I was finally able to make it back to Las Delicias on Sunday. We brought a ton of food that was bought with your donations, 50 pounds of rice, 50 pounds of beans, oil, salt, sugar, eggs and water (the most basic Salvadoran diet). The food was definitely needed, so thank you.
There was a bunch of people at the library when we arrived. A group of women came down from the church and other women from the community joined in to help make tamales. They made 750 tamales, which ended up feeding a ton of people from the community on Sunday and we had so many that we were able to bring more on Monday to the men who were working on moving mud.
On Monday we visited a lot of the lower communities that have been the most affected. We brought tamales and water to men who were working to clear mud from their homes and the roads. Some homes had had chest deep water that has turned into mud. One home had a solid three feet of mud that entrapped most of their possessions.
We went to another area of the community and found two men trying to clear their home. There was three feet of mud covering their patio area and spilling into many of the rooms. They had been working on clearing it out for 5 days but it seemed like they had just started. They were also still living in the home. They would walk to a raised room in their boots through the thick mud and get into their bed that still has not dried from the rain. The man told us they were drinking the water even though he knows its dirty, they do not have any other options. Right next to their home a lake has formed from the rains and the road is completely filled with mud. So if it is to rain again (there is still a month or so of the rainy season), their house will be flooded and fill with mud all over again.
Just across the road from these men lives another family. We squished through the mud to get to their home. As we entered it was clear that their house was damp and still had mud but they were living in it. We were told to enter a room were an older woman was laying in make shift bed. The first thing I saw was her foot elevated on a pillow and extremely swollen from an infection. I almost turned around right away but I clearly had to stay as the woman we were with (Cristina) talked to the woman with the infection. Her foot was swollen and was covered in sores. I later found out that she must have had a small cut in her foot and the mud got trapped in it as she had been walking through the mud barefoot.
This is starting to become a concern and will only continue to be a problem since most people have to walk through the mud with no shoes. It is just a matter of time until it becomes a nation wide problem. There is no clean drinking water so epidemics have begun. The people do not realize how sick the mud can make them so they are living in their homes when they should not be inhabited yet.
I spent Sunday through Wednesday in Las Delicias and stayed with Cristina who is the head of the organization working in the community. It was a difficult few days trying to understand the reality of the situation. Especially talking with people who are still living in the library. One woman told me that she thought we abandoned them, which is hard to hear as I care for them so much. In a lot of ways the situation is quite daunting as there is a TON of work and the work is slow and difficult. The amazing thing is how the community has been supporting one another. People staying in the upper shelter want to make food for the people in the lower community and help them even though they are also in need. The youth have been helping distribute food and accompanying the people in the library. People are doing whatever they can to help the other people in the community. It gives me so much hope that things will get better quickly.
I have a few more days of vacation and I am going to re-charge so I can be ready for the difficult weeks to come. Thank you again for all your support. (More pictures to come).
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