Marta's house

Marta is one of the women who works at the soup kitchen. Last week a strong wind blew over a 8 ft cement wall next to her house that came crashing through their metal roof, breaking their beds and belongings. Fortunately, neither she or her 3 children we in the house at the time. She has moved in with a sister until her roof can be repaired as her house is now totally exposed on top. You may also notice that the walls are built completely of cinder block and the floor are cement or dirt. In some of the houses we've visited, roofs and walls are created by layering thick pieces of cardboard. This is very typical here as only the upper class can afford tile or wood. The little girl in the picture is one of Marta's daughters on the day we brought by mattresses and linens so they wouldn't have to sleep on the floor. We wanted to post some pictures to show you the reality of people's lives here. Most of our blog postings have been about exciting things that are happening here, but there have also been a lot of heartbreaking things we've witnessed and this is one of them.