As many of you may have heard on the news, the last week and a half have been almost surreal in the state of Victoria where I am living. The fires occurred very close to where we are living and almost everyone at school had some kind of connection to the people who were affected by the fires. Over 181 people have lost their lives and the count keeps rising. My host family knew three people who were killed and several others who were affected. It was quite an emotional time and the news was on the TV or radio 24-7. One day, I went for a walk (which turned into a run) and truly felt a sense of how lucky I am to be alive. I think it has been important to take time to grieve, but not get stuck inside of it. The physical and psychological scars left from these fires will follow some people forever, but the outreach from the local and national community has been overwhelming. I can only hope that the generosity of others is some consolation to those who have lost almost everything. Our school has raised over $3000 in donations that will go directly to support another local primary school that was burnt to the ground in the fires.
If you are interested, here a link to the local newspaper where you can read more and see pictures from the bushfires:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/
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