The flooding here in October was pretty incredible. At least for
me. It was intense for a while, but now things are getting back to normal. Thank the Lord there wasn't nearly as much permanent damage to the villages as there could have been. People spent a lot of time digging mud out of homes and some of the mud huts collapsed, but people seemed to band together and help each other initially. Since all the bridges were out for nearly 2 weeks, people were running short on their food supply. We thought they were getting plenty of supplies through a government organization that was bringing in helicopters to drop food. However, we quickly realized that only 
the political and strong among the villagers were getting the food. Distribution was not organized, so the young, fast and healthy got what they wanted and the poor, feeble and hungry were left at the back of the lines with nothing. Our missionary community organized to assess needs in the different communities around us and help with appropriate distribution of the resources as well as some donations of our own. When the bridges were finally repaired there was a mass exodus for the city!
It is wonderful to have electricity and water and actually have my
food in my own house rather than in one of the refrigerators running off the hospital generator. It had a real community feel though for all the missionaries to come to the worship center at the hospital to get their food from the community fridges. Many of us ate there as well. Eating by candle light loses its charm pretty quickly! :)
I had the distinct privilege of crossing two fast flowing rivers in a very tiny dugout canoe. My friend Daron came to visit and even though he delayed his flight by a few
days, the bridges were still not usable. So, I climbed into the tiny canoe that only stuck out of the water about 2 inches. I practically held my breath the entire way, I was so afraid to move and flip the canoe over. Then I had a mile walk to calm my nerves before climbing into an even smaller canoe for the next river! :)
There are many patients with colds, but not at many serious infections as I anticipated. We'll see about the Malaria and Dengue! There are mosquitos hatching everywhere. :( We've had to
cancel our medical outreach to the Cayos Cochinos Islands twice already due to the weather. We are going to try again the beginning of December if the ocean is calmer.
me. It was intense for a while, but now things are getting back to normal. Thank the Lord there wasn't nearly as much permanent damage to the villages as there could have been. People spent a lot of time digging mud out of homes and some of the mud huts collapsed, but people seemed to band together and help each other initially. Since all the bridges were out for nearly 2 weeks, people were running short on their food supply. We thought they were getting plenty of supplies through a government organization that was bringing in helicopters to drop food. However, we quickly realized that only 
the political and strong among the villagers were getting the food. Distribution was not organized, so the young, fast and healthy got what they wanted and the poor, feeble and hungry were left at the back of the lines with nothing. Our missionary community organized to assess needs in the different communities around us and help with appropriate distribution of the resources as well as some donations of our own. When the bridges were finally repaired there was a mass exodus for the city!
It is wonderful to have electricity and water and actually have my
food in my own house rather than in one of the refrigerators running off the hospital generator. It had a real community feel though for all the missionaries to come to the worship center at the hospital to get their food from the community fridges. Many of us ate there as well. Eating by candle light loses its charm pretty quickly! :)
I had the distinct privilege of crossing two fast flowing rivers in a very tiny dugout canoe. My friend Daron came to visit and even though he delayed his flight by a few
days, the bridges were still not usable. So, I climbed into the tiny canoe that only stuck out of the water about 2 inches. I practically held my breath the entire way, I was so afraid to move and flip the canoe over. Then I had a mile walk to calm my nerves before climbing into an even smaller canoe for the next river! :)
There are many patients with colds, but not at many serious infections as I anticipated. We'll see about the Malaria and Dengue! There are mosquitos hatching everywhere. :( We've had to
cancel our medical outreach to the Cayos Cochinos Islands twice already due to the weather. We are going to try again the beginning of December if the ocean is calmer. There are lots of photos here. These pics probably aren't that impressive if you don't know what it used to look like, but here they are anyway. The building with a huge hole in it is the Baptist church in a village nearby. The pic of the huge roots is a massive tree in the 
middle of a river. The pic of the woman walking toward her hut shows where her banana tree crop used to be. I went up to our favorite swimming hole and barely recognized it. Where a jungle path had been there were just rocks and a couple trees left standing. The water had overflowed its bank so much that it ripped out all the trees and undergrowth for about 20 feet above the banks. Some HUGE boulders were out of place and where there were lovely rocks, there is now sand; where there was a sandy beach, there are now tons of rocks. Incredible what a lot of water moving really fast can do! 
middle of a river. The pic of the woman walking toward her hut shows where her banana tree crop used to be. I went up to our favorite swimming hole and barely recognized it. Where a jungle path had been there were just rocks and a couple trees left standing. The water had overflowed its bank so much that it ripped out all the trees and undergrowth for about 20 feet above the banks. Some HUGE boulders were out of place and where there were lovely rocks, there is now sand; where there was a sandy beach, there are now tons of rocks. Incredible what a lot of water moving really fast can do! 
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