My study is warm. The fire in the hearth looks even cosier through the glass of Shiraz. And yet I am uncomfortable. I cannot help seeing faces, sad faces, cold, grim faces. Those children will be cold again tonight. The mothers and grannies that care for them, how desperate they look. They have lost all their possessions. Their ID books were destroyed, their pension cards - they will not even be able to collect the meagre pensions they survive on. How will they exist? And that half-naked, chubby little boy, his eyes searched my face for an answer: no parents and now his dear Ngok’s home also gone…
Life will never be the same again for hundreds, maybe thousands of people who were hit by the fire and wind storms that destroyed over 59 000 hectares of land in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands on the night of Monday, 25 June 2007. There was not just one fire, there were several, Currys Post, Karlkloof, the green, green hills of Natal … And then again as far a field as Elandskop. Winds of up to 120km per hour made the fires uncontrollable. The heat of the fires increased the wind velocity and often simply caused thatched roofs to explode into flame. The air was choked with smoke, soot, sparks, arrows of flame and almost more terrifying, sheets of flying corrugated iron and other debris torn from the raped communities.
Magnificent homesteads, thatched labourers’ homes, corrugated iron barns and factories were equally powerless against the inferno that devastated faster than any of the siren-blaring vehicles could speed. Smoke-blinded families drove away from their homes in mad sickening panic, torn between the wish to save what they could and the need to escape the flames.
It felt like watching a horror movie – but we were the actors and everything was real – the wind was so strong, there were times we could not stand. The whole world seemed to be on fire – we kept wet towels over our heads so our hair would not catch alight.
My mother is old and battles to walk. I put her into a wheelbarrow and prayed that I would be able to push her faster than the fire. Fortunately we got away but our home was burnt.
I saw a group of about 10 horses trapped in a paddock and did not have pliers to cut the fence. They lined themselves up along the fence and followed their “leader” who seemed to lead them through a section of shorter grass where the fire was not so severe to the burnt area behind the fire and they were saved.
Even the clouds seemed to be on fire! We did not have equipment to fight the fire, collected our animals and ran down to our dam where we felt safe. (Home was safe but business burnt down)
My whole workshop and all my tools were burnt – that means my whole business is gone. I run a maintenance and repair business.
When we realised that we were in line of the fire, we collected our labour with their immediate possessions and set up a “safe” center in the garage at our house. We used hosepipes, buckets of water, jugs and towels to stop the fire. Then it jumped into the trees and we were surrounded by fire and felt it necessary to evacuate. We managed to get everyone and our dogs onto a pickup – I was the last to get on. I turned round to look at our home and could not climb on. (The wind then turned and the home was saved)
And then came Tuesday, with its sleet and snow blanket that smothered the flames but also attempted to strangle all that had survived. Apart from the circumstances of the humans, our animals, domestic and wild, wandered as if dazed. Buck with burnt hoofs stood in the road. The corpse of a monkey clung to the fence where the flames had caught him.
It is now some weeks later. Emergency services and volunteers have worked flat out. Food, some blankets, some old clothes, have been donated and distributed to many who have lost much. More is needed.
In places, communication and power lines are slowly stuttering back into life. Roads are being cleared. The wonderful SPCA and generous farmers are providing essential feed and care for animals.
But for many, life will never be the same again. No welfare, service club or volunteer can replace homes that have taken a lifetime, often generations, to develop. Emergency handouts have ensured survival and we can never express sufficiently the debt we owe to those staff, fire-fighters, volunteers and services that have maintained the lives of the victims. They have made a future possible.
The process of mopping-up, evaluating damage and costs proceeds apace. If the State President declares any affected area a disaster, state funds will aid rebuilding. Should a home, car or business be insured, there will be compensation. But there are many for whom there is no kind employer, insurance or welfare support. In remote places there are families that will receive little, if any, compensation. These people will need basic building materials and support to re-start a subsistence farm or other form of making a living.
Farmers’ Associations, Social Welfare, Red Cross and Rotarians are identifying those that have no other support. Feedback’s skills and ability to redistribute have enabled several Rotary Clubs to provide essentials. Basic items like food, clothes, kitchen utensils, crockery, even stoves and fridges will support survival. Cash donations and gifts of building or basic farming materials will restart a future.
Rotary must share. I must share! I can contribute. I feel warmer. Maybe there is just one family I can help.
Is there warmth and Shiraz in your glass? Cheers!
Article kind courtesy of DGE Hennie de Bruin
