Durban floods heroes were recently honoured for their relief efforts at an awards ceremony held by Department of Social Development Deputy Minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu.
The awards ceremony was aimed at the various organisations that helped to restore and rebuild lives after the deadly floods.
The ceremony was held on June 8 at the Southern Sun Elangeni & Maharani Hotel and was attended by more than 200 guests. Thirty organisations were recognised for their humanitarian work.
The floods left more than 450 dead, billions of rand of infrastructure damage and thousands of displaced survivors. Many organisations stepped up to face the devastation and help the survivors.
Bogopane-Zulu felt it was necessary to award the brave heroes who rose to the challenge to help KwaZulu-Natal.
Bogopane-Zulu opened the ceremony with a heartfelt speech and said: “This was an enormous disaster, it was not a disaster that only touched one of us or only touched KZN, this touched us all as human beings and the people of South Africa, and you all came together to bring help to the people of KZN. You personify the meaning of ‘Ubuntu’. That is why we are here today, to acknowledge your contribution and thank you for coming to the aid of those who need it most.”
Scientology Volunteer Ministers director of public affairs Sandile Hlayisi said they were one of the many organisations recognised for their selfless acts. They had arrived immediately after the devastating floods and set up teams to assist in search and rescue operations, donated food parcels and blankets, organised significant clean-ups and provided psycho-social spiritual counselling to the survivors of the floods for more than six weeks.
Bogopane-Zulu bestowed on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers a framed certificate stating: “We thank you for building caring communities through partnerships that work, during the KwaZulu-Natal floods.”
“You deserve this with all the work you have been doing. You have been all over and you even helped children with eye injuries to get glasses. You are awesome and we always love working with you because we know things are going to get done,” Bogopane-Zulu said.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers representative Mandy Pelser said: “The founder of our organisation, Mr L Ron Hubbard, was a well-known humanitarian who taught us to always help our fellow man in any disaster. It is an honour to receive this, and this is motivation to do even more.”
Abed Karrim of the Al Imdaad Foundation also received an award for his contributions during the floods.
The ceremony recognised many other organisations, including non-profit organisations, corporates and government departments that worked with the National Department of Social Development during the KZN floods disaster.
Daily News