Sumaya El-Zaher
Australia’s bushfire crisis is showing us how small gestures can have a big impact.
Australia is experiencing one of the worst bushfire crises ever. For the past few months it has been endlessly fighting against the devastating blazes. So, these Muslims decided to travel all the way to an affected area to help the local community.
The Newport Islamic Society couldn’t stand just watching from the sidelines and decided to take action. Together with other volunteers they travelled all the way to Johnsonville, bringing with them five trucks filled with donated supplies. The group from Newport, a suburb of Melbourne, distributed the supplies to the local victims and volunteers. Before they went on their four-hours-trip to Johnsonville they also raised over $1,500 in two days.
Seeing how the exhausted firefighters have been non-stop fighting against the blazes, the group decided to cook a meal for 150 of them. “I just been on the phone to the captain down there and he nearly broke into tears when I told him what we are bringing in for them today.” That’s what the Johnsonville firefighter Rodney Baylis said in a Facebook video posted by the Australian Islamic Centre.
Bushfires are an annual event in Australia, but this time high temperatures and months of draught have made it the worst in history. Not only people are being forced to leave their homes, animals are dying, and homes are burning down. Videos about people feeding and rescuing koalas and kangaroos have been circulating online. Everyone is involved and trying to help in one way or another.
In Adelaide in Southern Australia another group of 50 Muslims gathered together to pray for rain. The Christian community joined them to support the kind gesture.
In times like these, working together is the key word. Small acts of kindness and little gestures of support, even if it is cooking a meal or giving water to a koala, have the biggest impact. It shows that we all care.