Durban - “Mother, I’m alive, I am okay,” shouts Ishar Ragab on the phone to her parents in Malawi. The 28-year-old is one of 1 100 people who have been able to connect with their families in their home countries from the three shelters for foreigners displaced by xenophobic violence.
“She was so relieved, she saw (what was happening) on the news and had no way of reaching me,” said Ragab.
Ragab lost some of her belongings escaping from Verulam where she has lived and worked as a domestic worker since 2012.
The phones were provided by the Red Cross Society. Manning the Phoenix phone, Siyabonga Hlongwane said the service was part of the psychosocial support to help people so that they could connect and give their families reassurance that they are, at least, safe.
As Ragab reluctantly ended her three minute call, smiling for the first time since the attack, many more lined up to call home.
The Red Cross has also been distributing hygiene packs containing items such as toothbrushes, soap and sanitary towels.
KZN manager Derrick Naidoo said South Africans had rallied, making donations and volunteering to sort, pack and distribute parcels and food.
The Red Cross with the Al Imdaad Foundation provide meals. The foundation’s disaster response manager, Abed Karrim, had been on the ground since the shelters were erected more than 20 days ago.
“South Africans have embraced our brothers and sisters.
“The Verulam community cooks 17 huge pots for supper from groceries donated to the foundation every night.”
The meals are made in consultation with those living in the shelters, some of whom also volunteer to distribute it.
According to Karrim’s count at Phoenix on Tuesday, 2 350 men, 262 women, 90 children and 82 infants had collected breakfast.
To look after the wellbeing of the children, Save the Children SA erected a tent to provide a safe space for learning and play. Child protection manager, Divya Naidoo, said this was to keep children up to date with schoolwork and “just let them be children and play, even in a situation like this”.
For the older children, the organisation was working with the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative to provide trauma counselling.
Naidoo said they also trained volunteers from the displaced groups to work with children. “They have a better cultural and language understanding and it also makes them feel like they have something to offer.”
Even teenagers offered a helping hand. Alex Talbot, 16, and other volunteers from the Scouts SA scoured pap-crusted pots at Isipingo. Churches turned up in their numbers at Phoenix.
Members of Deo Gloria Family Church in La Lucia, led by Pastor Deborah Bell, sorted blankets and other donated items.
“At a time like this, all feet need to be on the ground. Churches need to be the face of Jesus and show that love and compassion does not live within church walls.”
Those who need medical care received it onsite from the Department of Health staff which also transported others to hospital. They were joined by a medical team of six from Doctors Without Borders.
KZN team leader Dr Gemma Arellano said: “We have seen children with diarrhoea, fever, skin diseases and a case of pneumonia. We have also treated men who had been badly injured in the violence but had not tried to get care because they were too scared to go hospital or leave the camps with assistance.”
Food prepared on April 21
250kg chicken Isipingo
200kg pasta Phoenix
300kg baked beans Phoenix
2 500 sandwiches Phoenix
Source: Red Cross Society
Number of people in shelters
Isipingo 800
Chatsworth 2 100
Phoenix 3 399
Source: eThekwini Municipality (as at 21 April)
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