10%

Dam break

aftermath of the Patel Dam disaster in Kenya

By CURE International

July 18^th, 2018

Imagine being at home. It’s evening. Your tummy may be full from dinner. You may be relaxing, and you may even be thinking about going to bed. Now imagine hearing water—and a huge amount of it—coming toward you. The dam near your house has just burst, and it’s coming fast!

Little shoes lie amongst the destruction.

There’s water everywhere.

“It was like the Indian Ocean,” someone said.

You don’t know what happened to your family. Are they somewhere in that Indian Ocean? Lost? Trapped? Their foot or leg could be stuck and they can’t come to the surface.

Imagine that you’re tired. Really tired. You’ve spent hours searching. You’d like to go somewhere and cry, or sleep and pretend nothing has happened, but you can’t because your family is still missing.

This was the reality for a lot of Kenyans when the Patel Dam burst in early May.

The dam burst caused a lot of destruction to the local community. This single mama of four shared how she heard the water and took containers outside to collect what she thought would be rainwater. She went inside to go to bed but then heard the screams of people, realizing destruction was coming, and rushed her kids outside.

At least 46 residents died. Bodies were missing for days. One family had 600 sacks of maize (corn); after the flood, only 30 sacks were left, and the family didn’t survive. One man was dragged for almost a hundred feet before he was rescued.

Pastor Philip prays with CURE co-workers and one of the pastors from an area church.

This is a very difficult tragedy. During the month of May, CURE Kenya co-workers were studying simplicity in staff devotions, so we came together to simplify and give: clothes, shoes, blankets, kitchen utensils—whatever we had that we could give.

Spiritual Director Victor Mose prays with CURE co-workers before loading donations into a vehicle.

After this, some of our spiritual co-workers traveled to the area and teamed up with a local church. They were able to see some of the destruction, talk to people from the area, and give the donations that we had collectively gathered.

Pastor Philip helps load donations into a storage area at a church where there were also a lot of other donations!

The troubles for those affected by the flooding aren’t over yet. Hearts must heal from loss. Plans must be made. Rebuilding must happen.

Pastor Philip prays with CURE co-workers and one of the pastors from the church.

God is there in the midst of this. As we spent time standing in the area of destruction, we could hear singing in the background coming from a church that was spending time worshipping. That is how the healing, plans, and rebuilding will happen... with the help of Jesus.