REGARDING YOUR REFERENCE TO CLEWISTON AND SOUTHERN BAPTISTS ABOVE: Volunteers working with the Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief Unit honored the request of the host pastor to set aside canned water with an Anheuser-Busch logo. At no time was anyone deprived of water. In fact, there was a huge surplus of bottled and canned water available at the Clewiston relief site. There was never any disruption in the supply of water being given out to members of the public who continued to receive food, water and other types of assistance from Alabama Baptist Disaster Relief workers. It is an absolute falsehood to suggest — as many irresponsible bloggers have — that the Baptist volunteers withheld the basic needs of life from Floridians impacted by the hurricane. Contrary to misinterpretations of news reports, no one was denied access to water. One may disagree with the strong stand that many Southern Baptists take against the consumption of alcohol. One may even regard such opposition to alcohol as offensive. But it’s impossible to say truthfully that this conviction caused any inconvenience or shortage for victims of Hurricane Wilma. The facts are exactly the opposite. The fact is that virtually all of the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers serve selflessly — taking time away from employment and family to minister in the name of Jesus Christ. Churches such as First Baptist Church, Clewiston, graciously serve as host sites — providing a place where food, water and other necessities of life may be obtained by anyone in need — without regard to religion or any other demographic consideration. – Keith Hinson, public relations associate Alabama Baptist Convention State Board of Missions Montgomery, Alabama

Darth Birdyz comments:

The above reply from the Alabama Baptist Convention State Board of Missions was in response to the following comment made on my blog:

– that Hurricane victims who wanted water had some difficultly finding it at a relief station in Clewiston. The volunteer group running a supply center doesn’t like the company that donated the water, so they decided not to give it to those in line for help. Twenty-two pallets of the canned water, distributed free by beer company Anheuser-Busch, bears the company’s label – and members of the Southern Baptist Convention refused to hand it out to those in need. (Water is water. Damn you Pharisees. It is not for you to question the holiness and righteousness of the donor, but if you really want to help then help to meet the needs of the needy people.)

To the selfless volunteers giving their all to the relief effort and the Southern Baptist Churches of the United States of America:

Please accept my apology and forgive me for my completely under-informed and unkind comments about this matter on my blog.

Apparently, either the NEA decided that they aren’t taking chances or there’s more than meets the eye and they aren’t telling my friend at Sembawang. There’s some major fumigation going on. Here’s some pics captured during the aciton.

At Sembawang: An NEA officer came alone as promised on 9am on Oct 03. He went over to the top of the house and removed the blue canvas on the top of the roof. He said there were no larvae found in the water that’s on the canvas and so he can’t do much about that.

Of course! It rained on Saturday and even if there were larvae it would have been washed away!! But hopefully the situation will improve for my friend there since last I checked her brother and sister-in-law are suspected to be infected with dengue.

At Joo Chiat: The container is broken and the latest photo showed that all the water has drained away. No damned idea how that happened and I am not sure if the NEA came back to her about this matter. But I do sincerely hope that this will prove the end to all her mozzie woes, and hopefully there won’t be anymore mozzie symphonies for this poor girl who came a few thousand miles from Australia.

The NEA finally came by today at my friend’s place in Sembawang and according to the NEA officials, they have been trying to get into the premises in the photo for quite awhile and this isn’t the only uncooperative family. There’s another one but that’s another matter.

The sad fact is that my friend’s mother has also been hospitalised with dengue today, and I failed to mention in the last post that her maid was infected too.

Six dengue cases in one home alone. This is just terrible.

This is another photo sent by another friend, who came in from Australia and is now staying somewhere in Joo Chiat. Apart for not being able to get an S-pass so that she can work here, the mozzies have added on to the poor girl’s misery and giving her all the wrong type of ‘Singaporean hospitality’ for the past few weeks she has been here. While her boyfriend has informed the NEA about this potential breeding place, there hasn’t been very much done so far. Apparently, the owner of the premises has moved out and the place is scheduled for demolition. That appears to be the reason why the owner didn’t give a flying damn about this potential mozzie breeding cesspool. In all that buzz from the mozzies, perhaps the mozzies are really singing, ‘Heaven, I’m in heaven!’

click to see full size picture

click to see full size picture

This picture was taken from a friend’s home, which is a landed property somewhere in Sembawang. The area is listed by the NEA as a dengue hotspot. It appeared to us that the roof of this house has been in this condition for quite a long time. About a year, at least. We have been wondering if the roof itself is properly drained and if some stagnant water is trapped there to serve as a breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes. Almost every member of her family, including herself, her father, and her son and daughter, have been afflicted with dengue in the last 3 – 4 weeks. And in her own case, she was out with fever for 5 days. This has taken quite a toll on her, as she has to take care of her own business and yet have to go to the hospital regularly.

So far, the NEA has not yet taken any action to inspect the area. We suspect that even when informed, their hands are tied since the house is habitated. In fact, can the NEA even ask to inspect the area in the first place?

At this point my friend is facing a dilemma. She does not want to confront her neighbour as she does not want another Everitt Road situation. She also does not wish her neighbour to be fined as it appears that only an old lady lives there. But what can be done about this? What if this place is indeed a dengue breeding spot and the owner of this house has no money to repair to roof? Will the neighbours have to languish and live under the constant threat of a potential dengue breeding spot if that is the case?