Today was my last day. I woke up and the sun was out, weather warm and the villagers scurrying around making preparations to start planting. Tobacco is the cash crop all else is for survival. We visited several families to complete our 25 family assessments. The next team shows up on Thursday to start assembling the shelters. I know beyond doubt that the team will find that all is ready to go. Looking forward for the return trip for phase two. Thank you to all who has helped support this effort.
Kenny
A meal at every turn. My host family was stunning. This was breakfast every morning.The snow is beginning to melt on the mountains. Water will soon come to the fields.
One of the main reasons I am here is to help train and be trained on the building of a shelter designed by a German engineer. These shelters have at least a seven year lifespan and can carry a three foot snow load on top.
Unfortunately the gentleman’s mother in law passed away and he will show up after I leave. The first phase is 25 shelters and the second phase (I’m sure I will be back) another 25 at a later date.
The project will continue as funds are available from the generous hearts around the world.
We started a list with the most vulnerable villagers. Elderly, handicapped and families with small children. We had a large truck deliver all the material and the local men helped unload and put all the components in a depot. The shelter needs a fairly flat surface that the owners of the land are responsible to prepare. People are helping each which to me is a beautiful thing. The shelters cost about $1000.00 each. Once news came that the engineer was delayed we started encouraging the people to prepare the land and I started gathering materials for each site and delivering it to the family. By staging the material it will help the engineer have a faster start and people can start gaining some dignity back in their lives. We have made three teams of workers with a foreman for each team.
All I know is God is good. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Kenny
What can you sayI found this lady up the mountain. When you don’t have anything and you lose what little you have this is how it worksLoading material to deliver to each site
Thank you for your prayers and support for this mission. The Lord is moving and we’ve been burning our candles at both ends. Pray for continued strength in this difficult mission trip.
The small village we are in, which I cannot name at this time for security reasons, was hit very hard. They are not getting the help they need. It’s so important that we are here.
The first two days we worked in the cold and rain (and some snow) to start our assessment of the most needy for shelters. This is a very old village with ancient homes, most of which were destroyed by the quake. Some homes were 145 years old.
Earthquakes are a daily thing but I feel no danger. I am so grateful to be here and I am very welcomed here. I am staying with a local family and they are treating me so kindly.
This is not a place to where you drop in. It won’t work. The culture is very sensitive. There are a lot of moving parts to get us where we are. We’ve had a few hiccups but that’s fine. God is good and he sees us through.
Please pray for our interpreter. Without her it would not be possible to build shelters for these families.
I will report again soon now that we are gaining ground on the project. Thank you all again for your prayers and generous support.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Kenny
There have been nice small breaks… here we are having tea with the locals.
Days run into each other and hours seem to not matter. The work is serious and daunting. I returned to Antakya ( modern day Antioch) today to go into the most heavily hit area in the middle of the city. This area is horrific. The devastation and lose of life incredible. There is a soup kitchen set up to help survivors with much needed meals. We were able to bring in supplies for the kitchen. I witnessed what I believed at the time, a survivor being pulled from the rubble. Twelve days, 288 hours after the quake. This was confirmed this morning on the news. It’s crazy that there are still finding life in this graveyard of rubble. We made our way back to the Ilk Umut field hospital and dropped off the rest med pacs. Once again they were very happy to receive them. We headed back to Adana to catch our breath.
Ilk Umut aid workers
More med pacs delivered
Soup kitchen in action
Center of destruction soup kitchen
Rescue workers pulling out a survivor 288 hrs after the quake
Made it smoothly without incident on the med pacs. Got about 3 hours sleep and headed out at 6:00 AM. We hooked up with a German group called the Awakening. We hitched a ride with them to Kahramanmaras where the epicenter of the quake is. This area is very devastated. Tomorrow we head to Hatay to bring the med pacs. This area is a network of villages where much destruction and death is very high. Our partners have a great connection with hospitals and field clinics.
Yesterday was a day full of strategy meetings discussing the shelters and how to improve them. We also came up with a generic field survey to interview the refugees. This will help in the future as the shelter project moves forward. Today we went south to Antakya to where the damage is astronomical. We interviewed several refugee families and discussed the shelters with them. The field survey will help us to now how many shelters the families will need. We also hooked up with the in country non profit ilk umut
at a field hospital and handed off two boxes of meds. Needless to say they were very stoked. Today was a long and hard day.
Kenny is flying into Istanbul today and will be delivering medical packs to field hospitals in Adana this week. Kenny and GMSM has become a go-to source for multiple Christian organizations who need workers in the field in times of great disaster resulting from the Kahramanmaras earthquake. We thank you, our supporters, for all the years of contributions to make this happen.
We do not know the conditions of cell towers in the area, but Kenny will send reports this week if possible. Otherwise we will post reports here next week.
Please share this with your church, friends, and family so others may contribute. The medical kits have antibiotics and other supplies that are urgently needed in Turkey. Your support for this trip will be helping survivors who are in a terrible situation, dealing with injury, loss, and fear of what’s to come. Please help us TODAY to be the hands and feet of Jesus in a land filled with darkness and pain.
