Relief Work in Duwha

We went down into Duwha to pass out food and help clean out homes.  We learned a couple of things while we were there.  

One is that mud seems to bother us a lot more than it bothers the people who live here.  Granted, they normally don't deal with this kind of mud, but they still cheerfully cleaned and swept and washed and dug.  

It was neat to see how peacefully everyone waited in line for food and how they didn't come back for seconds.  They told their friends to come, so more people were able to receive.  It was great to see.

One other thing we learned is that nothing is really edible when it's covered in this nasty mud!  We handed out slices of bread, but we quickly learned that we should have put it in little baggies, so we stopped using the baggies for the hard boiled eggs and instead handed the bread in the plastic so they could at least eat it without getting any mud in their mouths.  

The woman in yellow there is Emi, I wish I'd gotten a better picture of her.  But we were at her house and she never took any of the food we offered her, but instead she just called all her neighbors to come partake.  Look how mostly clean the people are in their upper bodies.  AMAZING!!  I've never seen so much mud in homes in my life!!

I had to include this one since this man posed for me.  He was so pleased to have his picture taken!!  He  was so thankful for some lunch this day!  

Here M and H are shoving mud out Emi's front door.  I don't know how clearly you can see it but the water line is about at the top of M's head, the mud line is lower though.  The water flowed out pretty quickly and left this nasty sludge.  

This is Emi's kitchen and dining room.  The door there with the mud on the lower part is the bedroom that their family shares (they have 3 or 4 kids) and they all sleep in the one bed.  There was so much mud in this area.  There's no window in the bedroom so there was no light even in the middle of the day, this room was also quite dark although you can't tell because of the flash.  It's hard to clean up when you can't see what you are doing.  

This is looking from the house outside.  One other thing we learned is that it got suddenly less exciting when we found a snake swimming around in the mud.  It happened after this picture was taken and we put the camera away to really get down and dirty to help so there's not a picture of it, but that did add a bit of fear to those that are afraid of snakes.  

H showing off how muddy she got.  We genuinely did get muddy by working.  We warned the kids that this wasn't the place to play in the mud and they did a great job!!  They were (for the most part) glad to be there helping.  

PJ found this pair of glasses in the mud, he cleaned them off and wore them!  Hilarious!!  (I- Angel- am behind the camera and Reggie was with another group at another house and they didn't have a camera)

But there are a few greater lessons that we learned.  

1.  I complain about nonsense most of the time.  And most of the complaints posted online, matter little when compared to things of eternal value.

2.  Giving really is greater than receiving.  We got much more from being able to help them than we ever could have given them (even if we'd been able to help more than just Emi's family)

3.  When I said to Emi that I was sorry that their house flooded this was her response: "it is just things, I am thankful that life is more important and nobody lost their life."

4.  Nobody seemed distraught or overwhelmed by this monumental task.  They just all pitched in and worked together to help each other out.  

As we were leaving M said she was so glad to get home to shower.  And while I agreed with her, I had to reminder her to be thankful that we had a mud-free home to go to.  That we had a shower to wash off in, and even de-worming medicine to take in case any of us got worms while we were helping.  But the people who live here don't have that luxury.  They are still working and cleaning, hoping for the day when the sun returns, dries up the mud, the electricity comes back on and the water flows with enough force for all to get some.  We truly have so much more to be thankful for than we even realize.  

Incidentally, we walked home from here... yes this is that close to our house.  These people truly are our neighbors!  May they have seen Christ in our actions.