Hi everybody. I have some sad news from some of the families in a neighborhood close to Pena Blanca. The BTLP crew installed quite a few solar electrical systems in these homes, so we did get to know some of the families. During Hurricane Iota, there was a landslide that destroyed 12 of the homes. As you can see from the grainy picture above, there was intense damage to the area. There were many people that died, including an entire family that we met during a solar installation at their home. This is a sad time for the people in the area, but they are really pulling together and the surviving families are being taken care of by their community. In fact, your very own BTLP technician, Pastor Domingo is doing his best and has even taken in one of the affected families. You can see a picture below of the family that Pastor is taking care of. Harvey and the BTLP crew are getting everything ready to provide food, medicine, hygiene kits, clothing and blankets for all the effected families in the area starting on December 14.
Here are some things that I didn’t think about before I started talking to Pastor Domingo. The massive amount of rain does lots of damage, including to the family gardens. That means that not only their food supply is destroyed, but the crops that they rely on for income are also destroyed. Also, when a landslide occurs and washes away your house including the family possessions such as livestock and clothing. I am so grateful that there are good people that are in the area that are willing to house and feed these people in their time of need.
Pastor Domingo and Alexi were some of the first responders to the disaster. Pastor says that they witnessed some of the destruction and found some of the victims. The flooding was intense, but Pastor and Alexi were able to ride their motorcycles to get to some of the families along with the other responders.
BTLP is doing our best to support these families and others that were effected by this disaster. If you want to help out with a donation, you can click on our donation page to support this humanitarian effort at https://www.beyondthelightproject.org/donate. We are currently using funds for initial humanitarian efforts, but expect that there will be some long-term additional projects to get these families back on their feet. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers and consider donating money if you want to help this effort.
Jim