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Getting on with it
These tents from Japan weigh about 30-40kg each. The man on the left is my sister's husband Rocky. What an incredible day I had! When we got to the airport at 10am work had already started. Volunteers from all walks of life have been loading up the trucks bound for the disaster area. Even 20 days after the earthquake, many people are still without a home, it is just impossible for China itself to find the three million tents needed immediately despite being the manufacturing centre of the world.
The first plane load was from Japan, the tents are heavy and weigh about 30-40 kg. They are loaded by hand on to the trucks. The trucks are big and probably about 20 meters long and covered. Volunteers form a human wall, they pass the tents to the truck and stack them up neatly to maximize the load. I have to say it is not very healthy environment, beside the dust the fine fibres from the rough bags soon filled the air and I quickly found myself a surgical mask. Many people don’t use them as the temperature is running in to the 30s with high humidity and it is very uncomfortable to wear them.
To my surprise, I saw a couple of foreigners. After finding out one
Volunteers from all backgrounds are working hard to load up the trucks
My sister and another young lady in the photo are counting and detailing what has been loaded, part of the requirements of Red Cross. of them is from Australia, I gleefully introduced myself and had a nice chat. David Begbie is from Sydney, he works full time at Crossroads International. You can check their website at www.globalhand.org. He came to the airport to deliver a plane load of donations to the disaster areas. He is part of the system they have in place to ensure aid is fully used for the intended purpose. He seems very pleased that Red Cross Volunteers have helped to get all the numbers and documentation right. David left with the truck for a three day journey. I wish him a safe journey and hope he will like the dry biscuits provided because that is all he will be eating for the next three days. I was laughed at when I suggested the drivers and aid workers can go to a restaurant if they are hungry.
The heavy tents weigh about 70-80 kg and come with hammers and nails. It put tears in my eyes when I see small-built young men, some looking barely 18, pushing their physical limit fighting to load them to the truck as quickly as possible. The boy I worked with was so thin, only
What a surprise! Another Aussie from Sydney
David Begbie is originally from Wahroonga Sydney, he now runs the charity organization Crossroads International out of Hong Kong half my size, I wonder how could he lift such weight, even I, who weigh about 99kg and is well built soon gave up. They carried on loading up truck after truck. It is an amazing scene to see people are so united and working so hard to save others.
For the day a total of 4000+ tents and other goods are loaded to 26 trucks, that makes a total weight of over 300tons all carried by hand.
I was so touched seeing so many different people come together for such a good cause. Amongst the many faces of the volunteers are rich and poor, young and old and they are no different in that they are all united with one purpose to help to save peoples’ life by ensuring the much needed goods are delivered to the front line as quickly as possible. It is here I see the best side of humanity: love, sacrifice, selflessness all come together to help others. It was an amazing experience.
Red Cross volunteers have done a wonderful job, I so impressed with their organizational skills and high level of professionalism. All paperwork is properly done and among the team
members the coordination is just amazing.
Many volunteers are from Chengdu city more than an hour away. By the day’s end, often at midnight, they have problems getting home as many don’t have a car. This situation was announced on the radio and several hundreds private cars arrived so quickly, they had to make another announcement that no more cars were needed! I decided to solve this problem in the long run and after discussions with the head of Red Cross, I gave him 2000 yuan ($300) and asked him to organize a bus to pick up and deliver all the volunteers home and if more money is needed I will send it to him. I also spent about 250 yuan ($40) and bought food and fruit for the volunteers which was very well received and deeply appreciated because often they don’t get to eat all day. I wish I did not give out so much money before, because I think this is where the money is needed, if I can make all the volunteers’ life easier, in turn it will help many thousands in desperate need.
Bob
Thanks to friends and family who have donated generously,
Current balance of the fund: Aud$614 or 4,050 Yuan
Amount spent so far: Aud$3,129 or 20,650 yuan
For donation details please refer to Day 1’s blog.
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