Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bathroom Construction

So we've really been moving these days in constructing bathrooms in the emergency camps located in the nearby town of Dichato. Need a quick catch-up of what we are talking about? Here you go --



After the earthquake of February 27th, 2010 a town near Tome was washed away by three large tsunami waves. Most people escaped up into the hills, but practically all of the houses were swept into the ocean. Following a few weeks of living in tents, the government moved people onto land in the hills around Dichato. They constructed emergency houses that look like this, basically a one room 18x18 meter square. Now, almost two years later, there are hundreds of people still living in this emergency houses in five different camps located around the outskirts of the town. For nearly two years the people have had to use port-a-potties and water-tower showers. They have gotten their water from large tanks of potable water located in the camp, there was no running water anywhere.

Last summer, a Merge team from Wisconsin installed running water to every home in one of the camps. Since then, more of the camps have now been equipped with running water to their homes; and after putting some pressure on them, we were able to get the government to install a septic system in these camps as well. After the earthquake our church, Riversgate, raised some money to help with reconstruction. So after a lot of prayer we have found a way to use this money raised in a way that can offer the most help to the people displaced by the tsunami. Just $100 buys a toilet and sink along with a bathroom floor and the other necessary pieces to install a bathroom in one of these houses. Currently we will be able to buy about 60 bathroom kits, and are planning on providing bathrooms to the 28 families in this camp and then going to other camps to provide bathrooms to the elderly and sick.If you are interested in donating, go to the Paypal button on the top right of this page. This will link you to the church Paypal account. Specify in one of the information lines that it is for a bathroom, and in providing your name and address your donation will be tax-deductible.

For a testimony from one of the people this reconstruction project has helped – check out this video:



It's been an amazing experience to not only minister to these people during the time we are installing the bathrooms, but also to be able to provide them with such a basic necessity. Again, while we are the ones on the ground with this project, we are in no way responsible for how it came to be. Without your prayers, donations, and encouragement none of this could be happening. The people in these camps are so thankful to all of you, and we thank God that we have been able to partner with so many of you in order to provide such help to so many people.

God bless you today,
Jordan and Missy Reid

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