Delivering Help and Hope to the Northern Mariana Islands
On three separate trips, Samaritan’s Purse 767 aircraft delivered more than 240,000 pounds of aid to the islands of Saipan and Tinian. Included in the cargo were medical supplies to help the healthcare infrastructure of the island recover from widespread devastation.
As Super Typhoon Sinlaku gained speed in the western Pacific Ocean and shifted eastward, Northern Mariana Islanders sought safety under concrete structures and braced for impact. For nearly three days, the hovering storm ushered in torrential rain and strong winds, stripping trees, barricading streets with debris, and flooding homes and businesses.
“I prayed every single minute of that storm,” said Tinian resident Arley Long. As a nurse practitioner, Arley not only lost parts of her home, but her clinic on the southern end of the island sustained excessive damage and began accumulating mould.
Without electricity or supplies, she was unable to attend to her patient’s needs.
“The clinic was massively flooded, and water was up to my ankles when I went in,” she said. “Many patients are homebound with bedsores. They have no power, so their wounds are getting worse.”
Helping Clinics Recover
Because Tinian is so remote, it often takes weeks for aid to reach the 40-square-mile island after a disaster. Arley praised God when she heard that Samaritan’s Purse was coming to her hurting community.
In addition to delivering critical aid and offering medical care in the Northern Mariana Islands, our team set up three clinic restart modules–two in Saipan and one in Tinian.
Tinian resident and nurse practitioner Arley Long hugs Samaritan’s Purse staff member Brett Alleman in gratitude for getting her clinic operational again.
This clinic restart module is allowing Arley to provide critical care to her patients who had gone without it for weeks since the storm.
“These modules allow clinic staff to reopen and be able to treat the people within their community,” said Brett Alleman, Samaritan’s Purse medical operations officer. “Each clinic receives six boxes of consumables (like bandages), chairs, handwashing stations, an assortment of buckets, stethoscopes, surgical suture equipment, and a generator.”
Arley was a recipient of this aid, allowing her to begin seeing patients again and making home visits.
“A lot of patients have reached us through [social media],” Arley said. “We are thankful to Samaritan’s Purse for the mobile clinics that they are setting up.”
One of her patients, Augusta, has been bedbound since 2023 with a chronic disease. Bringing supplies from her new clinic, Arley was able to clean and bandage Augusta’s wounds.
“Thanks to Samaritan’s Purse, volunteers, and donors, we have received help,” Augusta said. “I’m grateful.”
Augusta also received a generator from Samaritan’s Purse, which allowed her to adjust her hospital bed that had previously been causing her discomfort and pain.
Despite the great trials she has faced, Augusta has held fast to her faith.
“At first, I was mad at God. ‘Why me?’” she would ask. “And then I began to realise that He had a plan for me. So, who am I to question it, but to embrace Him.”
For Alleman, the medical supplies provided through the clinic restart module programme offer medical professionals more than physical resources–they represent God’s tender care for the people of Saipan and Tinian.
“Tears come to their eyes knowing that they get to actually support the patients that they love and care about so much,” he said. “There is this wave of relief over them to see that God’s promise is being fulfilled before their eyes, and that help is coming.”
Reaching Remote Communities
Each day on the neighbouring island of Saipan, our mobile medical team sets up in the hardest-hit communities and provides free medical care, while our outpatient clinic continues serving dozens of patients. Because most of the island is still without power and water, our two desalination systems remain hard at work and have produced thousands of gallons of clean drinking water for residents.
Our mobile medical unit treated patients in need of care at Marianas High School.
The Crisostomo family set up tents in their kitchen as temporary accommodation after the storm.
Partnering with churches throughout the region to identify families in need, our teams have distributed essential aid like tarps, solar lights, generators, shovels, and mosquito nets.
“These gifts that Samaritan’s Purse gives are an avenue of sharing the true hope that is Jesus Christ,” said Eric Abragan, pastor of one of our partner churches, Life in the Son Christian Fellowship. “We focus on giving help but also giving hope, and we know hope is found in Jesus Christ.”
The Crisostomo family experienced this hope when members of our team visited their home at the top of a mountain at the northern tip of Saipan. Due to their remote location, James, his wife, Nicole, and their five children hadn’t received aid since the storm.
“We don’t really get assistance up here, so for Samaritan’s Purse to come to see if people are living up here meant a lot,” James said. “And when they said they were going to give us lights, tarps, and a generator, it was overwhelming. I didn’t know what to say.”
Not only did their windows break open during the typhoon, but the family’s entire roof was swept away in the 150-mph winds, leaving their belongings exposed to the torrential rain.
James pitched camping tents in the kitchen for the kids to sleep in at night.
“We pretty much lost everything,” James said. “All that we owned got wet, damaged, or cracked. Pictures from when the kids were babies are gone. It’s been hard.”
When our team travelled up the mountain with supplies, the family was reminded that they had not been forgotten.
When James received lights, tarp, and a generator, he said it was overwhelming. “I didn’t know what to say.”
Distribution Coordinator Shawn Kostrzewa (centre) prays with the Crisostomo family when Samaritan’s Purse delivered relief items to their storm-battered home on top of a mountain.
“It is important to let these families know that they are safe and cared for, and to let them know we’re nothing other than vessels delivering these goods,” said Samaritan’s Purse Distribution Coordinator Shawn Kostrzewa. “It’s just through Jesus.”
With the tarps, James can now provide a temporary roof over his children’s heads and keep the belongings they were able to recover dry. The family has also utilised the generator to charge their phones and communicate with others.
While the items our team delivered provided some physical relief, James was greatly encouraged when Shawn presented him with a Bible, signed by team members. The family had lost all their books in the storm, including their one copy of God’s Word. While James had always known about God, he had never surrendered his life to Him. After hearing the Gospel presentation from Shawn, James was greatly moved and gave his life to Jesus Christ!
“The tarp, light, and generator are resources to help get their family more stable,” Shawn said, “but the Bible [will let them] look back and remember the love of Jesus.”
Please pray for the communities in Saipan and Tinian as they continue to recover from the devastating typhoon. Please also keep our teams in your prayers as they serve islanders in Jesus’ Name.
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