Imtiaz Sooliman – Cape Town fires Gift of the Givers to provide three meals a day for fire victims
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A representative from the University of Cape Town is speaking to a customer about their gift of the giver. The customer is waiting for feedback from the firefighters and the firefighters are being educated on what to provide. The university is working with disaster management teams to find accommodation for the firefighters and is providing food and other requirements for the students. The representative provides the customer with a number to donate and a request to call the intervention call for more information.
AI: Summary ©
Gift of the giver says it has been
requested to provide 3 meals per day for
the next 7 days to fire victims. The
gift of the givers teams are expected to
visit all accommodation
sites this morning to get more about,
the ADA and response. We're joined via Zoom
by doctor Inder Suliman for gift of the
givers. A very good morning to you, doctor
Suliman. Take us through what is your task
in providing assistance
to the people that were affected in this
incident?
Good morning, Desiree. Yes. Yesterday afternoon, by 4
o'clock, we had in the day, we offered
UCT assistance, and we're waiting for them to
get feedback. Initially, the fire was not so
big. But, eventually, when the building started burning
and they started evacuating their residence, they call
us and said, look. We may need help
with feeding tonight. We cannot show it's 1000,
2000, and, eventually, at half 4, 430, they
said 4000.
And they said, could you do this for
the rest of the week? We're not disaster
specialists. We are a university. Can you assist?
We, of course, said yes, and we got
the cooks ready last night. To cut a
long story short, we the 2 meals are
provided for 4,000 students.
Our team spent through the night building to
building hotel to hotel. And at that point,
some of the students were still coming in
because it was a difficult job to find
accommodation for 4,000 students at such short notice.
So as we were being in the museum,
the students were extremely grateful, but they're also
traumatized.
And they said, look. The other thing we
require is soap, toothpaste, and toothbrush, which we're
busy, but this morning.
You mentioned in the introduction visiting our hotels.
We're gonna send our team to each of
those hotels where the students are to see
what the general requirements are. Besides food and
and and and the drinks, we're also looking
at putting up tea stations because since they're
traumatized, it'll be a very calming effect. We
have tea, coffee, biscuits available for them. Yeah.
Also, the deter I mean, the personal hygiene
items.
And in addition to that, last night at
20 to 1 well, this morning at 28
to 1 of them, when we went towards
the mountain,
we met some of the fire fighters, and
we asked them, do you need anything? They
said, look. We haven't eaten since the time
this morning. So we gave them meal packs,
and as part of our program, we will
now provide food for the firefighters also.
You're talking about the firefighters, but just in
terms of the students and maybe the broader
community, who's eligible to get assistance, and how
will you reach these victims?
Well, they're all in hotels, so it's very
easy. We know we're working directly with the
university council. They're with us this morning. We
are on meetings with them all the time.
So we have the list of all the
buildings, and it's only students in those buildings
or nobody else. It's all hotels that have
opened up for the students and some residences.
So we have the list exactly where to
go, and we'd be our teams personally deliver
the items to those to to those facilities.
How are you working with disaster management teams
and the government as well just in terms
of getting a sense of the movement of
the fire?
Well, our our task at the disaster management
aim is to control the fire. You know?
We assist in by
providing
snack packs for the firefighters, which we'll be
doing from this morning. And, you know, it's
it's and and especially with Cape Town, we
have a very, very good relationship with disaster
management. We talk to each other all the
time. So, in fact, they already contacted us.
The heads have contacted us. The city has
contacted us. So we provide support for the
for the firefighters, which will, besides this morning,
will be starting to bring for the rest
of the day. And our job and then,
of course, the other responsibility, which is not
theirs, is the responsibility of the university
to take care of its own students.
And university has done it very, very well
by finding accommodation, and we are now the
backup support to the university university for providing
food and, water and any other requirements that
the students may may need in this period.
It may be 7 days. It may be
longer. Your your report must have told you
the fire is really getting more rough in
Cape Town, and it's possible that more buildings
may need to be evacuated.
And thank you very much for speaking to
us this morning. As always, to the rescue,
was the gift of the givers, doctor
Ibtis Suliman,
taking us through the response aid being given
to fire victims in Cape Town. We'll continue
to monitor developments there. For more information on
how to donate, you can go to donations
at giftofthegivers.org
or you can call the intervention call,
toll free line on 0800786911.
Let me, tell you that number again. 0800786911.