Imtiaz Sooliman – Gift of the Givers team returns from Trkiye
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the team's efforts to find survivors after a devastating earthquake in Turkey. They talk about the importance of gifted dogs and the safety and security of their team. The team worked tirelessly to try to recover from the disaster and provide support to survivors.
AI: Summary ©
Welcome back. Gift of the givers. Founder Imtiaz Suleiman welcomed
his team and saps canine unit members back home today, they
touched down from Turkey, where they've been aiding search and
rescue efforts following the devastating earthquakes last week,
the death toll now stands at over 45,000
many years ago, when I was traveling overseas, people from
northern countries told me we came to the earthquake in Pakistan. And
they asked me, What are you guys doing here, and where are you
from? I said, we from South Africa. So you said, they said,
You're from Africa. What did you come here to find? What did you
come here to collect? Because people from Africa always stand
with the begging board. You always want things for free. You always
want things you can't do anything. And we can show the world what we
can do. We can save lives. We got the spirit of Ubuntu. We can bring
hope to nations, and that's what we specialize in, as a gift of the
givers. We've intervened in 45 countries, and you guys make it
happen. So I'm going to say a little bit about the team, and
then after that, I get a beginner to say something about the police,
and I don't thank the dogs. Thank you very much for bringing the
dogs. They were the real heroes. You need this. You know, in the
team, all five of that, your whole team and everything else.
Vimla Moodley, the saps canine unit head says her team had less
than a day to repair before they left for Turkey. Moody says the
canine unit dogs had a unique skill set that aided in finding
several survivors buried under rubble. Let's take a listen to
what she had to say when the team landed at watamu International
Airport earlier the
team what was unique and different from the rest of the other
countries was when we went to a certain
area or disaster situation where we were deployed, called out, they
would ask you, can your dog find live victims? Do your dog find
dead victims? It seems like other countries are trained in just
finding live victims and not dead bodies. So that's what was unique
with the South South African canine search industry team. The
team worked tirelessly, tirelessly. I actually had to
apologize certain evenings to say, sorry, guys, I overworked you
today, but that's what they were there for.
The idea of the danger did not come to their mind at any given
point. To say that you know what, we are in a dangerous situation.
I'm not going there, but the gift of the givers. Team had an
excellent safety team and technical team that ensured our
safety at at any given cost. We were not allowed into a building
if it was found unsafe. So Dr,
fam, if I can just mention, we got some feedback. To say, some
positive indications by our dog led to another 240 being
recovered. We got some information this morning from Doctor child. So
the recovery process still continuing from positive
indications for the canine surgeon, risk to dog. So excellent
work done by China and search and rescue. I think the media also has
seen that we've had one live person recovered, a 90 year old
woman. Initially it was said 80, but it was confirmed to be a 90
year old lady who survived, which is a miracle for us. That was an
amazing success. We went there with the intention of only
recovering live victims. But unfortunate situation is the city
has been really taken down and destroyed. There is no city left.
There were emotional moments for us, especially with family who
want closure,
where they wanted closure. We reset with those families until
the final body was recovered and we we gave some sort of support,
although we were not there to do that, give a support service to,
you know, a survivor, survivor. But it was difficult to leave a
scene without hugging and giving, giving them a little bit of
confidence and hope to.