“The water was up to my knees.” “We lost 10 pigs from our farm.” “The turtle hatchery was washed away.”
While helping distribute supplies and identify those in the community that were in the greatest need a young woman named Paloma shared, “I believe that when I think of others first God will think of me kindly.”
David, a young man from Keta said, “When the flood came into my home I was on the bed, my feet just went into the water, and I found out the whole place was flooded. We started to rush to gather our things. The water continued to rise. All of my things were damaged or washed away.”
Carriage was one of victims of the flood. His family was totally displaced. Carriage shared that when the flood came at 4 a.m. on Sunday “the whole place was flooded, everywhere. The whole community, including my house. The water went into our rooms. All of our things were carried out by the water. I picked up my children two at a time to carry them out of the water. I carried the young ones first. About 8 days we were out of our home. The water wasn’t going away. We lost all of our property because the water was moving so fast. All my work tools have been destroyed because of the salty water. I am a mechanic, and all of my tools are destroyed. The community came and some of the people helped us try to gather what things we could. We stayed at the community center, and we all slept there. Everybody slept there. By our own effort we were able to raise some small, small money to feed our children while we were at the community center.”
These are some of the comments made to volunteers as they gave out basic supplies to people affected by the tidal wave that swept into the Keta Region, Ghana on the morning of 7 November. LDS Charities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded with humanitarian aid to help the almost 4,000 people displaced.
Government officers gratefully accepted the donations and provided vehicles to get help to those who needed help. Three townships were hit hard when the tidal wave came ashore and deposited sand, debris, and tons of water.