A small fishing town named Arauco

We`re in a small down called Arauco about 1.5 hours south of Concepcion, which was one of the hardest hit cities. Auraco was lucky because it was protected from the tsunami in a cove and also by an island, Santa Maria, that acted as a break water. We were welcomed with amazing hospitality by the staff and Dominican sisters at a nursing home where we have been helping out. Half of their building is uninhabitable and will have to be demolished, and they are still without water.  We´ve been hauling a lot of water, using outhouses and taking spounge baths. Imagine giving 85 grandma and grandpas spounge baths by heating water on a campfire in the back yard. The other place where the work has increased by 3 fold is the laundry room and I´ve learned to wash by hand MUCH faster :).  

Yesterday we were able to go with the Catholic youth group to a small town south of here named Llico that wasn´t as lucky as Auraco.  The tsunami lifted up half the town and broke them like toothpicks.  Most the debree doesn´t even look like houses. There are some 400 families living in tents up in the hills.  They have all the basic immediate needs met by donations including water, food, clothes, tents and even toys for the kids and psychologists for everyone.  A young mother we were talking with said that there have been so many generous people come with donations, good humor, smiles and laughs.  They are so well organized, divided into seperate camps with someone in charge of each one, and a counsil of camp representatives to make community decisions.  They are now moving on to the next step, which is starting demolition and trying to begin to rebuild, which turns out to be very complicated.  The winters are really rainy here so it´s a pressing concern. 

We have seen the same Chilean strength of character here as we did in Santiago.  Another mother we talked with was so positive and upbeat, joking about everything, and talking mater of factly about their situation.  She told us about how her little boy, Manuel, has lots of questions she doesn´t know how to answer, and how he´ll play with his new toy trucks and reinact the scenes that he saw on the highway after the earthquake.  She said that she doesn´t want to go and even see where her house was, as she feels she can´t deal with that right now, she´s only looking to the future and meeting all her families´ needs. 


Manuel´s little cousin was there too.  Her name is Millaray.  She was such a beautiful little girl and made me think of our Millaray back at the Hogar in Santiago.  It made my heart break to imagine our precious little girl having to go through all this... loosing her house, all her belongings, her stability, her whole world being turned upside down again.  This little girl, this little family, could have so easily been any number of so many people we love so much.  Life is so fragile, and you don´t truly appreciate what that means, with all of it´s facets, until you live it up close. 

Give thanks each day for EVERYTHING. 

From the moment you open your eyes,

you turn on your faucet,

you walk out your front door,

you ask your neighbor how they are... really ask...

until you tuck your children into bed at night,

... Give Thanks...

Change in Plans

One Year later and we are still enjoying Chile! Our Mission time at the Hogar has ended, but the adventure continues! The major earthquake here in Chile has affected 80% of the population, taking over 800 lives, and destroying thousands of buildings.  We have had a change of plans and instead of a vacation, we are dedicating the next 3 weeks to helping the victims in the aftermath.  After our 'new' mission is ended, we are planning on returning to Santiago to look for work and to continue accompanying the girls at the Hogar. 

Love and Blessings to all.  Keep us in your prayers and we will do the same.

 

Un año ya ha pasado y todavía estamos disfrutando a Chile!  Nuestra misión en el Hogar para niñas en Maipu ha terminada, pero continua la aventura!  El terremoto aquí en Chile ha afectado a 80% de la población Chilena y ha reclamado más de 800 vidas.  Miles de edificios están al suelo, o simplemente ya no existen.  Hemos cambiado nuestros planes, y en vez de tomar nuestras vacacciones, vamos a dedicar los siguientes 3 semanas a ayudar a las victimas del terremoto.  Después de terminar esta nueva misión, nuestros "Planes" consisten de regresar a Santiago, buscar trabajo, y seguir acompañando a las niñas en el Hogar.

 

Amor y bendiciones a todos.  No nos olviden en sus oraciones y no olviden que siempre estén en nuestras.

Is there life after the Quake?

 Last week was like having jumped down the rabbit hole.  The buildings and roads had taken on new shapes, conversations and the community atmosphere changed so much.  That little bottle that said 'drink me' definately had a shrinking effect, because everything seemed much bigger.  I was waking up to every little noise at night. There was so much to process and to absorb.  Now I'm not so jumpy or stressed out, things seem to make a bit more sense, and life all around us has quickly returned to normal. (what ever that is! :)

We are safe, and in very very good hands in so many ways.  The 5 and 6 tremors, and aftershocks are nothing compared to the 8.  We're sleeping through them now and hardly notice them.  there's a little bit of movement, but there aren't any risks of buildings falling down or loosing facades.  It's so funny to say, but a 6.0 earthquake feels like nothing! :)  Thank you sooooo much everyone for all of the prayers. 

The Chilean people are so resilient.  It is amazing how earthquakes have formed a part of their culture, of their character.  Everyone lives through about 3-4 major earthquakes in their lives.  Right away, as soon as they can, they get up, rebuild and move on.  Have a party, laugh, be immensely thankful for being alive, get back to work, and don't forget that pilates class.  Most all the kids started school today, and a sister here started College today... we're trying to follow suit (although a bit more wobbily :) and are working on moving on with our lives as well.

We went to a birthday party Friday night, were able to relax all day Saturday.  We caught a benefit concert yesterday for the Red Cross and got to enjoy some great Andean music with friends.  We're working really hard to get connected with an emergency relief organization to start help building temporary shelters or delivering food and water. I am sure that our perspective on everything will change again when we start heading south again.  I can't imagine what the next 3 weeks will be like for us... but the important thing is to reach out in solidarity and love to the people here that are in so much need.  We have been amazingly blessed with this available time, and we plan to use it well.  We talked with Sister Mary Gloria in the States and she has agreed to extend our medical coverage and keep us on as VIDES volunteers with the Salesian order.  And we thought our Mission was over!  I have a funny feeling that it will never be over... not really.  Mission is a way of life, not a short period of time.

Peace and God bless to all.  We will write more soon.

Still Pictures are up- Ya Subimos Las Fotos

Check out the still photos of each of the towns we have visited.
Aquí se puede ver las fotos de cada ciudad que visitabamos.
Santiago, Molina & Santa Cruz, and Talca & Linares .

I know that we haven't been able to write much about this experience, and the experience of the after earthquake.  There is so much to absorb and process, and still moving forward with regular life.  Soon I will write more.

Cuidad Talca Colegio Santa Teresa Terremoto

This is the city of Talca and the school. It took some serious damage

TERREMOTO MOLINA Chile Colegio Escuela Nuestro Señora del Transito

This is the school at Molina. Thank God no one was hurt.

Liceo Maria Auxiliadora Santa Cruz Coleigo Chile 2010 Terremoto

The school at Santa Cruz