Imtiaz Sooliman – Gift of the Givers team returns from Trkiye

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.