Flooding in Micro-Credit Project Areas

This is the rainy season in Bolivia and recent storms in the mountains have caused the Rio Grande to rise rapidly and flood many of the communities where we work through the CAMS micro-credit project. More than 160 families have lost their crops and have been forced to evacuate their homes and communities. This is a tragic loss for them personally because most do not have any alternative sources of income and the majority of their annual income would have come from the lost harvest. The CAMS program is working hard to put together a plan that will give them an emergency loan so they can replant after the waters recede, and we will give them an extended amount of time to pay off their old loans. This is the second time in ten years that this area has seen severe flooding. Many people will probably decide to leave the area completely, but this too is difficult because they do not have the cash necessary to buy new land in higher areas. Please pray for these families in the communities of "Dos de Agosto," "Villa Montero," and "El Plato." Pray that they will recover quickly from these losses and that World Concern and the CAMS program will know how best to respond to this emergency situation.