12-23-16 Talanga, Honduras
Two days before Christmas our ministry host asked us to assemble a crew to provide cleanup relief. Several days before, a single mother of five had a tragic fire incident that caused their home and all of their belongings to burn to the ground. Trapped in that fire was her seven month old girl.
The fire was caused by a candle as there was no electricity. The mother, Clemente, had lit a candle in the same room as her infant. She had to go get another candle to have more light, a routine that was most likely normal. In the time that it took her to go get the other candle, the lit candle had knocked over. Clemente came back to her house set ablaze with her daughter, Estefany, trapped inside. An incident that no one could have predicted.
As myself and seven others walked to the property, sadness hung in the air. The property itself was nothing but burnt wood and ash. The mother and neighbors were inside trying to salvage anything they could: half burnt dishes and wood that could be made into bricks. My team went straight to work. I immediately had a task of gathering burnt belongings and putting them into a pile. Piles of their life just burned to shreds. My heart broke as I picked up a pair of the infants tattered shorts and I tried to hide them so the mother wouldn’t see.
Underneath a lot of the burnt wood was pages of a bible scattered about, the edges of each page a little scorned but still the words remanded.
Half way through the cleanup a rainbow stretched over the property, reminding the us that God was with the family through it all.
Genesis 9:13 “I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”
Within two hours we had the property cleaned. Clemente had been watching and I kept wishing that I could do more for her. I went over to hug her as did the other two girls there. The mother walked away and came back shortly with a picture of her daughter. Me and her just stared at the picture in silence. Even though we could not speak the same language no words needed to be said as we stood in mourning together.
Later that day the family came to the children’s home that we were staying at, Heart of Christ, to receive clothes for the boys. The ministry also gave them a few days worth of food. The boys each got four outfits and as they were trying them on the mother waited outside quietly so I sat beside her. It was a moment I truly wished I could speak Spanish but looking back I think just sitting with her spoke a lot.
Earlier in the day I had noticed that she was about my size clothes wise. I was able to give her three shirts, two pairs of underwear that were brand new (her face lit up when she saw them) and a sports bra. The ministry was able to give her a few pairs of pants and skirts as well as toiletries. As the minutes passed I kept looking at her half full bag thinking “She lost all of her belongings and now this is all she has. If I was in her position what would I need.” Moments later my teammate had brought down a journal, another girl brought down earrings to give her and another gave her their favorite bag. Every time someone gave her a gift she politely smiled with tears in her eyes. I ran to my backpack to find more to give her. I grabbed a clutch and a solar powered lamp. Within the next few minutes there was a line of girls from the teams waiting to give her countless shirts and skirts. Before I knew it she had two bags overflowing with the gifts we had given her. In that moment I couldn’t have been more proud of all of the girls that gave away what little they had to someone who had even less.
Clemente showed an immense amount of strength that day. From watching us clean up the remains of her house to being able to smile as her boys each came to show her what they had received. I ask that you would keep Clemente and her four boys in your prayers as they grieve the loss of Estefany and that they would financially be blessed so they may build another house.
