DEVASTATING STORM HITS BERE' 05/14/10

I am overwhelmed by the sight of sand all over my house. It is on the windows, covering my bed, everywhere you walk you make clean footprints. The sand is in everything! I am crying inside but I know that my house is strong and all of this is only dirt but what has happened to my friends in their huts. I go to the door and look out. What I see is devastating. There are trees down everywhere in the compound. One tree came down and broke the hinges on our big front door. The kids go around picking up the hundreds of mangoes on the ground as I am taking in the sight of the doings of the storm. It is overwhelming.

I have to teach this morning. After getting ready for my day at the school Naomi comes to the door. I could tell that she is just as overwhelmed as I am. I ask if her family is all okay and she tells me her story of sitting in her little hut with 7 children, her sister, and her sisters 2 month old baby. All of them huddled together and tried to cover the baby as the wind is growing and takes away half of her roof. They are getting rained on and praying that the Lord keep them safe. She tells me with tears in her eyes. We both know that there are many of the same stories from all around. It breaks by heart because the people work so hard for so little.

Cory, Brichelle, Naomi and I pray to God and thank Him for his protection. We start to make our way to the school. I stop in my tracks. I am hit with so much emotion. The roof of the school is destroyed. It has tin on it and it is half ripped off. I begin to cry. Why? These children deserve so much better. Rainy season is coming and it needs to get fixed but how, there is no money. I am reminded about an article that was written by another missionary in Honduras. I read the article and can relate to some of the teaching distractions being in a different country. I look at the articles picture and see that in this classroom there are many teaching tools, there are posters, nice tables and chairs. I think wow that is really nice. In the Bere' school there is nothing. The walls need to be painted, all of the desks are falling apart due to the fact that the person that made them didn't follow instruction and tried to do things the African way and now half of the desks are broken and children are having to sit on the floor. All they have is a chalkboard and a clock and that is it! I walk into the room full of beautiful faces waiting to see what I am going to say. I walk across the room speechless with tears in my eyes and walking carefully over the puddles of water. I can't even talk. I look out the window as I allow the wind to blow into my face and try to get myself together to talk to them. I can still see the storm clouds circling above. I talked with them and asked how many of their houses are destroyed by the storm. Half of the class raise their hands. We pray!

After class I have another task at hand. Cory has told me a story about a mother that died and she left a one month old baby behind. There is an older lady that has the child. Cory is concerned that the baby is not being fed and wants to help. As we make our way over to the hut where child is being cared for we look over at the home of our friends. All around us houses are destroyed. Walls have fallen down and roofs are gone. A woman passes that is crying and raising her hands up to God. I don't know if this is due to the storm and its destruction or if she has suffered a loss. It just went along with the way we all were feeling. We all go together with Naomi and she talks to the lady that is feeding the baby. We let her know that we will help her with what she needs. She is okay with keeping the baby but appreciates any help we can give. Before we leave Naomi prays for this family and the baby that all things will work together for good.

Now my cry to everyone in the states is this. Please share some of these stories with your church. Please help this town. I know I will have many come to me asking for help for their houses. I can't help everyone myself. I need funds to help them. And please I beg you help this Adventist school that has nothing! I was already going to ask for help for the school before this tragedy but now we really need help. I want to be able to help the children learn. How can they learn when they are sitting on a board two inches from the ground in a puddle of water. I want them to know they are worth more than that. I know you all have things that are going on in the states that need your help. But, please if your church does not already have a mission that you are supporting this town is so poor and has so much tragedy happening every day. I am telling you that this is a great place to touch lives in a very powerful way. But in order to do that I need your help. I want to be a tool for God to help the people here. Please pray over this and take it to your church or your Sabbath school class or any kind of bible study group you are involved in. At the very least please uplift this town to the Lord in prayer.

Your friend in Christ,
Tammy Parker