DISTRIBUTING BABY FOOD

I could see the delicate aroma that rose in gentle waves from the piles of rotting garbage that lined the thick brown molasses like substance that crept down the canal. 1,400 patient (at this stage) people were already lined up down the bottom end of the canal waiting for the two organisations to deliver on their promises. Brazilian (UN) Soldiers in full gear, an assotrment of armaments and light blue helmets, were already closing down the roads and keeping the people in check.

At 8:30am when our team and two trucks arrived it was already 30 degrees, and 89% humidity. The roads were in grid-lock thanks to our trucks and the huge white UN VW truck; someone had forgotten their job to clear the rubbish from the road so that the trucks could get off the main road and access the distibution point.

We waited while men shoveled garbage and then watched as trucks got bogged in it, spinning wheels creating a beautiful brown sludge waterfall effect with mulched warm garbage. Eventually, trucks, people and material in place we began to fill the bright red Red Shield bags with two slabs of mushed sweet peas or smashed fruit. Sweat poured and muscles ached as slabs of baby food flew from truck to bag - but laughter and smiles (together with litres of drinking water) drove the energy levels and people were served.

The Salvo team worked hard today, and enjoyed their work. You would have been proud to watch them work: to see them not just hand out food, but stop to offer a smile and a word of encouragement, to help an old lady carry her load, to kneel down to look into the eyes of a child - to offer people that had lost much if not all a moment of dignity and respect.