October 21,
2005
SPECIAL DELIVERY INTERNATIONAL
WICHITA, KANSAS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hurricane
Stan, The Aftermath
Claire and
I, returning from Guatemala City to Quetzaltenango on October
4th, made the decision not to visit
Sololá because
of the late hour, fierce rain, and the multitude of mud- slides
we had already encountered. That decision proved to be a good
one, yet a frustrating one. Frustrating, because
we were completely isolated from the children’s home, unable
to help. Good,
because in Quetzaltenango we were only without electricity
in our area for about 36 hours, and we were able to direct
operations
and communicate with many of our people from this strategic
point. Even during power outages, which were daily even after
main power
was restored, we were powered by an emergency generator in
our apartment building. This generator assured us not only
electricity,
but water from our buildings reservoir. We were glued
to the television for any morsel of news about our churches or
members.
Word from the
orphanage consoled us, as the report by cell phone informed us
that all were OK in the children’s
home. Electricity was restored the 2nd day along with city
water, and they had just
received diapers, milk, bottled water, and food from the market
just before being cut off. We had no idea how long it would
be, but as
it turned out, 9 days would pass before the road was opened for
supplies to enter again.
During those
9 days, we were greeted each day with more devastating news.
Instead of hearing roads
were being opened, we heard that
as one mudslide was cleared, others covered the highway in
other places,
and sometimes in the same place.
In addition
to the slides prohibiting movement in almost the entire country,
there was news of villages
being covered, each
day the
rain continued.
Sunday the
9th, one of our members returned from the Santiago Atitlan area,
with his brother who lives there.
It took them
2 days and
most of one night to get to Quetzaltenango on foot. He
left his family
in a safe place and set out to get food and supplies, not
knowing that the food supply in Quetzaltenango was already
scarce.
Eager to hear
details about the devastation in Santiago, we listened and asked
questions, but were sobered by
his
description
of the
stench of decaying bodies, and the sight of children
and adults weeping
for their loved ones. They just walked around as if in
a daze not able to do anything. No tools, no people to
help,
no water,
no
food, and no place to get any of those things. One village
near his home
was reported covered by mud 3 meters high, (10 feet)
and most of the 800 residents were at that time un-accounted
for.
Finally the
road is open to Guatemala City from Sololá,
and our driver hastily makes the much-needed trip to
the Capitol to take
Karla to see her new mother. Quetzaltenango still cut
off, San Marcos cut off, Retalhuelu cut off, and numerous
other places of great population
also isolated.
The USA wasted
no time getting here, and the Guatemalan people immediately set
up centers of relief
and collection
of food,
clothing, and other
essentials such as bottled water.
The roads are
still impassable, and the weather restricts the flying of helicopters
and small aircraft. What
can be done?
Aircraft went
where they could, when they could, and trucks picked
up the items and went as far as they could, then
transfer was made
by walking
supplies past destroyed portions of road and other
vehicles took supplies from there. It was a complicated
but joint
effort that
finally got life saving food, medical supplies,
clothes
and drinking water
to people who thought it would never arrive.
October
14th an adoptive mother needs to have her child brought to
Guatemala City from Sololá. Early morning our workers
leave, but by 6am have returned. The main highway collapsed
again, only worse, and what was used for a few days as an emergency
road, was
again impassable.
We
couldn’t
wait any longer, so we left at 9:am for Sololá.
As the day before, 13th, the main highway from
Quetzaltenango to Sololá was said to
be passing one lane at a time. No such
luck! The
police sent us around on a non-paved road that
was itself
like a war zone of mud slides, but allowed
us passage in about 4 hours. We quickly greeted
all the workers at the home, and anxiously
listened to their personal accounts of the
time
we had spent apart. Then, as quickly as we
arrived we set out with little Jose Angel,
on our way to Guatemala City by another back
road. We arrived late in the city, I think
after 7: but before 8: I don’t remember
exactly.
Monday at noon,
we finally received information that convinced us that we could
return to Quetzaltenango,
as new mudslides
had covered
our arrival in the city, and again there
was
almost no movement.
Two hours waiting
for machinery before arriving at the main highway near the Sololá turn
off. Good News, the road to Quetzaltenango is again open to
one lane traffic. We hurridly merged into the stream
of cars and trucks seeking passage on this
wounded link to our home.
Darkness met
us less than half way, and we waited our turn in some places,
but the
wait was short.
Then we
were astonished
at the
way an entire section of road had been
washed away. It was about
100
yards or so, and the heavy equipment
had been working all these days filling in
a place to
drive vehicles
across. As we passed
over the
freshly filled dirt, the remains of the
old asphalt highway passed by our window at eye
level. We
were awed at the
magnitude of
this destruction.
