Who am I?

From Jul 14-18, 2008 I volunteered my time with the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Team in Santa Cruz county, CA. Our job during those 5 days was to help those who needed help with clean up of their homes due to the recent fires in Santa Cruz county, most notably Big Sur.

The next couple of blogs will be addressing the time I spent with this team in this fashion:
- Background info
- Daily Schedule
- Homes we worked on
- Impact we made on others
- Impact made on me
- What's next for me

The Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief teams formed by each state and are deployed to where ever they are needed. The SBC DF team has been deployed to NYC after 9/11, New Orleans after Katrina, and even in Souther California during the fires during Nov 2007. Other than disasters in America, the SBC DF team also responds to international disasters such as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake which created tsunamis that devestated the region. The SBC DF teams work with the American Red Cross and other organizations to help with clean up, mass feedings, digging of wells, and rebuilding of homes. (More about SBC DF team making an impact click here: http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=28336&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0620)

Our priority in helping those affected by the fires in Santa Cruz county was to help those without insurance. There were many people that we helped who did not have insurance as well as home owners who had unpermited homes. The county decided not to give help to these people because they built their homes illegally. (Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_9585591) It is because of those who need help from these types of disasters that these Disaster Teams are formed. "We do all this to glorify Jesus in the presence of people who are hurting and need help. This gives us an opportunity to share Jesus and His love." (Source: http://www.csbc.com/article140992.htm)

Our daily schedule
- Wake up at 6am
- Breakfast at 7am
- Devotional/Assignments at 7.30am
- Out the door at 8am
- Cleaning up homes from 8am to 5pm
- Dinner at 6pm
- Debriefing at 8pm
- Free time after debriefing (which sometimes wasn't that much because our meetings sometimes went too long)

The homes we worked on ranged from trailers to houses. We cleaned up by sweeping up the ash, piling the brick/concrete rubble, and separating metal to be put in piles to go to the junk yard. This way the metal could bought and the home owners would have something to start their lives with. Some of the homes were two stories and you can image how much debris and ash there would be. Many of the homes I saw on Summit Road were unpermitted homes and the owners just left all their debris there, as if they never wanted to go back.

I could endure all the shoveling of ash, the hard to breathe respirator masks, and the sun beating down on the back of my neck, but the one job I had the most difficult with was sifting. Sifting is when you filter the ash through a sifting screen to look for items. There was a lady who needed sifting done on her property before taking everything out of her property to start over. She instructed us to look for some of her grandma's belongings. ARE YOU SERIOUS? was my thinking. She wanted half our team to look for sentimental items. While sifting through one of the rooms, I thought that I was wasting my time going through the pile of tile, ash, and broken pieces of pottery. For about 2 hours I didn't find anything. Although frustrated, I kept on without saying what was really on my mind. But a little while later, I started to find little objects such as cable boxes, wrenches, tools, sissors, little figurines, etc. I then started to picture in my mind where everything was before that 2 story home was burnt to a crisp. Even after we sifted for about 4 hours I still felt that we didn't do much and that we wasted our time.

The day after, we got a voicemail from the lady that we sifted for. She told us that she really appreciated us coming out to help her out find the precious things that meant a lot to her. She was also happy that one of our guys found a little angel that belonged to her grandma. She was so thrilled to see that it survived the fire. My motive in sifting was selfish, I was looking for something that would fullfil me, and sifting wasn't one of them. However, by continuing to sift and completing the task, my work blessed another who deeply appreciated the fact that someone came out of their way to help her restart her life. She wanted to collect what she could to help remember those that she loved.

Grandma's lil angel