We finally have an official report on the 24 families that the mayor of San Andres asked us to help. Safe Homes volunteer Debbie and her volunteer team of one woman and 5 teens visited on Weds. and went back on Thurs. with donations. Here is what they found.
Image , if you will, that you are in your 10 by 10 home that, if you are lucky, has a cement floor, if you are not. it has a dirt floor. It is maybe made of cement or maybe of corn stalks. It starts raining and it does not stop. You remember Hurricane Stan from 2005 and you start to worry. You are already worrying because you can't keep your children dry with all this rain. Then the mud and dirt start moving into your home. Gullies start forming outside and then gorges. Big holes start forming in your house from the rocks that are falling with the mud and soon the mud is coming in in torrents. At some point your terror gets deep and dark enough you know you have to leave. Soon the whole community of 24 families is moving into the school. When the rains stop and you look out the pueblo is destroyed. The houses are too beat up and full of mud to live in, but worse so much of the mountain behind you has fallen that you know it is impossible to live there any longer. The school is nice for a while. It is new and has something of a kitchen for cooking and dry floors to sleep on. It has a small courtyard for the children to play in. But it has one major flaw. There is a big sinkhole that has formed behind it due to the massive rain from the storm. It is a matter of days before the school falls into the sinkhole. The mayor sends up beans and a little rice to feed you, but that is all you get for 101 men, women and children.
That was the state of affairs when Safe Homes' team visited on Weds. They went back that night feeling fortunate for their nice dry place to stay and that they were the ones fortunate enough to be able to help. The pueblo is reachable only by 4 wheel truck and so the San Andres police loaned us a truck and driver for both trips. The teachers from the school were wonderful to help with all the coordination. Here are some pictures of the families receiving aid. Our team bought rice, oil, potatoes, instant soup, soap, cookies, water, incaparina and milk.. Enough food for each family to eat for 3 days. That cost $300.00. They took clothes from our donation room as the families did not have time to gather anything as they left their homes for safety. And now it is covered in mud. The teens palyed games with all the children wile the women distributed what they brought. Safe Homes has $500 more to donate towards food that will be used ofr the very basics like big bags of rice and amseca and beans, but after that WE NEED YOUR HELP. PLEASE PASS THE WORD AND PUSH OUR NEW DONATE BUTTON AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE.
These pictures are of passing out donations. later i will post more pictures of the devastation.
thanks
Vicki
http://www.facebook.com/casadesion
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