Santa Katarina

Four of the five baskets in the checkout line

Basket 5

A large grocery bill

The swollen river, meaning the end of the road

People waiting for food

Swimming across the river

The food line

Going back into the river

And coming out

A few weeks ago Marc went south with Timoteo. Timoteo took Marc to a village that desparately needs some help. So remote. So poor. Maybe not the worst we have seen, but close to it. Marc can never see that much need and not do something about it. We have prayed and prayed about what can be done. Along with a couple of the AIMers, it seems as if God is leading us to build a feeding center and a church plant. The feeding center will be patterned after the one in Nuevo Oriental, feeding kids five days a week.

We decided to go to Choluteca and do a feeding. Ten of us, in two cars, left Santa Ana yesterday at 4:30. A little bit late to be leaving, but nontheless, that is when we left. In all directions, the further away from Tegucigalpa you go, the worse the roads go. Going south toward Choluteca was no exception. There was no center stripe and no line to show the edge on the road and it was full of volkswagon sized potholes. So we bounced our way to Choluteca. I was thankful I was not driving.

This morning we woke to a pouring rain which continued all day. We headed to the grocery store to buy groceries. Marc assigned teams. Barb and I had to get 100 bags of rice and 100 bags of beans. Other teams got coffee, salt, sugar, lard, soup, spaghetti and sauce. Five baskets full of groceries. One man in the grocery story thanked us for helping people. It is always fun to buy groceries so we can feed hungry people, but Timoteo was the most excited of us all. Our bill was 12,809.00 limpiras or $677.90. Not bad to feed 100 families.

We had to drive another 40 kilometers to get to Santa Katarina. Word had been sent to them that food was on its way and we were told we could not get all the way to the village as the river had risen to high over the road. We so wanted to get all the way to the village and as we drove discussed ways we might get there.

It has rained so much that the streams have become raging rivers and the rivers are so enlarged that their contents are spilling over everywhere. Acres and acres of land are underwater. The road to Santa Katarina was more or less a river. A boat would have probably been better than a car.

All of a sudden we could go no further because of water. And on the other side were people waiting on the food to arrive. When they saw us, they rushed in and swam across. And then more swam across and then some more.

We unloaded the food and let the folks receiving food let up help pack the bags. After all the bags were packed, the village president said one bag for family and that is what they did. We stood there wondering how they were going to get across the river with the food. Hungry, starving people knew just what to do to get their food across. And there were many smiles as they went back into the river.

I jumped in the car and cried.

Marc and John were going to put on their shorts, swim across, and help anyone that needed help with their food and walk on into the village. They were told after the river, there was some walking, another river, more walking, and then the biggest, deepest river and some more walking. It would take two hours to get to the village. They did not go; but only because eight other people would have been left waiting for four hours. We will just have to see the village another time. Soon I hope.

We found out the river had been like that for 10 days and the people had nothing to eat but tortillas. Tortillas because corn season is just over and they ground their own.

I would have loved to have taken more pictures, but there was just too much work to do.

As we drove home (I was driving this time), we talked about being wet and how the village folks would be so wet from being in the rain and swimming the rivers. How they would go into their homes that are also wet from the rain and they may not be dry and warm again for days. Literally. But they have food to eat tonight. However foolish it might have been to be driving last night, it was well worth it to be able to feed people that were so hungry they would walk and swim for two hours to get just a little bit of food and then turn around and repeat the process. It did me good to stay in my wet clothes as we drove home and to think those that won't be dry for days.

Some things are still foreign to my American mind.

Terri