I was excited to learn last year that Tuolumne residents, the Brittons, would be in Chile on a homestay during the first five months of 2010. Many of you know that I lived in Santiago, Chile as a teenager and have a deep affection for the nation and its people. Boy, am I glad they went! Their timing was uncannily perfect, arriving in time for the devastating 8.8 magnitude quake a week ago.
What follows is Holly’s exceptional account of how things are going down there. If you would like to help them reach the hidden homes and Chilean communities, please go to Holly’s Facebook page (Holly Britton) and “friend” her or watch for more info here. You may never have a more immediate connection to Chile or opportunity to use the Brittons as your hands and feet to demonstrate compassion to Chile: a nation desperately in need.
Hope for the Hidden: An story from the Chilean Quake March 8, 2010, by Holly Britton
Until last week I’d only ever witnessed natural catastrophes on the television. In the couple of days following the 8.8 Chile quake we watched as the government, military, and international organizations rushed in to rescue victims and restore order. Within 24 hours water and electricity was restored to our neighborhood and the television news revealed the devestation. Talk about feeling helpless in the face of such tragedy. Immediately we wondered how we could possibly help?
Where does one start?! The Britton family started with prayer, then emails and phone calls to friends and contacts we have here in Chile. We received a call from Juan Tagle, describing the damage and needs of some small communities near his summer home, about 3 hours south of us. We immediately considered running supplies to the families of this devestated area. Unfortunately, grocery stores and home supply centers are carefully guarding their stocks, for fear that Chileans will hoard or resell to quake victims. A local grocer and new-found friend of Zach’s generously offered to sell us whatever we needed to help our neighbors to the south. An answer to prayer! We loaded up with oil, rice, wheat, sugar, beans, potatoes, and milk. We were able to buy quite a bit of Ibprofin and headache meds from the pharmacy. Other supplies included diapers, toilet paper, tents, and a huge roll of plastic.
Cities and towns nearest the epicenter are receiving aid first. A large percentage of the population is still without electricity or water. Firefighters comb the streets distributing water to those who can carry bottles, buckets, and cans. The small village of Moscoso, tucked into beautiful hillsides strewn with grapevines, like many others, suffer undetected with very little hope of outside aid. Multiple families collect under the roofs still remaining and endure the continuing aftershocks.
It was here we took our first load of supplies. We drove down the main street unsure of how to begin the distribution. We approached a family of 4 or 5 adults working on their broken house. We rattled off a list of things we had to offer and the woman nearest me began to cry. As suspected, they had not received any outside help and were still without water or electricity. Worse, these field laborers had not been paid since the earthquake 5 days prior, so they had very little food. We spent about 5 hours handing out tents and food and assuring them that people cared about them. We took note of some special needs and told the people we would return.
The next day, Juan visited Moscoso with more provisions. He informed us that they needed more tents and some blankets. Our friend, Meche was able to get gigantic roles of blanket fabric at a discount and Friday night we had a “blanket-making” party at our house. Two hundred warm, clean blankets for the families! Through local connections, she also found discounted boxes of candles. We loaded three trucks and our suburban with enough supplies for Moscoso and the surrounding area!
By now, word had gotten around to our friends that we found a way to help. Total, there must have been over 40 people wanting to help distribute items! We started once again on the main street of Moscoso. Then, Zach, using Google-Earth satelite imagery, began to find roofs obscurely located down narrow lanes and tucked into the hillsides. Every home we visited accepted only what they needed and were quick to point to a neighbor who could use some help. The people were kind and grateful. Wanting to show their gratitude, they would often return to our convoy with fruits or tomatoes as gifts of thanks.
Theirs is a long, hard row to hoe. But we are praying that the Lord will help us establish some way of getting more help to their little town. We envision teams of volunteers helping with clean up and maybe with the construction of small homes before the winter hits. I know that all things are possible with Christ who gives us strength, but certainly the task is daunting.
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