I spent all day Saturday in the municipio of Escuintla in the towns of Escuintla, La Democracia, and La Gomera. I was there with Aaron and Hugh who were making a connection with the two-person Caritas office in Escuintla. We loaded up our 4 Runner with supplies as well as two of the Caritas trucks and drove them as far as we could until we reached a road that is currently a raging river and only passable with a motorized boat. We then put the supplies onto boats that took them to a remote community (La Naran?) that, until Saturday was still completely isolated and had not yet received supplies. We had planned on going on the boats to deliver the supplies, do an assessment of the community, and deliver some basic medical care, but the “river” was moving extremely quickly and it was late in the afternoon. To get to the community and back would have taken two hours in transit and it would have been dark by the time we returned. With the pounding rain they received on Saturday and the road conditions (we spent over an hour driving on mud roads covered in 3 ft. of water) we decided that it would be safer if we returned to the city. We also visited and dropped off supplies in a town called La Gomera. Although they have received some supplies, they are just now beginning to do a Needs Assessment. We visited a makeshift shelter set up by some nuns where there were people waiting for hours outside a locked gate for food and water, which the shelter did not have enough of to supply the people who were waiting. And this was in actual town. The level of destruction and need in the smaller communities and isolated ones is incomprehensible. It is amazing the current level of immediate need for supplies. The experience was powerful to realize and see with my own eyes. I plan to dedicate all of my free time in the coming weeks to helping in whatever way I can.

Ashley Skrocki