Victoria Fires pt 2
So after a painful week for Victorians and generally Australians, I am back in Melbourne. There are people everywhere with buckets asking for donations for the fire victims, market vendors are advertising they will donate percentages of their profits made today, and you can even donate at the supermarket. It’s amazing watching all the people come out to help. And it makes me realize that this may be the big difference between here and the United States. When Hurrican Katrina happened, sure a lot of people went down to help, people donated money and goods, and adopted animals. But what I’m seeing here, in a city of three million, is something that would only be witnessed in a small country town in the US. Although Australia has a population of 21 million, it still has that small town feel of compassion and humanity. Sad to say, I don’t witness it to this scale in my hometown of Chicago. I didn’t witness it on this scale of 911 (I’m comparing apples and oranges here) or with Hurricane Katrina.
I was listening to Hamish and Andy, a popular radio talk show, earlier this week. They were taking pledges and I was completely floored at what I heard. People were calling in and donating $100, $500, a week’s wages…One woman just came into some money so she donated $20,000. A kid called in and challenged his “cheap” father to donate $1000. The father easily negotiated that he would only donate the $1000 if his son donated his XBox. The kid readily agreed. Would an American kid donate his XBox? None that I know.
And yes, I have donated. I am probably one of the few backpackers that have. I’ve talked to a few backpackers in this hostel and most of them didn’t really know about the fires. So much for traveling to get to know a place and the culture…
I just hope that the fires put themselves out and soon. I hope that people can begin rebuilding their lives as soon as possible, that the fires don’t take any more deaths, and that maybe some other countries in the world (ahem, America) can learn something from the way that the people have really banded together over here to help and make a difference. These people aren’t “under attack”, and Australians are still coming together to help.
I hope you guys are still enjoying the world’s most famous koala. 😉
Tags: Australia
lauracat
Leave a Reply