Postcard from the bushfire zone

This week I am in Melbourne. I was originally here for a meeting and a ministry induction. Since they were 6 days apart I thought I would stick around in Melbourne for a while. That was until the bushfires devastated areas around Melbourne and I felt compelled to help in some way.

I got in touch with Brian Tunks (a friend and former colleague from SA) who was appointed by the Victorian Council of Churches (VCC) to co-ordinate volunteer chaplains to help counsel survivors, other volunteers and professionals working with the bushfire relief effort. I ended up joining a team made up of other ministers and chaplains volunteering their time (Some old friends and colleagues I’ve worked with before). So on Tuesday February 17^th a few of us travelled together early in the morning to meet up with Brian and the other chaplains stationed at the relief centre in Yea.

The drive up there was humbling. I couldn’t believe how far south the fire had come, it didn’t take long from the beginning of our drive in Boronia to reach blackened paddocks and the town of Yarra Glen surrounded by black and a few houses burnt to the ground. Driving through Kinglake was eerie just knowing how devastating this fire had been.

Once we had arrived at Yea we signed in, debriefed and were split into two teams. I went with the team appointed to the Alexandra relief centre. While at Alexandra we discovered that on this day even 10 days after the fires first started, people were coming into the relief centre for the first time. They haven’t wanted or being able to leave their fire affected homes until now due to trauma, fear of looting, or fear of not being able to return to their still standing homes because of road blockages due to crime scene investigations and unsafe areas.

Even with my experience as a CFS firefighter and as a chaplain I stood there in the centre still feeling as helpless as I was when I was back in SA. You see people coming in but you don’t want to intrude or impose, yet you know many want to talk. Then all of a sudden I felt something grab my hand. I looked down and saw that a 3 year old had adopted me. He just calmly looked up at me as if he thought I needed looking after. He seemed to be alone and I tried asking him if he had any parents around. He just took me by the hand and started leading me around the centre, giving me the tour. (This was amazing because in our morning briefing when we were talking about our strengths and weaknesses in working with people I said ‘don’t put me with little kids’. It seems there is a divine sense of humor about this situation)

This child eventually led me into where all the people were seeking assistance from DHS, Centrelink, insurance companies and other government departments and this is where my conversations with people started. I felt completely humbled as I met people from Marysville, Buxton and Tagartey who had lost everything and wanted to talk about it. Then I finally got to meet the mother of this child I found out was called James. The mother, Judy rushed into the room in a panic to find James (still holding my hand) and her first reaction was a sigh of relief and she said, ‘thank goodness he’s with you’. ‘What’s going on here?’ I thought. How did I earn any sense of respect or right to even be there? I found out why when I went outside to talk with security guard Jon.

Jon called me over and wanted to chat. He had been on security at the centre for 9 days straight. After a bit of a chat he told me how much respect he had for the VCC chaplains. He said he was a Vietnam veteran and he always respected the ‘padre’ (army chaplain) He said, ‘you guys are like padres’. I knew how much of an honor that was to be called such a thing but I didn’t feel I deserved it, I was an outsider, from interstate even. But I give credit to the other VCC chaplains who spent time there the days before me. The VCC were the only recognized Christian organization (apart from the Salvos) that had jurisdiction to provide assistance during the bushfire relief at the centres. It was a permission that was given reluctantly as well as government departments are very suspicious of the agendas of Christian groups. I have to particularly commend Brian Tunks for an outstanding job in building relationships and managing this valuable ministry.

Jon also told me about what he and others had referred to as ‘cowboys’, well meaning Christians coming to fly their flag with the agenda of promoting their church and evangelizing people. I know it’s sickening, as bad as the media taking advantage of trauma victims. One story that really took the cake was the one about the 2 pastors who drove down from Queensland in a supped up V8 Commodore with loud colours and all the trimmings with ‘Chaplain’ plastered along the side of the car and both of them dressed in matching uniforms promoting where they are from. They were not trained to deal with this crisis and made a nuisance of themselves. They were turned away from every centre (yes that’s right they would get turned away from one them move on to the other).

Even while I was there, there were about 3 different Christian groups who shall remain nameless. All of them wearing their badges, all of them well meaning yet ill prepared, all of them flying their own banner and all of them turned away by security because they pose a hindrance rather than a help. I just felt sad because they potentially damage the relationships that have been built by the VCC with suspicious government organizations and survivors.

It was amazing to find people of such strong spirits there and such positive outlooks on the future. The government departments have done a brilliant job in processing so many people. Our role was to be there for them as well. We were chaplains to the CFA, Police, volunteers, security, survivors, government department personnel, insurance & bank reps, the works and it was a very enriching time for all.

You may realize that I use the word survivor to describe those who have lost. I do this because I came across a note on the notice board among many others which was posted for the people seeking assistance by one of the agencies. It was addressed to the bushfire ‘victims’ and someone had come along and crossed out victim and wrote ‘survivor’ above it. I thought that said a lot about the spirit of the place, it wasn’t full of victims but survivors. It reminded me of the words we posted on our screen during our service last Sunday, ‘helpless not hopeless’, but these people were showing that now 10 days on they were not entirely helpless either.

Myself and another chaplain were sent out on house calls in the afternoon. Amazingly it was one of the government departments that was originally suspicious of the idea of chaplains that sent us out. She had gained a respect and understand for what we do. So we visited people in homes still standing in Tagartey and Buxton (weren’t allowed into Marysville) It was amazing to see one house disintegrated and the other untouched. People embraced us like long lost friends.

We finished our day gathered together at a pub in Yea where we invested our money back into the local economy and enjoyed the company of other volunteer workers around us. On the way home we passed the site where the old Golburn pub used to be on the corner of the turn off to Flowerdale. It was burnt to the ground but that night there was a gathering. All the people that used to gather at the pub for drinks were getting together on this night. A whole bunch of people were pitched in the pub carpark with their beers in the dark enjoying the company they once shared in that old pub.

People all over the affected region are doing rituals just like this, the rituals are important and necessary for continuing the value community and build on their hope for the future together.

This was my day as a VCC chaplain working alongside some great people at the bushfire relief centres in Yea and Alexandra following the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria February 2009.

Shalom Mark