Yes, after quite a few days with no rain, the rain has returned.
We went back to Chalco today, this time to a new location, to serve breakfast. Mostly we saw dry streets (all right, they were dry until it started raining!), though there are still pools of water here and there (such as in lots and buildings).
So the clean up is really getting rolling, which means mass chaos (as you’ll see). Most businesses in this area are still closed (well, the door may be open, but there’s nothing inside worth selling!), but people are shovelling things out of houses and out of sewers and so on.
Though some help is coming now, it’s little and it’s late. There were some recent protests by people from one community in Chalco a day or two ago. They had a "discussion" with police, as they asked why more help has not come.
A few of you have helped, and it’s appreciated. A couple people have mentioned that there’s been little (no?) coverage of this in Canada. Considering the thousands impacted, that’s pretty amazing. But we appreciate those of you who have been watching and listening here, and praying and giving.
Here’s a brief video to give you an idea what the street looked like today. With the rain, it was pretty miserable, and let’s just say the air wasn’t pleasant (which is why you’ll see many wearing facial masks)…
Imagine having a metre or two of sewage water in your house for 9 DAYS. You have nowhere to take a bath, nothing to cook with, and no food even if you could cook it.
This is day 9 after the water flooded into Chalco, a few minutes from our house, after heavy rains hit Mexico. The disaster affected thousands of people. The houses will never be the same.
In some areas where the water has receded, you can see how bad things actually are. The sewage water rushed into people’s houses and pooled in there, now leaving filthy sewage sludge in each house. Bed, fridges, clothes, stoves, TVs, microwaves … many things are now just garbage, to be left in the street and hauled away.
One of the concerns, naturally, is that disease is spreading because of the conditions. Skin deseases and "pink eye" are the biggest concerns at the moment.
I took some brief footage today (just over 2 minutes) to show you how the water has receded in some areas, though if you look close you can still see people in boats and a car with water up to the middle of its windows. Some cleanup has begun, though it’s amazing how little help there has been.
You can also see, at the beginning, people from our church serving hot breakfasts and lots of people enjoying them.
Once the water goes down, we hope to be able to give out some pre-boxed provisions (despensas) door to door. If you would like to help, these are around $10 each – please contact us if you’re interested in providing one or more. This one pictured above is a typical despensa. It contains basic food supplies.
This morning several of us went back to the flood zone in Chalco to serve hot breakfasts to a few of the flood victims. Refried beans, eggs, bread, hot coffee, and water.
Just getting started, serving breakfast in Chalco
Quite a few people came, but it’s difficult to get to a lot of people because of the water.
Fortunately, there were people in boats coming and going that helped us out. We served out the food, covered it up well in bags, and they loaded it onto the boat. Then they would go to houses, climb ladders or send up buckets with food and supplies.
We hope to be able to serve breakfasts for 10-15 days, so we’ll see how it goes. So far so good. Later on we’ll also be giving out more necessities.
This afternoon I went to SAM’s Club and picked up 279 litres of bottled water to bring down to the flood zone in Chalco. I followed our co-worker, Rod, who had some clothes, some water, a grill, and some other odds and ends.
The plan is to set up a headquarters where we can serve breakfast to people for a couple of weeks. This should be a tremendous help in a place where people have little left, including food and clean water.
We’ve been able to make some contacts there, and so are building relationships so that we can make sure the help gets to people who need it most. And that means a lot of people.
People wait for a boat on the sidewalk, by what should be a normal street, not a river. Many are taking supplies back to their families in the flood zone.
We walked along the highway in the late afternoon, and I was able to get some pictures and video. Since we didn’t have access to a boat, this is only the edge of the flood zone you’re seeing – there’s much, much more. But the video will give you an idea of how bad the flooding is, even if you can only see a bit of it. You’ll also see some of the work being done to try to stop the flow of sewage water.
Here’s the video from today:
You can help by sending a few dollars in as a donation. Just contact us, and we’ll be able to go ahead and purchase what we need – as long as we know the money is coming. Lord willing tomorrow will be the first breakfast. Thanks to the two couples who have already donated!
I’ve posted some photos as well in our Recent shots… album.
Amigas del Alma…
Sorry to mix topics here, but both of these things are important! Thanks for all who prayed for the Amigas del Alma Valentine’s Event. It was this morning, and it was a big success! About 50 people came, and heard about unconditional love and about the Gospel. Please continue to pray for the relationships made with many new people.
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! 😉
