Thursday, March 6, 2008

New Update on Dump Families

THE CHILDREN'S HOMES ONCE STOOD HERE




THEY HAVE SET-UP LITTLE SHACKS WITH MATERIALS THAT THEY COULD FIND


THIS WAS WHERE THE BIGGER "RED" HOUSE ONCE STOOD THAT HOUSED 8 FAMILIES

DYANA STILL HAS A SMILE ON HER FACE, BUT WE NOTICED THAT SHE'S NOT AS CLEAN AS SHE USED TO BE. . .

EVERYTHING WAS IN SHAMBLES AND LEFT A MESS.

My friend, Teri, who helps me co-lead the Kids Club at the dump on Wedsnesday afternoon, just sent out this information (read below) after having been out to the dump yesterday afternoon with the high schoolers for the Kids Club.

Please keep praying as we seek ways to show Jesus' love to these children and families. To see more photos and description of photos, please visit the on-line album. Click HERE. And then click on View Album to get into the photos. To start the slide-show you need to click on the first photo. We appreciate your interest and prayers in this situation.

Here is what Teri has to say in regards to what they saw and did yesterday:

Hi Friends!
We started kids' club yesterday with the song, "Levanta Tu Casa sobre
la Roca que es Jesus." (Build your house on the Rock, who is Jesus.) Our prayer for these families in Zambiza is that their true home will be with Jesus; their hope will be in Jesus; and that HE will be their comfort in the time of trouble. Please keep praying for the children at the dump.

In this picture album, you can see pictures of what got
destroyed and where some of the people are now living. I wrote more specific information in the album description, and under each picture (in the slideshow view). We know that about 20 children from our kids' club lost their homes. Some of them I was wrong about last week (like Paola, who DID lose her home.) So I updated all that information.

For
all of you Quito-dwellers, we will be having a clothing drive soon. For everyone: Thank you for praying. Most of all, pray that they will draw near to GOD in this time of trouble, and seek Him for refuge.

We saw the destruction first-hand today. I have to keep reminding myself that the people don't have the "right" to live there because they are squatters. But because they are our friends, we are sad for their loss. Some of them have left. Some are still trying to live there. One girl said that when the gov't came to destroy the homes, they told everyone that they had 10 minutes to remove their belongings.

Some of the families weren't home at the time to save anything. The girl said that they burned what was left behind and she lost all her school notebooks. I think her story is typical in that many of the families have very few clothes to wear now, and they don't have facilities to bathe. Some of the children hesitated before coming to club because they were so dirty.

We estimate that about 20 children from our kids club lost their homes. Read the photo descriptions for specific info. We are starting a clothing/food drive, but the best thing we can do is PRAY!!