Follow up to RICE RELIEF:
On our boat’s second trip up to Oro Province earlier this month, I (Tim) went along to help deliver over 5 tons of rice and a bunch of donated clothes to 7 coastal villages.
On our boat’s second trip up to Oro Province earlier this month, I (Tim) went along to help deliver over 5 tons of rice and a bunch of donated clothes to 7 coastal villages.
The Maisin people were very grateful for the contributions. 
I learned later that a group from Uiaku (oo-YAH-koo) village (one of our drop off sites) hiked about 4 hours inland carrying clothes and relief supplies (presumably some they had just received) to a less-accessible, neighboring language group that had sustained very heavy damage from the flood.
In the worst-hit areas I went ashore to tour the damages and take documentary photos. Although I saw quite a few houses that had fallen down, it was encouraging to see the villagers already working together to rebuild homes for the families that had lost everything. 
The food gardens were decimated by the flooding. In some areas, the crops are buried by up to a meter of silty mud. 
Even in areas that appear only partially buried, the underground crops like sweet potato, taro, and manioc root are rotting under the saturated blanket of clay. 
The new topsoil is nutrient-poor, fine-grain sediment that will dry very hard when the rainy season up there ends in a few months.
Even if the gardens could be replanted immediately, they wouldn’t produce sustainable food crops for a year or two.
Please keep praying for all the flood victims in Oro Province. They have a long lean road ahead of them. If you are interested in helping out, we can help connect you with coordinators working on long-term disaster relief. 
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