When Hurricane Eta’s devastating sweep through Central America in November left villages, homes, and people buried in mud and floods and many survivors homeless, Conscience International Program Director for Latin America, Dr. Jurguen Kiehnle, MD, and Conscience International President Dr. James Jennings, PhD, began organizing an emergency plan to help.
A native of Guatemala himself, Dr. Kiehnle had already been working in the country for more than five months as a volunteer doctor in a field hospital for Covid-19 patients—accepting personal risk to get there through pandemic restrictions and daily exposure to the disease.
Now attention is focused on hurricane relief with concentration on coastal communities. In Coban, Alta Verapaz, Conscience International volunteers have stepped up, setting up a collection center in a local church, bringing kitchen supplies, providing and cooking more than 300 meals a day on propane stoves, and establishing a shelter for some 100 people. The church itself was flooded by the hurricane but the volunteers worked hard for two days to clean it up and set it up as an emergency relief center. Conscience International is providing food, drinkable water, blankets, and basic hygiene supplies hoping to prevent spread of Covid-19, common flu, infections, and other potential diseases brought on by the storm.
Although Eta is now a tropical storm, the ground is still fully saturated with flood water and there have been multiple mudslides around this region. Although Conscience International is providing shelter, some families prefer to stay and guard their homes, afraid of theft, so they take turns eating at the collection center and delivering food to elders and others who are unable to reach the center due to blocked roads.
The center plans to stay open as long as possible, but there is still a great need and much to do. You can help. Please consider a donation in any amount here or by mail to: Conscience International, P. O. Box 1163, Alpharetta, GA 30009 USA.
