Reigned All Day

Dear bloggers, I am really tired tonight, but in a good way. I’m not discouraged or disheartened, just tired. Tonight I will sleep at the D’Iberville Camp, having completed my first day as camp director. I know there are things I am forgetting and will catch me by surprise, but I think I have a grasp on what need to be priorities around the camp.

(Each camp director’s office has a laptop connected to wireless broadband which works well, so that is good. When I get a chance I will figure out how to get photos from my camera into this PC, so I can give you some pics.)

Today was my first day and my first rain day. A known problem is that the huts should have been (but were not) built on wood bases to keep them off the wet ground. So if there is even heavy dew, water collects on the floors of the huts. The bad news is that D’Iberville receives 6-7 inches of rain in January. The cheerfulness of the volunteers sleeping and eating in the wet tents amazes me. In truth, a camp of this sort depends on the willing participation of its inhabitants. The teams must provide people each day for cooking meals and maintaining the camp. This week we housed (if one can call it that) and fed 90 people (from New Jersey, North Carolina, Missouri, Virginia and Ontario). Tomorrow a team from Arizona arrives - it’s not just close by teams that are coming.

Not quickly enough, we are taking actions to get the campers out of the mud. The village already is connected by a web of wood pallet sidewalks – kind of a neo-Dodge City look. Sunday afternoon a 30’ x 40’ tent will arrive for our dining tent. Right now we are very cramped under a large awning with tarps tied around it that lets the wind and rain go right through. But to listen to the folks carry on, you’d think they were at the Broadmoor, or something. (Note to self: Look for studies on masochistic tendencies among volunteers.)

The thing I still need to do, is get down to take a look at the really hard hit areas. I am told the scale of the destruction right near the coast is beyond what one can imagine. For instance, Bay Saint Louis went from being a town of 6000 to a current population of 600, a 90% drop! First Presbyterian Church, a small church to begin with, had a commensurate drop and now has nine members. Pray for the people of this region.

With that sobering thought, I am going to bed (which I still need make), as I have a 7:00 a.m. team leaders meeting.

iXs,
the Rev