Boujour,
It’s hard to believe we only arrived 48 hours ago…so much has happened!
We arrived late Tuesday and were met by Thony, the country director and Wilson, one of the interpreters AND intense heat! The truck ride to headquarters impacted us greatly. The thousands of buildings destroyed, mountains of rubble and trash and the hundreds of people walking the streets, very emotional. To see three and four story homes collapsed, like they were flattened by a giant stepping on the roof. Gas stations intact but oddly slanted as if the whole station would fall over at any moment. One home completely reduced to rubble and the house next door in pristine condition. It strangely reminded me of a spooky ride in Disney World.
Most available space is occupied by tents, rubble or people. Tents erected in the middle of streets, on sidewalks, in large compounds.. thousands upon thousands of tents, signs everywhere asking for water, food and help. We tried driving down one street but couldn’t get through because of the tents, we passed a mother bathing her kids in a big barrel and the kids were all smiles, a woman selling mangos on the street washing her arms with numerous of small plastic sacs of water and the saddest… the blank stares on many faces. I can’t even imagine what they must be feeling. It’s heartbreaking but through it all you can see the spirit of the people going about the business of putting their lives back together. They realize life will probably not go back to what they knew but they are trying to do the best with what they have left.
We traveled across the mountains to Jacmel yesterday to meet with a team from Maryland. They have been conducting VBS all week and we traveled up the mountains to a small village. What an adventure, four wheeling through three large bodies of muddy water, navigating around immense boulders laying in the road, watching people bathing and washing clothes in streams and playing all day with the kids in deep rich red clay mud. I’m sure you can picture what we looked like at the end of the day. I saw a herd of donkeys and they all had saddles made of wood. Can you imagine riding on that? The kids were so sweet and the first time I couldn’t find David I just followed the crowd of kids The team was able to feed 100 kids lunch, which is a very big deal! They played, performed skits and sang. It was a great day that ended with a “wonderful” cold shower, but after two days it was heavenly I see lots of baseball caps in my future…
I never thought I’d say this, but the roads in Zambia are looking better and better all the time Driving/riding here is like a roller coaster and I’m so grateful I’m not prone to motion sickness. The cars, motorcycles and people all crowding the streets and navigating rubble everywhere, closing my eyes works Our bodies are tired and sore, brings back Zambia memories
It’s been four months and news coverage has dropped off, but the needs have not. Continue to pray for the work here, there is still so much to be done. As God reminds us throughout his word, we can not turn away from our brothers in need, it’s our responsibility as Christians to help each other.
We are going to begin to look for accommodations this weekend, it’s so tough as there is very little housing available due to the earthquake. The rains have been terrible and the other night we watched tents collapse and flood. Please pray that we find something soon… Thanks for being there for us and joining us on our journey!
Blessings,
David and Beth
P. S. Did you know that baby tarantulas are blue? I didn’t either… very eery looking.
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