Saterday was a rough day at the Red Hill site.
We were tired, having worked eight days in a row with no rest in between. And the people decided it was their turn to take control.
Distributing the first two loads of wood was relatively in control but somewhere along the line the dam wall broke and complete chaos erupted.
At first people tried to pinch wood here and there but then suddenly the residents swarmed onto the huge load and there was nothing we could do. We powerlessly watched as the wood disappeared in front of our eyes in a matter of minutes.
At least there was so much wood that most of the people got enough. Although some got way more than others. The wood was also very necessary and the residents can now all finish their shacks or improve the looks.
We were sad to see the community we worked so hard in for the past week give over to selfish grabbing and would have liked it if everybody had a fair chance.
And so we learned a hard lesson in disaster relief and in one day saw the good, the bad and the ugly of this line of work.
Still we are praying for them and asking that a leader immerge from the community, able to draw the people together in unity.
This event will also not deter us from working in Red Hill but motivate us to work harder.
Hopefully during the next two days we can catch up on some much needed rest and return to the site on Tuesday.
Urgent material that is still needed are beds, mattresses and cutlery.