Taking a break from flood news, Shari actually has a very big event going on this morning.
The Amigas del Alma baking experts are going to be putting on a very public event in Jesús María. It’s themed around Valentine’s Day (also called Day of Love and Friendship here).
The women who come will enjoy some wonderful cookies made by the baking class, and there’s a guest speaker speaking on unconditional love. See the poster below (designed by our friend Samuel).
There’s still a lot to be done this morning – setting up and all stuff like that there. It starts at 9:30am (Lord willing!) and will go into early afternoon.
I know that Shari and the other two Amigas would appreciate your prayers – this really will be (Lord willing) a BIG event.
I won’t be going (since it’s a women’s event) – I’ll be doing something even more fun than eating cookies – getting a blood test and doing errands! 😉
In spite of the fact that there hasn’t been any rain in the last few days, in some areas the flooding actually seems to be getting worse. This is because water is still pouring out of the sewage canal. As our co-worker Rod put it, can you imagine sewage water in your refrigerator, your stove, your pantry?
Of course, if the water has gone down in your area, your fridge and stove may have been bulldozed out of the way, in an attempt to clean the streets. The filth is a huge problem, made worse by the fact that people don’t have enough clean water.
The good news is, you can help! Our mission has set up a specific project for the disaster relief. Here’s what you can do…
To help flood victims
You can send a donation either to CAM International (in the USA) or CAM International of Canada. Make a note with your donation that it’s for Project #062250. For information on how to donate, click here.
Next, please let us know that you’ve donated. Then we’ll be able to buy what we need right away, rather than waiting for your actual cheque to go through the system.
We’re already collecting items for our neighbours who have lost everything in this flood. There’s also talk of setting up a kind of a soup kitchen to serve breakfast to people.
Even a few dollars would provide something – some clean water, a meal, etc.
More updates
Here are some more videos so you can see the current extent of the flooding here. They’re in Spanish, but they still give you an idea even if you don’t understand the language.
But to give you an overview – people are concerned about disease with the lack of clean water. If they have anything left, they’re concerned about looting, and so many have gone back to their houses, in spite of the growing danger from the sewage.
Recent news coverage:
From above (yes, those rivers used to be streets):
There’s also reports that more rain might be coming later this week. Hopefully, this won’t happen.
The flood waters are still high a few minutes down the road. Because the sewage water is still draining, it’s been hard to make much progress getting the water out of the buildings and streets.
The President recently toured the area, which has been declared a disaster zone. Apparently, many hundreds of homes in other parts of Mexico City were also flooded. It adds up to several thousand homes in our state.
Obviously there is concern about the spread of disease in these areas. And again, with sudden flooding like this, many people have lost everything – furniture, appliances, clothes, computers – everything awash in sewage water.
As a group here we hope to get some relief supplies tomorrow, and start distributing as soon as we can. Obviously, it’s been hard thus far to get organized, with water levels still rising (although thankfully we haven’t had any more rain).
Cold and wind is also a concern – though hopefully the wind will help to dry things up.
If you’re interested in helping us provide relief supplies – even a few dollars will help – feel free to contact us by phone or email. Thanks to those who are praying, and the couple who have already donated.
Yesterday some of our friends went to take a look at the incredible flooding just a few minutes away from where we live.
The flooding happened on a major highway, which goes from Mexico City to the City of Puebla, in an area known as Chalco. I drove that highway yesterday and this morning, and where I got on was just where they had it all blocked off (but I was going the other direction).
The river (which is actually sewage water) actually runs above the highway, and so when the river bank burst the highway was quickly flooded, along with houses and businesses nearby. There were explosions – vehicles burned – people killed – it’s going to be a long time before anyone can even get some of the vehicles out of the river, which is now running through the highway and nearby buildings.
You need to understand, it rarely rains like this here, even in rainy season (it’s dry season now). The rain normally comes in short bursts with lots of sunshine in between. Continual rain over more than one day is rare, and no one is ready for it.
I’m going to include a couple videos below from Rod Fry, and I’ll give you a link below so that you can read more at his blog about the flooding and see more videos if you like.
We’re going to try to do some networking and see if we can provide some relief to families in the area, many of whom have probably lost everything. News sources have said that 12 thousand families were affected in Chalco. If you’d like to help, please let us know as soon as you can. Thanks! Hopefully we can distribute food, clothes … whatever people need … in Jesus’ name.
Here’s a Google Maps shot of the area where the river bank burst. You can see the river winding above the highway. If you zoom out just a bit, you’ll see Ixtapaluca where we live, north of the highway. We live just off the highway.
You’ll be glad to hear it’s a beautiful sunny day today. The house is slowly drying out!
It hasn’t been so good everywhere else. There were at least 7 deaths in Mexico due to flooding. And the major highway near us is closed. I hear someone was in a boat… on the highway… today!
I’m just heading to the city of Puebla to spend the night at a medical clinic, for a sleep study (that is, a polysomnography). Of course I’m looking forward to a night of being probed and poked and tested – and first I have a questionnaire of 9 pages small print to fill out, so they know everything I’ve done or thought about doing for the last 6 months!
Other than that, I’m focusing on getting ready for my keyboard class on Monday (it’s a big week – we’re going to learn a LOT of chords!), finishing up the next phase of the chronological Bible study, and I’m finishing a course.
Not much on my mind – I should sleep well!
I’d better run – I have no idea what the highway is going to be like. Talk to you later! 🙂
