On Feb 28th at 4:30am we woke to our neighbour alerting us of the water rising....
It rose higher than ever before & kept rising. This experience had me in a balanced state of both fear & astonishment. Fear of being at the mercy of nature & something out of my control, Astonishment at the unconditional, instant & innate reaction from our neighbours to help one another.
Our little family neighbourhood (filled with delightful people that we are regularly in contact with) came together moving cars & electric goods, using tinnies to evacuated those that had to leave & constantly checking in on those that chose to stay. Once the water finally receded, the clean up began & again our community was right there helping each other in every way possible.
We were incredibly lucky to not lose as much as others, we are beyond grateful & aware of the clean dry home with belongings in tact that we can safely care for our children in.
I entered the flood waters a few times to continue to raise my Margaux Lee goods & managed to save most of what I need to continue running ML & regain my livelihood in such uncertain times.
I lost my little HQ but we can rebuild her, she has strong structural bones. We lost our family holiday caravan but she also will live a new life as a healing herbal clinic for a very special naturopath that we donated her to.
I am working from my humble set up inside my home now & I'm well aware of what a privilege this is.
There are entire towns/communities that are suffering grief & loss on a scale most can't comprehend, they will be on this journey for a long time. As human beings in different states of privilege & embodying different skill sets, there are many ways we can offer support to these people.
If you feel called visit the following links to pitch in & help :
There are so many other avenues of help please search through instagram for other accounts & organization that have been implemented by community members.
It's been over a week now, majority of the rubble of peoples soggy belongings was just cleared from our area leaving a feeling of a new cycle, a long rebuild journey ahead & healing. I am choosing to focus on hope & forward momentum, showing up for my label is how I am going to do this. My forward momentum will be gentle & sincere, I started this label to bring confidence & joy to other people, to brighten others day with a totem that traditionally is used to show love & admiration.
Thank you for supporting ML & everyone in the Northern Rivers through this time.
I send you all my love & all my heart,
Gratitude always.
Kirby.