today i got the chance to do some relief work in an town just outside jos called bukuru. this town was probably the hit the worst during the crisis in terms of burnt homes and businesses. there are many, many refugees that are without homes and have been forced to live with their extended family and neighbours.

when we first arrived, they had just organized/handed out the stuff (which includes a bucket of rice, a pot, a bottle of vegetable oil, three long bars of soap, a mosquito net and a blanket) for the Muslim refugees. at first we were somewhat confused about the separation of the Christian and Muslim groups but the reason soon became obvious when one man tried to take someone elses stuff, and then all of a sudden, everyone started to grab what they could and run! it was mayhem and a bit frightening because things can get quite out of control so quickly here. and this was just between the Muslim people, so it would have been amazingly scary if Christians had been involved in the mess.

it was then the Christians turn to receive the relief aid, so we went to another area of the field and started to organize the aid into piles. the organization that was well, organizing, the aid had approached the chief of the town and asked him to write a list of names of the people that required the most help. the people that made the list were told to show up today and receive the relief, so if their name wasn’t on the list, they did not get anything. so most people that came had their name on the list, but some people that came did not. and that was hard because they would come and ask me if there was anything else for them to have, and i had to turn them away. there is just so much need and it felt very overwhelming.

i was able to help out a bit with the medical outreach that was also going on. i helped dress a burn and somewhat helped with dispensing of medication. there were two doctors there that assessed a huge long line of people, with many different complaints. seeing this reinforced my aspirations to become a doctor, so that i would be able to go and do this sort of thing wherever there is a need – and there seems to be a great need for medical outreach across the globe at this point, eh?

so, today was cool. tough and very much surreal but a cool experience nonetheless. please keep the people of Nigeria in your prayers.