Friends in Peru Write About the Quake

I am going back to Peru in February, and the friends we are going to serve there are helping people overcome the aftermath of the 8.0 Earthquake that hit Peru last week. Here is an excerpt from an email we received from Lee Williams this week, one of the leaders myself, Doug and Rita Roberts, Ben and Robin Pasley, Aaron Strumpel and Tim Thornton are going to serve in February. If you would like to give directly to these people, you can designate a donation "PERU" and use the "DONATE NOW" link in the left column.

"Blessed be the LORD, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city." (Psalm 31:21).

Our team has just returned to Arequipa after a week in Chincha and Pisco , Peru helping with the relief effort of those affected by the earthquake - which is practically everyone! We arrived in Chincha three days after the initial quake that killed over 500 people and destroyed or damaged more than 50 percent of the homes and businesses in the area. On our first evening we were chased from our hotel room by a 6.0 quake. We returned to our candle-lit accommodations accompanied by the distant (and sometimes not-so distant!) crack of gunfire and rested with flashlights in hand.

We were able to contact a food distributor in Chincha and purchased more than a thousand kilos of rice, a thousand kilos of noodles, close to a thousand liters of water, cases of milk, tuna, crackers, and sugar, etc. In addition, we were able to purchase and have sent from Lima, hundreds of meters of plastic and insulation (Chincha is in the dead of winter, and the climate is very wet and cold, and many, many, people are forced to live outside of their homes in tents and make-shift housing). Also, we distributed more than a hundred blankets to four districts in Chincha and Pisco. THANKS BE TO GOD FOR ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE GIVEN IN AN EFFORT TO HELP WITH THE NEED IN CHINCHA PERU ! Your generosity is not in vain! Gratefully,Lee