Cape Town - Humanitarian aid organisation the Gift of the Givers continues to give us citizens a reason to be proud to be South African amid the gloom and doom that we wake up to daily.
While the organisation founded by Dr Imtiaaz Sooliman has become a real hope to millions affected by local disasters, its involvement in the search and rescue operation in Türkiye and Syria following devastating earthquakes last week has to count as one of the major events it has responded to.
And true to the values of ubuntu, South Africans, businesses and other NGOs have dug deeper into their pockets to donate the little they have to help the victims and survivors of the tragedy.
The scale of the earthquakes suggests that the death toll, which was on Wednesday expected to pass 40 000, is going to continue rising as rescue teams work against time to save those still trapped under the rubble.
We send our heartfelt condolences to the people of Türkiye and Syria and wish the injured and the millions of displaced people a speedy recovery.
While many well-documented challenges persist here at home, it is the Gift of the Givers that is showing the world that South Africans are part of a global community and will stop at nothing to lend a helping hand.
Just on Monday the organisation rescued an 80-year-old, severely dehydrated woman in Antakya, Türkiye.
She was found beneath the rubble, thanks to the assistance of a K-9 unit.
Of the successful rescue, the organisation said: “Hats off to Donna, the sniffer dog who was the first to pick up the scent of a live 80-year-old woman in the rubble in Hatay!
This dog used her incredible sense of smell to lead her handler, Warrant Officer Gouws, to the woman who was miraculously found alive. Congratulations to both Donna and Warrant Officer Gouws for their tireless and outstanding effort.”
There are more touching stories that have emerged from this “disaster of the century”, including the rescue of a newborn baby with an umbilical cord still attached, and a 10-year-old girl, named Cudi, who had been buried underneath the ruins for 147 hours.
For a South African organisation to be involved in rescue efforts in a disaster of this magnitude is heartwarming, especially when so many lives are being saved daily.
We salute the Gift of the Givers, our true heroes.
Cape Times