Johannesburg: Gift of the Givers provided aid to areas affected in the Northern Cape following the heavy rainfall which resulted in an increased flow in the Gariep River cutting off communities from areas around Keimos.
Teams from Gift of the Givers have arrived with tons of supplies that were airlifted into the province, however they faced challenges distributing the goods as neither road nor river is conducive for safe passage with humanitarian aid.
Gift of the Givers Project Manger Emily Thomas said: “Disaster management and the municipality, working jointly with us are concerned that affected communities in George, Lanklaas, Sand, Meyers, Sandkop and Plangeni have been without food and water since last Saturday.”
“Gift of the Givers has received an instant response and a preferential rate from Boeta Dippenaar at Henley Air, and a Bell 222 helicopter (better known as Airwolf) is already en route to commence airdrop of the emergency aid to hundreds of affected families,” she said.
Food and bottled water are the priorities and many communities have been assisted with various huge interventions, including drilling 238 boreholes in Sutherland, providing millions of rands of fodder and responding to the endemic hunger.
“Gift of the Givers with the mayor, disaster management, and the SAPS are discussing ways of how to get aid across to people stuck without food and water on islands around Keimoes.” said Thomas.
IOL