Zelda Marais and her husband Philip Voigt have opened their home to 14 elderly people who have become homeless after a fire burnt down the frail care home they lived in.
Zelda Marais and her husband live just up the road from the frail care home in Morningside, Port Elizabeth. Zelda drove past the home and couldn’t ignore the disaster.
The Frail Care home was ravaged by a fire on the morning of the 12th of January 2018. The home was evacuated and the blaze brought under control just one hour after it went up. Sadly one man was trapped in his room and didn’t make it.
Zelda and her husband opened their home to the 14 surviving elderly residents.
“I couldn’t drive past there and do nothing. So I threw my house keys out the window and shouted out my address.”
“The support from the Port Elizabeth community has been phenomenal, it has been a wonderful chain reaction,”
The families of the elderly residents came through to visit over the weekend and while there has been a lot of confusion among them, having family present put them at ease.
Zelda and her husband are doing everything in their power to make their house guests comfortable and have offered their home for as long as it is needed.
The cause of the fire is currently under investigation. Thankfully Zelda and Philip have been so generous. We are really proud of the couple and all they have done.
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