Wow

Wow, what a week it has been!  It feels like we have lived a month since Monday and the worst of what is happening, is not even happening to us personally.  However, the flood events in Chokwe and Gaza are greatly impacting our friends and WR family there. 

If Dr. Pieter, our Gaza director feels like Job, he has good reason.  On Monday, the farmer’s association fields where he has cultivated relationships and the agricultural project for over 10 years were destroyed by the flooding.  On Tuesday, he spent the day moving equipment and fertilizer to a safer location and began prepping the office for evacuation.  On Wednesday, the waters overwhelmed Chokwe, flooding first the office and then his home.  As the water came so quickly, the guards he was planning to leave at the office panicked, so he took them with him to high ground.  On Thursday, when he was able to get back to the office, he found everything had been stripped by looters.  Desks, tables, chairs, cabinets, safely stored electronics, kitchen equipment, freezer and fridge were all gone, with only a few pieces of paper remaining on the floor.  How many losses can one person endure?

Perhaps they took the stuff in  boats like this. That's all we can figure out as the water was still too deep to drive a truck in.

Dr. Pieter shared he was so discouraged.  Yes, he knew in his heart it was only stuff, but how devastating to lose everything and face the task of rebuilding.  The good news is that all our staff are safe and well.  Loss of life during the flood event was minimal.  More people have died since the flood waters have started receding.  Some of them are looters, falling through roofs or getting so drunk they have tripped in the street and drowned.  (How would you explain that to St. Peter, if indeed we have to do so?)

This is the first time we have personally been involved in formulating and coordinating an emergency response of this nature.  The most difficult thing is communication with the field.  Cell phone towers are out in Chokwe so if we need to talk to Pieter, it is only early or late when he’s not there.  How do you plan a realistic response without knowing numbers, places, exact needs or have a location to operate out of with staff on the ground?   The disaster response manager left five years ago and things have changed.  As you can imagine, it has been a steep learning curve for all of us. 

About six of the senior staff have banded together as a working group to try and address both ends of the situation.  Rachel is leading communications with the WR home office and the Church Partners.  (Check out her WR Mozambique facebook page creation.)  Jamene is looking at the finance side and signing the checks.  Margarida is attending the government disaster response meetings and bringing back (sometimes two day old) information (not her fault).  Steve is advising and suggesting options, still trying to support Nia, the country director, and the agriculture programs while helping Rachel where he can.  So, by Friday night we went home exhausted, a bit stressed out, waking up still tired on Saturday.  But we have so much to be thankful for – a clean, dry house with stuff we use and wear still in it and food in the cupboards. There are thousands of people in Gaza Province who cannot say that today whose houses look like this or who lived in a mud hut that has washed away.

WR is initially partnering with another Christian NGO to provide small bottles of chlorine to people in the camps and who are returning to Chokwe. This NGO has a system for distribution already in place and clean drinking water has been identified as a pressing need. As time moves on we will help people as they return to their homes and then we will need to rehabilitate the office. We will provide seeds for the villagers who lost their crops and also their food security. If you are interested in helping financially with this relief effort you can click here for more information.

River in the background, former tomato field in the front - Chinhangane village.


We have really appreciated the people who are praying and encouraging us and others here. It is at times like this that support like this makes such a difference. Thank you.