The Rest of the Story

letters sent about the pictures in this folder: 11 june, 15 june, 18 june, 2 july this morning (mon, june 11), the people in our 1st floor guest house were awakened to an unpleasant surprise! it had rained all night, and the big drain (sewer) behind our house overflowed into the homes and businesses in our area. at the height of the flooding, the guest house was 3 feet deep in icky muddy water. :p please pray for the cleanup and funds to replace damaged items. pray too for the poor & homeless in ctg who put up with this every year, often several times a year! pictures (and later, videos) of the jharna house flood by debb & anet can be found on this internet site: http://www.esnips.com/web/ctgghflood11june07 it is a public folder, with no passwords. so feel free to give this address to anyone. 15 june dear friends, last night, as i was writing this to you, i was listening to a frightening sound outside. the sound of a steady rain (all night), which would normally be a comforting sound, today has ominous implications. the day of the flood, tysha fore & i took a friend and coworker, julie nelson, to dhaka for a planned return trip to the states. we left on time, had no problems, and julie made her flight. there had been some flooding in dhaka, but nothing major. back in chittagong, however, we learned that the flooding was worse than we'd known. mona kach helped our guest house workers begin the cleanup on monday afternoon when the water receded. late that night, the gh was flooded again, this time a foot or so. of the damage, laura kuykendall, gh manager said, "before the water rose too much we did get some mattresses out and [one] freezer, but not much else. the floors are covered in mud/sand and all the rest of the stuff is wet/damp. i'm not sure how much, if any of it will be salvageable. some decisions will have to be made about what to keep and what to get rid of and how to start over again." tysha & i returned to chittagong today (thursday) to find garbage still strewn across the grass (no time to clean that up yet), linens spread out across the bushes (there was a little sun today), and furniture scattered in the parking area (now, as it's raining, i wonder if it's still there...). my cook ruma's family lives in a little shack that often floods. like so many in this country, they simply put things up on the furniture until the water goes down. but monday morning at 5am is when their landlord woke them with cries of warning. the water was already up to their bed, and before it was over, ruma said the water was up to her neck (maybe 4-4.5 feet). what they lost included their rice (most people buy a month's supply at a time) and all the children's school books. what they didn't lose is covered in mud and has the stench of the drain. when she came today, ruma told me that their daughters are staying with her sister, while she and ruben clean up. i gave her an old quilt, a few towels, some rags for cleaning, some money, and some cooked rice and dal (lentils). i offered water, but she said they had drinking water and water for cleaning now. the flooding occured in many areas in the city, and scores of first-floor businesses were devastated. cda avenue, the main north-south road was waist-deep and higher in places. i've uploaded pictures of that road, taken by our co-worker nathan thomas, here: http://www.esnips.com/web/ctgflood-cda11june07. i will also be uploading a few new pics and movies into this folder: http://www.esnips.com/web/ctgghflood11june07. they include shots of our back property wall along the drain (part of which collapsed) and a nearby road over the drain which was damaged. (i will put the new pics on page 1.) all this though, is really nothing, compared to those who have lost their

lives. there was a mud slide in one area of the city, in which over 100 people died. you can read more about that story here: http://www.gulftimes.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=154775&version=1&template_id=44& parent_id=24. the response by world vision is reported here: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/world.vision.provides.immediate.aid.for.bang ladesh.mudslides.flood/11117.htm. please remember all these matters in prayer. and finally, please also pray for us as we have a vbs planned, beginning on sunday. it will be held in the wca building, which was untouched by flooding, though the drain across the street overflowed. we're expecting at least 60 kids. thank you for your thoughts and prayers. love, deb 18 june dear praying friends, i've uploaded some pictures of the guest house cleanup, taken by mona kach. we're finding that many of the gh appliances can be repaired. much of the furniture, mattresses, and linens, though, will need to be replaced. some of you have expressed an interest in helping the relief effort. our agency is collecting donations (address below). the account number for chittagong relief is 77171. please specify if you'd like the funds to go toward our guest house, or toward a general relief effort, as our local churches will be distributing relief to area families who suffered major damage or loss. thanks for your prayers and support! deb http://www.abwe.org/news/bangladesh_flooding.asp another flood article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/world/asiapcf/06/12/bangladesh.floods.ap/index.html 2 july dear praying friends, three weeks after the flooding, repairs are underway in our chittagong guest house. because it had been recently remodeled, room 3 was the first room cleaned, and is again able to be used, along with room 4. room 6, the biggest bedroom, is being used as a temporary living/dining room while the southeast rooms are remodeled. repair of the water-damaged cement walls involves chipping away the damaged part and putting on fresh cement. in many places, it's also given us a good excuse to tear out 20-year old wiring and put in new. money that has been donated from the us will go toward new furnishings, a new phone system / house intercom (the not-that-old one was ruined), and instant power supplies (to run a few lights & fans when the power goes out - we lost 2 of 3). we've also received monitary donations for flood victims, and that will go into our relief fund, to be distributed by the local churches. aid is already going out, in the form of money or food and supplies. in many cases, the churches are providing aid to people who've not gotten help from the government or anywhere else. it's a great testimony to the communities. many thanks to those who have given! gifts may still be directed to abwe, po box 8585, harrisburg, pa 171058585. please make a note on your gift that it should be given to - chittagong relief: # 77171, designated for the chittagong guest house or chittagong flood relief. thanks again for your thoughts and prayers. new pictures uploaded to http://www.esnips.com/web/ctgghflood11june07 01 water damaged wall.jpg 02 damaged wall chipped away.jpg 03 fresh concrete on kitchen walls.jpg living room 1.jpg

living room 2.jpg living room 3.jpg room 3 (newly remodeled).jpg room 3 bathroom (tile was easily cleaned).jpg room 3 floor (3 weeks later, water still seeping up from saturated ground below).jpg room 6 as a living-dining room.jpg room 6 living-dining room.jpg