Just When You Thought You’d Lost Everything…

Today I saw dozens of huts burnt to the ground in one part of the camp. No wonder the people I spoke to 2 days ago mentioned theft and fire as their biggest worries, with one leading to the other. The women are well aware that the sight of food and anything of value outside their hut will most likely draw the attention of thieves. In such desperate circumstances, I don’t think any of us can honestly say we might not be reduced to stealing. So to keep their few possessions safe the women cook inside their huts but a strong gust of wind can quickly whip a small fire from one hut to the next, eating up the dry thatched roofs and destroying great areas of the camps. And so people end up losing whatever small belongings they have managed to scrape together in the months or years they’ve spent in the camps