorinating wells in an area where cholera cases are showing up.
This is Best's second international deployment with Samaritan's Purse, as he has also worked at a sanatorium the organization supports in Jordan.
