Last night it rained. Trinidad, the house mother, said “its time to plant corn”. Next week begins the rainy season in Central America. It really does not rain here; it pours. The first heavy rain clears the streams of 5 months of garbage. Thousands of streams become raging rivers of swirling rapids that are loaded with paper and plastic causing the streams to back up until the pressure is too great. Then all everything breaks loose. The raging streams flow into the rivers and the rivers empty into the ocean.
This little country is not prepared for another rainy season. There are thousands of homes without roofs and many more with roofs that leak very badly. The infrastructure for the neighborhoods of San Salvador and San Vicente affected by Hurricane Ida last November have not yet been restored. These areas lost many homes and also property as landsides washed away neighborhoods and families. The city of San Vicente continues to have 4 feet of dirt in yards, streets, and pastures that will redirect this year’s flow of rain water into unsuspecting neighborhoods and streets. Thus the government and many residents anticipate more destruction of property this year.
When we arrived in November, we purchased $1,000 of roofing laminate to be distributed to church families needing roof repair or replacement. After the improvements were made, we visited the families to view their homes and roofs. Walking through their neighborhoods we were shocked by the hundreds of homes needing roofs and we don’t have any more money for this project.
When nature prevails, the April rains should be gentle allowing for the planting of corn and beans. The seeds should sprout before the heavier rains of May. However it doesn’t always happen that way. When the early rains are heavy and frequent. the seeds rot in the field and another planting is required. The second planting takes food off the table since the corn seeds were to be used for making tortillas.
There are no warehouses here of surplus food. When corn is in abundance they eat a little more and when food is scarce they are hungry. But yet God, corn, beans and rain all represent life and they remind themselves of God’s abundance by placing symbols of rain, corn and beans on their altar crosses, ever mindful that God is the source of daily life.
David y Nancy
David and Nancy Slinde Speaking at their "Sending Service"
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
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