Gift of the Givers is crowdfunding to rebuild homes for people who lost everything in the Drommedaris informal settlement fire.
Paarl, South Africa (22 December 2021) – Gift of the Givers is working non-stop to try and rebuild the homes of the Drommedaris informal settlement that was raised to the ground by a vicious fire. Their hope it to have a home for everyone by Christmas.
Gift of the Givers is South Africa’s largest disaster response Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Africa, which provides aid to over 40 countries and spanning 29 years and counting legacy.
The essence of the Gift of the Givers Foundation’s presence is to bring hope and restore dignity to the most vulnerable. The organisation has distributed over R3.8 Billion in aid over the last 29 years.
That is what they hope to bring to the community of Drommedaris. Residents desperately tried to alert their neighbours of the out-of-control blaze. Many broke down doors and pulled families from their homes with only the clothes on their backs.
Around 400 people have been left homeless just before Christmas. Gift of the Givers came to the community’s aid by providing warm meals and other small comforts but their goal is to rebuild what was lost, just in time for Christmas.
“The general population calls them shacks and so do the inhabitants of the informal settlements who live in them. But to these inhabitants and their children, this is their palace, their abode of dignity, their shelter, their home of peace, where they as a family share the satiety of an ordinary meal or the ravages of hunger and hardship. This is their sanctuary, the sum total of their assets, two blankets, some clothing, a primus stove, a bed and the like, it is everything they have managed to amass after decades of economic activity and in one spark it’s all gone. This is the tragedy of the inhabitants of Drommedaris Informal Settlement in Mbekweni, Paarl, right on the eve of Christmas a raging fire fueled by gale winds destroyed the sum total of everything they possessed.
There was no Christmas in 2020, it was lockdown level five, a destroyed economy, no tourism and a jobs bloodbath. This year as some of them reached their communities in Eastern Cape they were met by the horrors of storm destruction in Mthatha, Alice, Fort Beaufort, Middledrift, Adelaide and Krommie, then came the tragic news that their “home” has burnt down in Mbekweni.
Faced with the aftermath of multiple disasters families experience a whirlwind of emotional and psychological trauma, a three-year-old having repeated visions of the fire. There are no comfort toys, the clothing, school uniforms, stationery, furniture and Christmas food totally destroyed. These distraught families need a humane and compassionate intervention, a caring South African heart so that within these next three days we can rebuild their homes and their lives. That will be the greatest Christmas gift for the recipients and for our own souls.
Those wanting to participate in the housing rebuilding project that Gift of the Givers is endeavouring to complete by Christmas can support the Backabuddy initiative.”
You can help Gift of the Givers make this happen by contributing here.
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