For the next
15 minutes we were surprised that we had not encountered another
car,
not one.
Could it
be that
the
road was closed
again? Was there another mudslide?
Our curiosity was satisfied when
we rounded a curve and saw dozens of
construction lights, heavy equipment,
and
a long line of vehicles.
What had astonished
us prior was dwarfed in comparison to the gulf that separated
us from
the continuation
of the road.
For
a moment
we were startled, and doubtful we
would be able to continue, but then we saw
that the
mountain
had been
carved out,
and in its’ place,
a frail new road appeared that quickly
ushered us to the other side of this
monster slide.
Back in Quetzaltenango
we are again directing operations
from here, and
the news is
bittersweet.
The death toll
has risen daily, and fear is that hundreds of people
un-accounted
for are
presumed
dead.
The government
has listed the abandoned children recovered
by the Public
Ministers office,
near 1,000.
Most of the
people that lost homes already live in severe
poverty,
and there is
no plan that
I have
heard of that
will take care
of these people beyond the
First Aid gestures of the
population, which are already on the decline.
Our pastors
in Quetzaltenango, Las Majadas, San Marcos,
and other collaborating
pastors
we personally
know,
are all OK.
The worst
hit area among these was
Las Majadas, but Pastor
Jaime tells
me by phone
that they are OK in spite
of loosing their road completely.
We
actually saw some of our members there on the evening
news, receiving
emergency
supplies
from
government relief workers.
Thank God for
those workers.
Our hearts
are saddened for the many that lost
so much.
We were
unable
to help in
the first
days of
the disaster
for
the same
reasons that
the USA and others
were hindered, weather, and
impassible roads.
We
have elaborated a plan for the near
future.
- We have
notified Government agencies
that we can
receive in
our home in Sololá such
children that are separated
from their families, either
temporarily
until family can be found,
or permanently
in the case of children
who have no
relatives living.
- We are receiving
donations
towards helping these
children, and at
the same time we
are compiling a list
of victims in our immediate
area
who
are in
need of assistance that
we can
provide.
- Our goal
is to help some of the people who
are the neediest,
with
a substantial
amount
that will
do more
than just buy
them food for
a week.
Most of the
people we will be directing
the
help to lost dwellings
that consisted of 12’X10’ where
an entire family lived
together. Supplying
cement ($5.00 bag),
block ($40.00
per 100) will help
tremendously.
We do
not plan to drag
this out for a long
period of time.
We
will compile
the list
between now
and the
middle of
November. The money
that comes
in will be
placed in an account.
In January we will
know who will receive
help, according
to how much
help is
received,
and then the
plan
will be
to have all the
money distributed
by the end of January,
and we will print
a list
of the people
we were able to
help, and try to put a
photo on the internet
of
those receiving
help,
for all to
view.
We are still
trying to establish
criteria
for
help, and we
obviously can’t
help everyone,
but we want to
give enough to
make a difference.
- First
we would like to help
families
where
there is no
breadwinner
in
the home.
- Families
with no income.
- Families
with small
children.
- Families
with no
extended family.
Type
of help:
- Materials
to erect
shelter, where
there is
none.
- Materials
to repair
shelters damaged.
- Where
there is
still shelter,
replace items
needed that
were destroyed,
such as
gas stove,
hotplate, bedding,
or cooking
utensils.
We
anticipate NO
expense in
the distribution
of these
funds, as
we will
concentrate our
help to
those in
the immediate
Sololá area. Every dollar will go directly
to a need.
Number
One Priority is and
will continue
to be
our focus,
that of
sharing
the
Gospel of
our Lord
to all
that we
come in
contact with.
As many
of you
know, displaced
and, hurting
people,
are
many times
more receptive
to the
Good News.
Pray that
we might
see a
harvest of
new believers
all over
Guatemala.
Some
may like
to designate
funds to
purchase
Bibles
and tracts
here, to
be distributed
as we
minister.
We
thank
each
of you
for your
concern,
prayers,
and your
help.
Jesus
Said: Matt.
25:40
b.
Inasmuch
as
ye
have
done
it
unto
one
of the
least
of
these
my
brethren,
ye
have
done
it
unto
me.
Larry & Claire Boggs
Your
missionaries
in
Guatemala
since
1978
Central
Missionary
Clearinghouse
PO
Box
12964
Houston,
TX
77217-2964
On
the
memo
please
write “Larry Boggs Relief Fund”.
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