Village on Fire

Had a bit of a terrifying experience yesterday.

Ruth and i went on mobile clinic with the Maternal and Child Health Nurse to two small villages about 1 hour away from Dangriga.

We saw many children, unfortunately though without any medications a lot of what we saw we could do nothing about. It was quite frustrating. There were a couple of women with small children who did not turn so we went "baby hunting" driving around the village to their huts, and then reaching out the window with vaccine in hand to inject the babies as we came to a stop in front of them- slightly unconventional but is probably the reason why Belize has quite good immunisation coverage!

Anyway, just as we were about to lave out of the corner of my eye i saw flames and realised that it was one of the thatch roof houses near where we had just passed. Within a matter of seconds the whole structure was ablaze with smoke and flames rising high into the sky, children screaming and men and women rushing into the house trying to salvage some of their belongings. Then with the wind quite stong a second house caught on fire. It was incredible to watch and we were helpless. Luckily a third house that started to smoke was saved from destruction by men climbing onto the roof with buckets of water. And nobody was hurt.

Still the event will change the lives of the people of the village who have nothing else to rely on except each other. In a matter of minutes their existence had burnt to the ground. It makes you take a moment to realise just how lucky most of us have been so far in our lives.

Min