Chuchitos

For the last couple of weeks I have been feeling much like the disciples must have felt when Jesus told them to feed the 4 thousand. Matthew 8 records that when Jesus said he wanted to feed everyone before they left, his disciples said, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?" I have said just about those exact words to the Lord a thousand times in the last couple of weeks.

We have decided to concentrate our corn project to those areas which have been hardest hit by the drought. The last two weeks have been spent sending Juan out to various villages, talking directly to people in their homes. In some villages all of the corn plants died before they could make ears. In others, the yield was much smaller than normal. And since most have just finished harvesting, they have small amounts at the moment. The biggest need will come in the next few weeks when that small supply runs out. We have begun to distribute corn on a small scale to those most in need at the moment but are preparing for a much bigger distribution in the next few months.



But aside from the corn project, the amount of "viveras" (bags of beans, rice, oatmeal, sugar, soap) that we distribute in the clinics has more than quadrupled in the last month. Children who are in our nutrition program are weighed every 2 weeks so that we can make sure they are thriving and we are finding that many are not. When I talk to parents about how the milk and protein drink are meant to supplement their diet, not to supply all that they need, I find that there is no other food in the home. Many families are eating only once or twice a day now to make the corn supply stretch and there is no money to buy other food. So they are eating only tortillas - sometimes with salt.

I could write stories all day long of families who are living in circumstances that are beyond my imagination but I will share just one with you. We always give numbers in the clinics so that we can have some semblance of order and yesterday we had over 80 people waiting. They give out numbers early (around 5am) and again around 9am for those who cannot get to town any earlier. So people wait all day - literally. One little family - mom with a 3 month old, dad with the 2 year old and another child of about 5 waited until 3pm to be seen. All the food that I brought in the morning was gone. Every time I opened the door, I would see this man standing closest to the door, with his toddler resting in his arms. He was not pushy as so many are, he just waited. It is uncommon for dads to come, so I noticed him right away. When they came in, he just told me about his child who was not eating and about his wife who did not have enough breast milk for the baby. When I asked, he told me about how poor his harvest was this year and all he had was already gone. The little boy began to whimper and the dad stood up to try to quiet him, and in that moment I realized that this little boy had not eaten all day. I stepped into the shoes of this father for one brief moment and I thought my heart would break as I thought about one of my own children going without food all day and returning to a home without food. So I walked out of the clinic to buy food for them. I bought staples and a bag of "chuchitos" (little corn and bean patties that are sold for less than a nickle). As I handed him the bag of chuchitos, a small, brief smile crossed his face and he gave one to his son who stopped crying and filled his mouth as quickly as he could. So we loaded them up with what we had, and told them to return in 2 weeks.

And so I am like the disciples, looking at this huge need and wondering, how are we going to do this? But at the same time trusting in a God who is so much bigger than the need and One whom we know is kind and compassionate and who sees the need of His children. And we trust that He will supply.

Duane and I took out a very secure insurance policy against the "empty nest" syndrome that most folks our age feel when we agreed to adopt Grace and Abi. But with David and Joseph in the US now for going on 6 weeks, and now with Craig gone as well, we are getting close. Our house is so quiet without the boys...well, as quiet as we can get with Abi around. They hope to be home within a week or so. They originally went home to help Katie and Ryan get their house and all the barns painted but then after much investigation on corn storage, it has become a hunt for grain bins. They have found 1 which a man whom we have never met, has generously donated for this project. The boys, with lots of help will dismantle it and get it loaded onto a truck that our friend Martin will drive down, hopefully within the next few weeks. We purchased and began distributing corn last weekend to folks within our nutrition program.

Little Irma and her mom (see last week's entry) came on Sunday. Irma was better but still very listless. Her sister was very sick this week with pneumonia as well and after we weighed her (22 pounds at age 4), she just laid down on the floor in the middle of the clinic and went to sleep. The beginnings of our clinic days in San Andres are always so chaotic but we all just walked over her until we could gather around her on the floor and pray for her and her family. We sent them off with enough food to last the week and instruction for her husband to return this weekend so we can follow up on them. There were others as well. One woman insisted that she was fine carrying 50 pounds of corn along with 20 pounds of rice and beans and the milk that she comes for bi-monthly along with the baby on her back. She had an enormous smile to go with her enormous load as she walked out of the clinic.

We finally were able to speak with the mayor of San Andres this week...he is a very busy man and almost never in San Andres. He spoke of being overwhelmed with the need and that was obvious by the long line of people waiting outside of his door. In the US our mayors are typically surrounded by people who are delegated to take care of the needy so that he can take care of the business of running a city. Not here. Those who are hungry. those who are needy in whatever way come directly to the mayor. He told us of his Sundays with his family when he has a line of people waiting outside of his home with their needs. He has a list of over 4,000 women who are either widowed or abandoned. He told us of a prophetic word that was spoken over him by one of the local pastors who said that corn was coming, corn to feed the people. It was given to him over a month ago - even before we began to talk about it outside of our home. So we will work with both he and the mayor of Canilla and those pastors who have come for with an interest to help. Please pray that we have wisdom and that it is obvious to all that our help comes from the Lord...

"I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalms 121:1-2

little Irma

Last evening, just as we returned from a long day in clinic in San Andres, Duane got a phone call from a pastor out in Mixcoloja. Mixcoloja is a tiny, mainly Mennonite community, out in the middle of nowhere at the complete opposite end of our valley. We have know Pastor Humberto and his family for many years but recently worked together with them to help Candalaria - the woman who had lost her home. By the way, she just had her baby, is living once again in her home, her husband is back and has rededicated his life to the Lord. God is certainly good!! Anyway, Pastor Huberto said a woman had come to them with her very sick baby, and they were hoping that we could help them. Mixcoloja, fortunately has a very rough little landing strip and by air is only 5 minutes from our house. It would take about 5 hours to get to them in car. So we packed up a few supplies and flew out to see them.

We were greeted by a small group of Mennonites with a little Indian woman and her two children sitting in the middle of them. Irma, a little over 2 years old was so sick with pneumonia. She was dehydrated and malnourished - weighing only 17 pounds. Her 4 year old sister was malnourished as well with a swollen face, hands and feet and an enormous belly. Maria, Irma's mom is 7 months pregnant. She held her baby out for me to examine and I thought my heart would break. She was so listless and pale. I told Maria that we needed to take Irma into the hospital but she shook her head and said that her husband would not let her...there was no money. They are buying enough corn each day to get through the day. There is no other food...no beans, no rice, not even salt to put on their tortillas. Their entire corn crop died in the field this year. So we gave her an antibiotic and some pedialyte and some food and then we prayed - entrusting her to a God who sees and knows the injustice that this family is suffering. As we prayed, all I could think of was Matthew 10:29 which says "Aren't two sparrows sold for next to nothing,,,and yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's consent....so don't be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows." I told Maria that Irma was like one of those little sparrows and that God had not forgotten them. Pray for this little sparrow...that God will heal her body and that this family will understand that He is a kind and merciful God who always cares for His children.