helping at the tsunami relief centre

uncle dass, the centre’s caretaker, standing amidst all the boxes that will be shipped out soon. on the left were ready boxes of mineral water while on the right were self packed of clothes, shoes, food, etc.

my post at tsunamipenang blog refers.

it was very heartening to note that more than 50 people turned up to help.

i was there at 12.30 but the truck did not arrive yet. while waiting for the truck, i helped to sort out the clothes, and other itmes. some of the volunters did the packing after we had sorted the clothes out. items that were packed, were brought out and stacked outside, waiting for the truck arrival.

i was doing the sorting for only about 1/2 an hour when the truck arrived, so i quickly ran out to greet the truck and to help load items.

when the containter truck arrived, it had a hard time turning into the gate as it was so huge. anyway, after some careful maneurving, the driver managed to get the truck near to the porch.

there were already some clothing in plastic bag in the truck, therefore, these bags of clothing had to be taken out first, as those boxes of mineral water had to go in first. the bags were out in a minute since there were so many helpers, who formed a chain to pass the bags along.

this was what we did too when loading all the boxes into the truck. just pass the box to the person next to us. made our work easier. well, as they said, more hands, light work. indeed. hopefully, at the next shipment many helpers would turn up too.

pictures showing loading of items to the truck via a ‘chain’ of people. notice the left picture, a caucasian man wearing a sarong. i wonder why on earth he wore a sarong. wouldn’t it be more difficult to move around?

to continue reading, please click on ‘jog over for more’.

the following picture (left) shows the truck almost full (with one door closed) while the picture on the right showed me sitting comfortably on the floor together with the others, helping to sort out the clothes after the truck left.

while sorting, i realise that there were some clothing that were worn out and with holes too. luckily there were not many of them but it made me mad to see torn/worn out/dirty clothes that were given away as many others feel too as jeff ooi blog here and here. read my comments there too regarding what one volunteer said.

i spy a big plastic bag filled with some white things. wonder what. when opened, saw several big pieces of white cloth. just pieces of white cloth. wonder why they gave white cloth. well if they are big, maybe ok, can be used as some sort of lining but there were some small pieces of cloths too, like rags kind, you know, like the kind, that is leftover from which tailors cut out to make clothes. oh, and there were some neckties too. neckties? gosh, do those victims need to wear neckties to queue up to get their supplies?

you know, all in all, within a few days while we manage to get lots of good useful clothes, we also managed to sort out about 5 piles of unwanted clothes. dumped them at one side to be sold off.

inside the hall where we did our sorting and packing, there were notices around, detailing what were needed, and other important information. left picture shows cash needed and help needed, while right picture shows breakdown of items needed.

another 2 notices shows sorting/packing schedule and container arrival schedule.
finally, here’s a picture of a shorty fatty me in the ‘chain’ helping to carry mineral water boxes to the truck.

for more pictures, please click here.

note: volunteers are still needed everyday to help sort out the items, which are still trickling in. oh, btw, my office is at the 2nd floor, so if you drop by to drop items or help, drop by the 2nd floor to say hi to me, ok?