SINGAPORE : Mountains of clothes, food and other donations to
tsunami victims lie unwanted in storage rooms of relief
organisations.
This has been the case after many of them have stopped accepting
donations in kind due to the high cost of shipping and the
logistical nightmare of the task.
So just what will become of them?
While aid organisations are rejecting these donations, one
humanitarian group has decided to take them all in.
Mercy Relief has turned 'karang guni', or rag-and-bone man, and is
mobilising over 100 volunteers to sort and pack these
donations.
Lorries transport the items from their collection centres
islandwide to an abandoned school-turned-warehouse.
The speed of the collection has simply been staggering; in just
over two days all 13 classrooms have been filled with clothes,
water and donations of all sorts.
The group estimates the donations to be worth over S$700,000 and
believes they will come in handy in the longer term.
Mercy Relief chairman Zulkifli Baharudin said, "We'll be involved
in building schools, building homes, building communities,
hospitals and this is where some of the gifts that come from
Singaporeans become very useful."
Volunteers are, however, asking that Singaporeans be more
considerate when making donations.
Said volunteer Grace Chong, "Some of the clothes that come are not
in good condition; they're torn, they're broken. I think we all
should be a little bit more conscientious when we want to donate
something."
Meantime, Mercy Relief is sending supplies and volunteers to the
tsunami disaster sites and will hold an islandwide collection drive
on January 15.
The group is also appealing for more volunteers to step
forward.
Enquiries can be sent to Mercy Relief by e-mail at
[email protected] - CNA