Today our team scouted out other possible work sites for not only our team, but future World Race teams as well. Our first stop was the small town of Santa Catarina, where Ben (our contact) has helped a few families, building houses. So many families have lost their homes in the mudslides this year. Basically, mud and rocks come flying down from the mountains like a tidal wave, destroying anything in it's path. We saw houses destroyed by huge rocks. We saw houses with roofs ripped off, filled to the brim with mud and rocks. When people dig up their homes, they sometimes find bodies of those less fortunate who were buried alive and carried down the mountain by the force of the mudslide.
Yeah. It's crazy. The damage has been blowing my mind. We haven't been involved with helping these folks yet (the materials and equipment needed to do proper digging is too expensive for the people here, including our contact.) I've tried to capture the damage on camera, but it just isn't coming across well…so I'm holding off until I can accurately convey what it is we're seeing.
We did meet a family today who is in drastic need of a new roof. Manuela lives in an old home that leaks like crazy whenever it rains. Her solution, try and fill the holes in the roof with bubble gum and nails. We think we might be able to do better, and hopefully in the next 2 weeks will start construction on a new roof for her. But enough talking, why don;t you see Manuela, and her daughter Melanie for yourself…
Melanie's play pen is a wooden box next to the firewood…
This is their house…where they live with Manuela's parents…those light spots on the left wall are from the holes in their roof…
And this is sort of a storage area where Manuela sleeps with her mother. On the stone floor, which from what I could tell, wasn't level or flat at all. And they sleep there because it's dry.
And here's the outside of their home…
Hopefully we'll be able to help Manuela and her family before we leave. But they are just one of a large number of families in this area that are in desperate need of help, without any means to really do much for themselves. I don't want to ask questions like, "Why aren't those of us who are incredibly rich and who have resources to help not helping? There's a huge need!" But I know those kind of questions are cliche…and I don't want to write a cliche blog. But, in just 2 weeks of being here, and seeing the "real world" up close and personal…I can't help but ask why more isn't being done.
And right now, there isn't an answer. But we're here, and we're hopeful. We know that our Father is aware, that He is good. And that He has a plan to redeem. And that's all I have to go on. So instead of being hopeless (which is so easy to fall into when you see the destruction here), we'll walk in faith in hope, holding the hand of our God who loves these people more than we ever could.
