"Your pain is our pain" - Thembalethu community shows up for fire victims

Update

GEORGE NEWS - In Thembalethu, an injury to one is an injury to all.

Hence the community continues to rally in support of those who lost everything in the ravaging informal settlement fire that wrecked about 46 homes in Zone 8 on Friday 6 June.

A major donation event took place at the All Bricks community hall on Thursday 12 June, a stones throw away from the disaster site.

Hosted by the Thembalethu CPF, Phakamani Makhosikazi support group, Thembalethu SAPS, the Community in Blue and local neighbourhood watches, the gathering saw the collection of an astonishing volume of clothes sourced from community members who opened their hearts and their closets to their brothers and sisters in need.

In the hall, masses of unsorted clothing items lay piled up against the one wall, while the opposite wall served as the stockpiling zone for multiple large bags of clothing donations. These were all to be sorted and distributed two days later, on Saturday.

Piles of clothes donated from community members' own wardrobes, ready to be sorted and distributed where needed most.

"Imagine the fire started and you went out of your house without any clothes. We want to show these people that we are here and that their pain is our pain," said Thembinkosi Lento, the ANC's chief whip in the George Council.

With some having lost their entire month's grocery supply in the fire, the Blue Ribbon bread company also came to the party with a substantial donation of bread loaves to keep the fire victims fed. "Blue Ribbon has a bakery in George, and they brought some bread for this community. They know if you've got nothing and you're not working, they must provide," Lento said.

Thembalethu's finest also contributed to the cause. "We support the gesture that the community structures have made to the families who have lost their properties in the fire. That's why we are here. I also encouraged the members to contribute, just to make a difference to the public we are serving," said the Thembalethu SAPS's station commander, Colonel Sipho Dyani.

Andisa Musetsho and Ntombekhaya Ncwadi Boyi cook some potatoes for the event.