Friday 4 March 2016

When Life is Stripped to the 'Bare Necessities', what are they?

I was scavenging through my house today looking for items I could give to a friend who is organising a container of relief goods to send to Fiji to help with their recovery after the recent cyclone. The brief is 'whatever you can spare. They have nothing.' What would I really be grateful for if I ever found myself in that situation? Besides the obvious -food, clothing and linen. Kitchen utensils? Absolutely. Pots. Sharp knives. Some odd things came out of my bathroom cupboards - like shower hats from hotel stays (could be used to cover food, carry water), a couple of brand new ordinary toothbrushes - (we both now have dentures). A pair of tweezers and a pair of scissors. Then I thought of the sewing box and all the odds and ends collected there over many years. Buttons, elastic, pins and needles and thread of course. How would you feel to be given a needle and thread so you could mend the only garment you might have been left with? Or dig out a splinter or even sew up a cut? Most households have a myriad of such items excess to actual requirements.
Please find a collection point near you and give whatever items useful for basic survival that you can spare.
Food and medications will be the first things Red Cross and the Relief Authorities will ship in but...
if you were like the folk in Fiji and suddenly found yourself with nothing, what item would you be most grateful for? What would become your greatest treasure?
I think mine might be a sharp knife.