… or, "coming unhinged". Or, "you belong in the kitchen" …
Last Sunday morning (the 15th of August 2010) I took some pictures and video during our time together as a church (Iglesia BÃblica Sendero de Vida Jesús María – that is, Path of Life Bible Church Jesús María). This video shows some of that, along with some thoughts. And that brings us to something we want to pray about and work towards.
Check it out!
On Saturday we went to visit someone we first met in Canada, who is working for the school year in Mexico City. We were also able to meet some of the mission team that she, Monica, has been with. It was great to see Monica and meet some of her friends! 🙂
When we found out she’d never been to Xochimilco, we decided to go on a whim. Actually, we haven’t been since we moved here, so Hannah and Nathanael have never seen it.
As you may or may not know, Mexico City was once called "the Venice of the New World". Started on an island, it expanded out into the lake with a series of canals. It was a beautifully organized, developed city when the Spanish first saw it.
Spreading out from the city were man-made mini-island gardens called chinampas. This brilliant method of farming provided rich soil and rapid growth and harvesting of crops for a rapidly expanding empire.
When the Spanish arrived, the chinampas covered almost 90 square km (35 square miles). Today, the lake is gone, and the few canals of Xochimilco are all that are left.
Taking a boat out onto the canals is popular with Mexicans and tourists alike. Especially on holidays – like yesterday. I talked to several people who worked there, and they all said that it was crazy-busy – busier than last year.
So, at times, it was more like bumper-boats than a leisurely float down the canal! But it was still fun to see the sights, and listen to the music. You’ll hear it and see it in the video, and see how gardening is still key in this small part of Mexico City.
Here’s your video tour of Xochimilco:
Tomorrow we’re going to head into the middle of Mexico City to visit with someone we met in Canada this past summer. She’s spending some months doing ministry here in Mexico, so we’re finally going to connect with her and enjoy a bit of time together.
Then we’re back in Ixtapaluca for Resurrection Sunday at our new church! So we’re very excited about that!
Then the next day (Monday) we’re going to head north for (mostly) family holidays for 10 days. For 6 of those days we’ll be enjoying the Mexican countryside, visiting friends in Mexico, driving and hanging out in general.
For the other 4 we’ll be in the USA, popping up to the Dallas to visit more friends, and pick up some supplies for the ministry, pick up our mail and other peoples’, and more driving and hanging out. 🙂
We’ll also be enjoying time at the border renewing some paperwork, and likely paying out some money for this and that – hopefully it will be a minimum!
It will be good to have some time away as a family in the middle of such a busy time. Hannah and Nathanael have special permission to come back a few days late for school (their holidays end on the 12th, but they’ll be back in school on the 15th). We arranged it that way so that we could be home for this Sunday.
Anyway, I don’t know how much time we’ll have to connect between now and when we’re back, so I just wanted to let you know what’s happening. We would appreciate your prayers as we travel and cross borders.
Have a great weekend remembering the One who brought us Salvation!
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…
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.
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:
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.
For videos and more details, see our last post Major Flooding (a few minutes away) (videos)
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.
To read/see more, check out Rod’s first post Flooding near here, please pray, then some more short videos in More videos of Valle de Chalco flooding.
For news sources, there are some excellent pictures of the Chalco flood here: Torrential rain floods Mexican states and in Spanish see Aguas negras afectan a 12 mil familias en Chalco.
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.