Progress in Serving the Suffering

Progress continues by the FH team in Chincha. Lauren reports that by Friday 8/24, two of the soup kitchens or comedors were in operation and about 800 people were registered and given meals. By Saturday, the third comedor was on line, and that day about 1500 people were served. The food is simple, made mostly from dried foods such as rice, lentils, beans, and oatmeal, with additional protein being provided by canned tuna. It is the aim of FHI to maintain these comedors for a few weeks and then eventually turn them over to local officials. Lauren is working on securing grants from other agencies to help sustain the long term operations of the comedors until the need no longer is there.

The recovery teams are able to reach the most severely affected parts of the city by partnering with local associations of Pastors who are also among the homeless. Lauren reports of the dedication of these pastors who are working in the comedors to serve the needs of their communities in spite of personal loses and the needs of their own families. Please pray for these local Christian leaders.

One thing that made it very difficult for the Peruvian government to respond quickly to this disaster was that the offices of the Civil Defense for the southern part of the country were in Pisco, the hardest hit of the cities. Those offices were destroyed along with the homes of the civil defense workers. Of course, lines of communication and transportation were interrupted, which made the implementation their disaster plan almost impossible. Remembering our government’s initial response to hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, it is not surprising that Peru has had a difficult time with immediate response to this tremendous disaster, but much progress is now being made. Our telephone connection was not very good on Saturday night, so Lauren went outside in hopes of better reception. After a few minutes, she said “Wow, it's freezing out here, I’ve got to go back inside”, which reminded us that it is winter down there, and there are still thousands of people sleeping outdoors every night. Please continue to keep those people in your prayers. We thank you for your continued support of this important mission of compassion.