Sometime help is closer than you think.
On Sunday night, our volunteers where parked up in Boonah, QLD about 90km out of Brisbane, in the RARA Mitzva Mobile, when Mendel touched the doorframe and got a very nasty electric shock. We knew right away that there was a serious electrical fault with the motorhome, so safety first - we unplugged the mains power and spent the rest of the night comfortable on batteries.
Come Monday morning, and Rabbi Menachem in Melbourne starts ringing around every RV shop in Ipswich, the nearest major town, in hope of someone that can squeeze us in to have a look at the issue.
No jokes, 40 phone calls later and every shop in town is booked out for weeks, doesn't touch the 240v system, or just doesn't have time.
So we try calling home sparkies, in hope of someone that can help. "Yeh nah mate last time I worked on a motorhome all the panels fell off and it caused me so much grief I'm never touching one again!"
So after no luck in Ipswich, or even the Gold Coast, it's already 9:30am and Rabbi Menachem figured he'll call the two electricians in Boonah, a town of just 2,500 people. Who knows, maybe they can help!
Liam from Boonah Electrical and Refrigeration answers the phone, hears what's going on, and says sure, I can swing over late morning and have a look.
Wow! We found someone. But it gets better. Liam calls back at 10:00 and says, the other job had no one home, so I'm heading right over.
Liam pulls up in his truck, pulls out the mutli and a bunch of other tools, and gets to work. He finds three issues, and a doorframe sending enough electricity to charge an EV, and with a bit of sparky magic, he grounds everything properly, fixes up some shoddy wiring, and presto - we are good to go - all for a very reasonable price!
What a hero Liam is!
Just goes to show - you can look far, but sometimes help is just 5 minutes down the road.
And thankfully, the volunteers are happily back on the road with the electrical systems working just as they are meant to.
