I’m absolutely exhausted. Despite the bombing last night I managed to get some sleep – I don’t know how – I think my body just had enough.
Today Islamic Relief went out and visited one of the UN schools that has been turned into a shelter for families displaced by the bombing. What I saw was heartbreaking. Before me were families who have had their homes destroyed and have lost everything. Others found themselves in the firing line and had no choice but to leave. I met a mother who was burning paper in order to boil water for her child. She was doing this because she had no milk – maybe she could fool her hungry baby with the warm water?
I was surprised at the amount of women and children I saw in the school – and worried. There is simply not enough food. At Islamic Relief we have decided that we have no choice but to deliver food to these people – no matter what the dangers. They have nothing and we have to do something to help them.
There are about 500 people in the school and we are also preparing to give them hygiene kits which contain simple things like soap which are important in preventing the spread of disease.
Seeing women and children living in these kind of conditions is unbearable. Many of the children had walked long distances to reach the schools. Their parents had thought they would be safe there. The children are tired and hungry and do not know why they have been made to leave their homes and live in classrooms, cold and hungry.
