Children in a few of Australia’s most rural areas have been left mentally scarred by years of drought and report flooding, with some now too terrified to even get within the bathtub.
Former X-Factor star Jason Owen has been travelling by way of the distant areas together with his charity Doin’ it for Rural Aussie Kids, handing out Christmas presents.
He informed NCA NewsWire what he has seen prior to now few weeks has been harrowing.
Mr Owen stated younger kids in Eugowra, NSW, had been confronted with a “wall of water”, and their communities had been decimated, with houses pushed down the road by the tide and home windows smashed in.
“Obviously, over the last 10-15 years there’s been one of the biggest droughts in history, and the effects – even though some areas aren’t necessarily in drought anymore – is that farmers have had to sell off all their livestock and machinery just to keep their families afloat,” Mr Owen, who was the runner-up within the 2012 collection of X-Factor, informed NCA NewsWire.
“Times have changed a bit and there’s a fair bit of water around, but farmers don’t have enough money to buy their equipment back to be back on track.
“And of course the recent flooding is really taking its toll, it’s wiped out millions of dollars worth of property.”
He stated travelling the nation together with his charity allowed him to carry some Christmas cheer to those that had been doing it robust in essentially the most distant cities.
Doin’ it for Rural Aussie Kids, the charity arrange by Mr Owen in 2019, goals to assist youngsters rising up in a number of the harshest environments throughout the nation, together with these in each drought and flood-ruined areas.
“Not many kids are getting Christmas presents anymore, it’s just the reality of how bad things are and they’re aware of it, so to take Christmas to them is amazing,” Mr Owen stated.
Mr Owen, who grew up as an solely youngster within the distant NSW city of Albert, is aware of all too nicely what it’s wish to really feel remoted
During his journey, he visited colleges throughout 10,000km in NSW, by way of to Central Queensland and Mount Isa, by way of to the Northern Territory and Uluru, all the way down to South Australia earlier than heading again up by way of Victoria to NSW.
He revealed a number of the realities now going through youngsters who witnessed first hand the “wall of water” that ripped by way of their communities.
“There are houses with their windows smashed in, some houses have been pushed down the road. A lot of the kids were forced to climb up trees or onto the roofs of houses with their mums or dads,” he stated.
“These kids are petrified of water now, some of them are terrified to get into a bath.”
The scenes that scarred kids happened amid one of many largest flooding disasters to hit Eugowra, in central west NSW, near the place he grew up.
The flood degree within the space reached 11.2m, increased than the nation city’s estimated 1 in 5000 12 months estimate.
Devastatingly, two folks misplaced their lives in Eugowra when the floods hit, and round 80 per cent of houses and companies had been destroyed by the water.
More than 150 folks had been airlifted off of roofs they’d climbed to in a determined bid to flee the rising flood water.
“You can imagine being a little kid, and being grabbed by mum or dad to get onto the roof of your house to watch a massive amount of water coming up closer and closer to you.
“They described it as a tsunami. That sounds ridiculous for out there, but that’s what it was like – a wall of water.”
During his time visiting colleges, Mr Owen handed out presents, and sang songs with the scholars to attempt to carry “Christmas cheer” throughout a troublesome time.
“I just hope that our visit was enough to bring some Christmas cheer and have the kids enjoy the sing along. That’s what it’s all about,” he stated.
“I hope it was enough to make a difference.
“I’ve seen first hand just how rural businesses, farming families, those who live off the lands are affected by the hard times. Droughts, locust plagues, mice plagues – you name it.
“As I was lucky enough to be runner up on X Factor in 2012, I’ve always done whatever I can to support rural Australia – it’s my home.”
Doin it for Rural Aussie Kids continues to be taking donations within the lead-up to the brand new 12 months. Anyone who want to donate to the trigger can achieve this right here.
