22 « February « 2012 « Hackers For Charity

We fed about 75 people last night thanks to donations from folks JUST LIKE YOU! Thank you!

First we have the makeshift tent Calvary set up for some of the families. This serves as a temporary basecamp as we hand out the “meal ticket” bracelets.

The pile of belongings in this one photo represents all of the belongings of two large families.

Also shown are several of the volunteers and of course the food which was poshu (made of corn flour), sweet potatoes and beans with tomato onion and seasoning.

Thanks to everyone who has donated already. We have a small number of donors making rather large donations. So don’t be afraid to make a small donation. We have a lot more to do and we aren’t out of the woods yet.

Here’s a local news article about the fire. The proper name of the village is “Loco village” but most people refer to the place as “Works” because the property is owned by the Ministry of Works.

There a bit of a backstory about this land. It seems the residents were served an eviction notice to clear out by December 24th of last year. The eviction was extended (until April 1st).

The fire occurred on February 17. After the fire, it turned out that the eviction was falsified. There are two clubs (restaurants / drinking establishments) in close proximity to Loco. The owner of one of the clubs works for the Ministry of Works and he forged the eviction documents to reduce competition against his club.

The is no evidence that the fire was related to this underhanded behavior and the Ministry worker has not been charged with any wrongdoing.