I just wanted to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for everything that went into the first Container for House of Humanity.
150 soaking wet people, men, women, babies children, the old and the young came to us last night when they were evacuated from Moria during torrential rain and a riot. We used every last blanket and sleeping bag you sent, all the tents, every single roll of carpet, most of the shoes, dozens and dozens of coats and jackets and 100s of other items of clothing, hats, gloves and scarves, nappies, baby milk, baby blankets and strollers.
Had we not received your container just a few days ago we would have been ill prepared for this calamity. I just don't have enough words to adequately describe the pitiful state that many of these poor people arrived in. A family of 9 with not a single pair of shoes between them, children with feet so wet that their toes were literally disintegrating, babies soaked to the bone, blue lipped kids so malnourished that they had barely enough body fat to keep them insulated against the merciless rain. Without your hard work and generosity we could not have coped so please know that you have made a big difference already.
But it's only just beginning, the rain has arrived and soon comes the north wind and endless days and nights of bitter, bitter cold. People will die, politicians will prevaricate, lives will be treated as cheap and worthless and valueless, and volunteers like us will continue to try and mop up as much of the mess as possible.
Our needs are changing. Tents, sleeping bags, more carpet, sleeping mats, tarpaulins, handwarmers, shoes, boots, coats for men, women, children and babies, trousers for everyone, so many trousers, we are so grateful for your support and we need it so badly and it breaks us completely that we still need to ask you for these things so far into this crisis.
This is entirely avoidable but there isn't the will and that's why what you do for us is so very important.