Homeward bound

This morning I managed to talk to my host mother on the phone -- a sister had taken her cell phone to a city with electricity and charged it, as there is still no electricity or running water in my entire municipality. The municipality is still cut off from vehicular transport, houses have washed away, they are drinking water that's basically mud and running out of food. They can leave the village walking and go to where food is sold, but that doesn't help them much, as at least two-thirds of my community are subsistence farmers and have never actually bought large quantities of food. They have always eaten the corn, beans, chickens, eggs and fruits from their own farms. And all those crops have been ruined by the hurricane.

I cannot write this post without shaking. We hear about poor people or disaster victims starving all the time, but these are people I know, whom I have lived with as family for a year.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for my village and bringing enough food and water for a couple of days, including food for my host family. I'm mostly going to "assess the situation" -- to see exactly where and what kind of help is needed. Apparently some helicopters arrived with food yesterday, but did not bring that much. Most of the relief supplies are going to places that are even harder hit than mine.

So that's my life, and the lives of the damnificados, so different from just a week ago.

Paz y amor.