Los Anonos

These past couple of days have been pretty crazy as we have been down in an area severely affected by the torrential rains which caused massive flooding and mudslides throughout Escazu. Los Anonos is a neighborhood of houses stacked precariously on the side of a hill leading down to the winding river. The government has been trying to encourage the people to leave Los Anonos for years because of the issue of safety during the rainy season and even closed down the neighborhood school in attempts to force families with children to move into areas within close proximity of a public school. However, the choice of location for the families of this community is due to the fact that close to all the employable members of each family unit work for minimum, or less than minimum wage in the case of illegal Nicaraguan immigrants, and have no other choice but to settle in one of the most dangerous areas. The main drag is almost a semi-circular shape as it follows two major bends of the river. With the 72 hours of non-stop rainfall those homes located along the curves of the river were most affected as the water flew around the bends, taking down whatever was in its path. Even the families on the opposite side of the street had a three to 4 foot deep river in their homes. To make matters worse, three houses in entirety and parts of others were taken out by a mudslide that swept across the mountain late Wednesday night.
The first day we went into Los Anonos was absolute chaos. Everyone was trying to salvage whatever they could from their inundated homes by lugging refrigerators, beds, stoves, scrap metal, etc. up to higher ground. What a paradox it was that they were surrounded by the raging river water and they were sweeping, hauling, or shoveling muddy water from out of their houses but had no clean drinking water. Luckily a few houses on the other side of the river did have running water which allowed everyone without to haul buckets, bottles, cups, etc. back to whatever they had left on the quebrada side. I have never seen anything like it. To say that it was overwhelming would be such an understatement but I don’t have adequate words to convey the devastation in any other way. All we could do was stop and pray: for opportunities to help, for peace for the families, for hope. We, in collaboration with two other organizations with a presence in Los Anonos, began serving gallo pinto and hot dogs in the closed down school. Looking for other ways to be useful we helped carry water down to the very end of the stretch and started carrying loads of people’s belongings back up the opposite direction. The guys hauled an entire refrigerator from the very last house on the street all the way up an almost vertical flight of stairs. The families we met absolutely astounded me with their faith. In the midst of losing everything, the first thing they would tell you was how merciful GOD is to spare their loved ones. I talked for a while with one family that came for food at the school whose entire house was eaten by the landslide the night before. With the very clothes on his back and three soggy passports Jose said he was just so thankful that his family was safe. His four year old son, Dilan, told me that all of his things were inside of the mountain but that it was ok, that they are going to try to go back to live on a farm in Nicaragua. So many others, though, don’t have anywhere else to go.
And that is the problem. The ministry of health has forbidden us to serve food in the school, permanently cut off electricity and water, and sealed off the bridge connecting the two sides of the river in order to force everyone to find other places of residence. A huge majority of the people either don’t want to leave or have no other option but to stay. Many of them won’t even leave their houses just to walk to the school for food in fear of being robbed of whatever they managed to save from the flooding. With this situation we are praying about how to be the most helpful and how to demonstrate the hands and feet of Jesus in the best way. I don’t really know what to say except pray. I feel so helpless when I walk into people’s houses whose kitchen was replaced by mud from the mountain and parts of the house above them. I don’t know what to do when a woman tells us she is sleeping in the foot of muddy filth that the river brought into her bedroom. But GOD promises “I will give you every place where you set your foot…No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you” (Joshua 1:3,5). GOD is in Los Anonos right now, he has claimed it as His. He will not abandon his children there. I just have to cling to that hope and pray like crazy.
We need your help! Please make a conscious effort to keep everyone affected in your prayers. If we want to make a difference we need an army of prayer warriors and funds to provide for the physical needs of these families. If you would like the opportunity to give financially to the relief efforts of 6:8 Ministries please go to their website www.68ministries.com. Thank you all and GOD BLESS.