Black Saturday!

Personal testimony from Julie Barker, Independent Senior Director for The Body Shop At Home and how her family has been affected by and reacted to the very nearby Victorian bush fires.

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What a devastating tragedy and to have it occur only 20 mins or so from my house was very hard to believe. Wandong, Kinglake and the surrounding areas, are areas I know really well, having partied all over there many times and I have lots of lovely hosts/friends and customers there.

Thankfully my hosts are ok, and with houses, but they are all shell shocked and devastated as so many of them have lost lots of friends and to lose so many houses in the area is a huge shock for them all. There are still people unaccounted for. It is truly a beautiful area and one that will never be the same again and the towns and the local communities will struggle to come to terms with the loss of so many families, who either perished in the fires or will never return to this beautiful area.

As I watched the news on the Sunday night, after returning home from a weekend away, all I could do was wonder about all the people I knew in the area. I have never felt so helpless in my life. My daughter was also worried as she had friends upset as they were worried about their friends. The not knowing was hard, so between us we bundled up bedding and linen to donate the next day as a start. The next day I decided I needed to do something, I couldn’t just stay at home. So I headed to Whittlesea with my donations and offered my help, it was accepted straight away.

The day was spent sorting clothes and toys, the generosity was amazing, and things kept coming and coming. Dealing with the families that had lost everything was confronting and hard to put into words how to describe it. The one thing that will stick in my mind is the sheer look for devastation on their faces, tears not far away, and a feeling of hopelessness. To be able to help in a small way was the only way I was able to deal with this shocking event, just to be a friendly face, assist where needed, from looking for toys for a deaf dog, finding clothes for tiny babies to looking after two little girls to give their mum a much needed break and letting survivors talk about their experience was all part of the day.

Each day I went up to help, more and more things appeared, clowns to amuse the children, the Aussie cricket team, actors from TV and on and on.

The way the community came together was something that makes me very proud to be Australian. The sea of donations was incredible and the enormous scale of the relief services is something I hope I never have to see again... My 16 year old daughter Jess and my older son Justin both pitched in and helped on one of the days. They were a big help and it really helped them both deal with it all.

This is the Youtube video Jess made in response to the disaster:



I am so glad I decide to assist last week, although the help and support doesn’t stop here, it will be ongoing for a long time to rebuild these communities. The resilient ones will bounce back, as one guy said when I asked him, how do you start again? His words “you just do!”

I struggle to write this as the tears flow, with the overwhelming sadness of it all but I am committed to be part of the rebuild process, to give back and assist where needed, run pamper days for the women in the area, just to help out where I can. As life goes on and everything returns to normal for the majority of us all, spare a thought for families who have been affected by this tragic event. Their life is not going to return to what it was for a very long time.