Today as we were walking to a rumored blown away village (Uvien). We came across these ladies with a few children sitting under a giant rock. We tried talking to them, but they just smiled, giggled, and pointed us over to where the men were under some tarps. They were the people without any homes. Everything had blown away. The gave us a tour of their "village", and the only remains of their homes were rectangular areas of crushed white coral showing where their floors had been. The mango trees that had surrounded their homes were reduced to a trunk and a few stubs of the larger branches. New leaves were popping out everywhere, but it is going to be a while before there are any mangos.
They told us how after the hurricane started they huddled in their cinder block house, when the roof blew off, and the wall collapsed they moved to one of their bamboo and thatch houses, until it collapsed on them. There were no other houses so they headed up the hills to hide in small caves where they had hidden their chickens and pigs.
We asked what they needed to start rebuilding their homes. "Hammer, nails, and an axe!" Chez Nous and Salsa immediately sprung into action, and brought a large machete, hammer, an old butter container filled with nails, a spool of fishing line, and bunch of hooks. Shannon had also whipped together a bag of children's clothes that our children no longer wore.
They were more than appreciative, and they forced us to take one of their giant yams. It was about 10 to 15 lbs.
We also did a quick medical clinic there as one of the young ladies had stepped on a broken bottle and ended up losing half her foot to an infection. It was healing well, but very sad.
Once again these wonderful people did not ask for anything, but rather graciously accepted our offer of help. So refreshing!
Courage and Crew
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