I've been working in the disaster environment now for 14 years but it's nice to still experience 'firsts'. Today was one of those 'firsts'. One of the partners we are working closely with in the camp is Concern Worldwide. They are speciallists in the water/sanitation sector and are installing latrines for us. Today they had arranged a distribution of hygiene kits. They were nice kits, containing towels, detergent, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other bits and pieces - a nice family box. Our team members were handing them out. In additon we gave out jerry cans and - and this was the 'first' - a couple of strips of condoms. Now, before you ask, they weren't branded with the Red Shield logo! I have to say - as they were distributed the look on the faces of the benficiaries was a picture. I don't think condoms are high on their pritority list just now!! Truth is, HIV/AIDS is a real problem here and condom use is encouraged as prevention.
The distribution went VERY well - the 82nd have got the security system down to a fine art and things went very smoothly. That was until the end. Concern had provided only for those families with ration cards (3,230). Actually, not all the families showed up. So when the last card holder had come through the distribution was closed. Unfortunately, there were probably 50 packs left and the crowd mobbed the remaining truck. A single jerry can was left on the floor and an almighty scrum developed. It's amazing to see people fighting over something so apparently worthless and it just reminds you that values are so different.
That was highlighted as we drove home from the compound to the hotel. I'd been told by one of the others a few hours earlier they had seen someone laying dead in the road. As we passed our new DHQ the body was still there. A couple of bollards had but placed to prevent vehicles running over him - but it looked as if he had been shot. Why? I have no idea - but it was a reminder of the environment we live in here and the value of a human life. We commented that TV shows depicting gunfights are commonplace and sanitise you from the harsh reality of human suffering.
As I worked at the distribution this afternoon I found myself guarding the truck at the end of the row. It was parked next to the worst part of the sewage canal and I found myself right in the middle of all the smoke. Like the others, I was wearing a face mask to try and stop myself breathing in the toxic fumes and keep the smell away. The corps building was just a couple of metres behind me and a lone cornet player was practicing. He was randomly running through hymn tunes. I wasn't really listening but became aware that he was playing a tune we associate with these words:
This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears,
All nature sings and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world,
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.
When we contemplate words like these we tend to focus on mountain views, pictureque waterfalls or rippling lakes. Yet the world of the rubbish dump, the sewage canal and the excreta covered camp is just as much His world. Those who inhabit those toxic fumed streets are just as much His children as any other. As the music wafted over the air it seemed rather surreal - but I thanked God for a timely reminder of His love for his creation.
No comments:
Post a Comment