About a month ago there was this massive landslide that destroyed 29 homes which was a little of 3 different villages and killed 8 people. We went to go visit the sight of the disaster on Monday. I tried to mentally prepared myself but you can't really mentally prepare yourself for something like this. I can't explain the feeling of stepping on the ground that covered 29 homes. We had talked to a man who has been helping the people who lost their homes about what we could do and but hadn't visited the sight until Monday. It was one thing to sit down and talk about what we should do for the people and another to actually go there and see for ourselves how massive and disparing it was.
If you looks closely, you can see how tiny the people are.
It was honestly so huge, you can't even tell from this picture. My heart dropped as soon as I could see the amount of land that was just covered in dirt...ahhh it was so heart wrenching.
We obviously couldn't smile.
This man's house was barely missed. He told us the/his story. It had rained really hard Sunday night and Monday morning some of the villagers noticed large cracks in the soil and went to go tell government officials about it. Some people evacuated because they predicted a landslide might occur. His wife was all the way up the hill collecting beans and all of a sudden saw trees crashing down and it just happened. He was in town when it happened along with 400 others whose homes were destroyed. He explained how Monday is market day and how mostly everyone was gone. There was only about two families that were home who were killed. Everybody came home from the market/school that day and their homes was gone. Could you imagine? I couldn't help but cry while this man was telling us. Even though his home was barely missed, he and others who live on this mountain and whose homes were destroyed have relocated and are living in tents just down the mountain. Tents. A little bit better then your average camping tent but it's not a home.
This home was barely missed as well
This was a home, you can see some of the things that were dug up from the tractors
These are the tents the people are living in.
We talked to this woman about her experience and she was just at the market for the day and came back and her home was gone. She was telling us how grateful to God she was that she was alive and was thanking us for being there. We didn't even do anything and she was thanking us. Really? I love these people. They have the most selfless hearts.
It was so much more motivating to want to help after being there. We thought it would be a good idea to have people in Mbale donate some things. In order to target the more wealthy people we are going to advertise on the radio and put signs in the grocery stores. I am excited about it and hope we can get people to donate. I'm going to donate all of my clothes! I can't wait to distribute the donations to these people. They deserve it.
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