Whangārei nurse Xavier Mathew returned to his homeland, India, for a holiday. Instead of relaxing he is now helping hundreds of flood victims survive the worst flooding in a century.
The 33-year-old, who has lived in Whangārei for eight years, is helping cook and feed up to 300 people at a relief camp in Kottaym, southwest of the Indian state of Kerala, after monsoon rain that began in May has killed more than 300 throughout the state.
The worst floods in a century in Kerala, in the southwest of India, has forced more than 200,000 people into more than 5600 relief camps and the toll is expected to rise.
Mathew, his wife, Divya, and their daughters, Hazel, 4, and Jizelle, 3 months old, arrived in Kerala on August 4 for a holiday and they will also attend a family wedding this week and the baptism of Jizelle today."I've volunteered to help out with cooking and distributing food in the relief camp that has people from as young as newborn to those that are 90 years old. They have lost everything.