When a mudslide swept through the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown in August, the tragedy was felt keenly more than 17,000 kilometres away.
Constance Jones was watching the news at her home in Adelaide when pictures of the disaster flashed onto the scene.
She immediately recognised the city she grew up in.
"I think it was about 1 o'clock in the morning when I just happened to be watching the news and I heard it. I couldn't believe it. And we started just ringing each other around, just phoning, you know, community members and saying, 'You heard what's happened?' It was so devastating. It was such a shock, knowing that we've got so many of our loved ones back home."
The death toll would later come to more than 1,000, with several thousand more people displaced.
Ms Jones, chairwoman of the Sierra Leone Community of South Australia, says the small community of Sierra Leonean refugees in Adelaide quickly banded together for support.
For one community member, Marvin James, the loss was deeply personal.
He lost four cousins.
"Four died, and I have to send money to bury them. And the others are missing. Because, when the mud came, some people were just dragged, you know? Dragged to the sea. Dragged to the forest. You can't find them. My heart is bleeding, I cannot lie to you."
Mr James says it was yet another blow to a country still recovering from the devastation of war and then the Ebola virus.
"Just imagine how many incidents. War. Ebola. And then you come to the flood. This one country, Sierra Leone, just imagine ... a small country, about 6 or 7 million, 8 million people. We have suffered."
But suffering can sometimes be galvanising ...
In the aftermath of the mudslide, the Sierra Leonean community in Adelaide has met twice.
The first time was to mourn.
The second time, says Constance Jones, was to take action.
A fundraising bazaar held over the weekend was aimed at raising thousands of dollars to help the victims of the disaster.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association's Khizar Rana says his organisation was happy to contribute, raising money by selling food as well as making a cash donation.
"Yeah, I think we were all horrified by the mudslide that happened in Sierra Leone and the devastation it caused, and so we all just want to chip in and do our part to support the Sierra Leonean community in this time."
Exactly how the money raised will be spent will be a communal decision, with input from the community.
But Ms Jones says the intention is a sustainable investment with long-term goals, rather than a one-off payment.
"We still need to decide as a community, but we're looking at how we can continue to support the victims, not just sending the money back home and making a one-off donation, (but) possibly trying to come up with ideas that would be sustainable. You know, we're thinking about supporting the orphans, these children that have been left behind."
About $10,000 has been raised so far, with the community still hoping to raise more.
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