On the 16th April I received a Whatsapp from a colleague of mine who runs a community centre Wushwini, overlooking Inanda Dam. This area was particularly hard hit with the floods and the devastation is incredible.
Evening Ladies and Gentlemen hope you are well, the situation at Wushwini is devastating some people have lost everything and still searching for missing people, roads are damaged the entry and exit is very difficult, as an arts centre we kindly request your support with donations of food, clothing and blankets we are willing to collect so we can help our community. Thanks Jerry.
Old Mutual Insure contacted me and asked if I knew of anyone who needed help and Grace Family Church said that they had collected maize meal to give to families who had no food.
On Friday the 6th May I travelled up to Inanda Dam with three managers from Old Mutual Insure and there were 15 families who had been identified as needing assistance as their homes had been completely destroyed and they have nothing, even bags containing documents like birth certificate, ID papers and bank cards are gone. They have to rebuild their lives from scratch again. Two young teenage men had four members of their family drown including their parents.
We were able to give them 2 bags of maize meal and other food each and then a deposit of cash was made into their bank accounts as I felt they knew their needs better than us and I was sure that they would need cash for medicine, data or airtime, transport and anything else so that they can register their family members and get important papers again.
A big thank you goes out to Grace Family Church, Old Mutual Insure and Frontline Underwriters ( PTY ) LTD for helping to assist in a small way and ease the heavy burden that has been placed on these families. Your concern, assistance and generosity is very, very appreciated.
Warm wishes,
Kim Matthews
Paw-Paw Foundation