A Day in the Tent City after the Storm

Today we ventured again to the Tent City, the first day was a quick tour, but this was a down and dirty all day work fest. We got there before lunch and found there were many tents were flattened. We found that the government bussed many people out before the storm to safe locations only to find upon return that many of their possessions had been stolen.

We got to work on the first tent - a tent lived in by a woman with out a husband or other relatives to help her. She said the police had been in and had taken most of her belongings after she evacuated, hoping she and others would not return.

Well, there was water and mud everywhere. The first order of business was to pull her remaining possessions carefully out to dry ground. Carefully, because it all looked like trash to us, but it was all she owned in this world. It was impossible to know what was valuable to her or trash, so we treated it all as treasure. We then spread the tent out and set it up as best we could. The first one was a little rough, but we quickly got a plan.

Not too long after we got started we were joined by the UN and an organization called IOM. That's when all the commotion started. We had been following Charlotte's direction, picking the tents of the widows and single women, and not working on those that had able bodied men who could set them up themselves. Many of the IOM staff and the UN were very helpful, but the big Boss wanted us to go in the order that they had in mind. Unfortunately, they also planned to move some families from one tent to another, to consolidate tents and decrease the number up. In the spirit of Martin Luther King, we just kept doing what we were doing, smiling and playing nice. While they walked around debating things, we got 7 tents up and a couple of others repaired to the two tents the UN and IOM guys got up.

There were a couple of themes - muck, yuck, mice and trash, battles for control of the work, hungry people politely asking for help, and many desperate people fighting and jockeying for the best help possible from the help available. We were thrilled to be of help, but discouraged by the lack of internal organization and apathy that some of the men exhibited. Discouraged that God's sons and daughters have to live this way. Why do people need to live in mud, mice cities, and fire ant colonies? The tents were sturdy and even cooler with the flaps up than in direct sunlight, but with four families in each 20 x 30 tent may mean 24 people or more in a tent.

In the midst of this our team was joking, singing hymns, encouraging people, and just showing God's love as best as possible while stomping mice, stepping over and through sewage, and working their butts off.

One of our new friends said we shouldn't be there at dark. The gangs are too dangerous. As the afternoon wore on we would see fights over rope, priority, and attention from people desperate for relief. The potential for real danger seemed to dance around, but we rejoiced that our God is indeed greater and kept it at bay. We piled 14 people into the Nissan SUV, bodies piled on one another, sharing stink and sweat, and pain. Several of us couldn't feel a limb by the time we got home and pilled out at the main road and walked the rest of the way.

We left with mixed feelings. Pride in a good day of benevolent work, frustration that we couldn't do more, sadness that people have to suffer so much, and gratefulness that God in his sovereignty chose that we would live where we do. It is only God's good grace that is responsible for our good fortune. Let us not waste it and let people continue to suffer. This can be helped if we all do our part a little at a time.

We Love You all and Thank You for your continued prayer and support! To God be the Glory!

Jim