A fire that destroyed 50 homes and left over 200 people homeless this weekend, also destroyed matriculants school books just as they are preparing for their final exams.Fortunately no-one was injured in the fire which ravaged Du Noon’s Doornbach squatter camp on Friday night but 50 families have rebuild their lives from scratch.
And for a couple of young residents studying for their matric exams in a difficult year beset with teacher strikes and an extra-long June holiday, the fire has been devastating.
Community leader Zoliswa Gila, 40, a mother of five children, said her 20-year-old daughter Sinovuyo studying at Sinenjongo High school, was preparing for her matric finals but is now scared of the exams as she lost all her school books in the fire.
Sinovuyo’s friend Asanda Boyi, 18, who is at Du Noon’s Inkwenkwezi Secondary School also suffered the same fate.
Boyi said she feared that she might not perform well during her matric final exams as her English, history, Xhosa and geography text books were all burnt.
“On the 25th (October) I’m writing final matric exams. I m very concerned, distressed and worried,” said Boyi.
Gila said Sinovuyo had told her she did not know what she was going to do about studying and was very anxious.
“She said she was more worried about her school books than anything else lost in the fire,” said Gila.
Gila said she and her youngest daughter – aged 10 – were watching tv at about 11pm on Friday when they heard people screaming that there was a fire.
When she looked outside she said she saw flames engulfing her neighbours’ shack. She shook her other children awake, grabbed their identity documents, and fled.
On Saturday morning people were seen rebuilding their homes and sifting through the debris in the hope to possessions they could salvage or re-use.
City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service Command and Control Centre spokesperson Theo Layne confirmed the blaze and said they received a desperate call at 23:13 on Friday.
Layne said 50 shacks were demolished by the blaze leaving 200 people homeless.
He said seven fire engines and four water carriers, plus 48 fire fighters were sent out to fight the fire.
The blaze was extinguished at 01:24 on Saturday and there were no reported fatalities or injuries.
“The cause of the fire is undetermined. We have handed it over to the SA Police Service (SAPS) for further investigation,” said Layne.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape’s Education Department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said the affected matric learners must tell their school about the loss of their books and if their school could not help them “then the education district office will do everything to supply them with what they need”.
Attwell said “most” matriculants will start their exams on October, 25, while some would start as early as October 13, depending on the subjects they took.
— West Cape News
And for a couple of young residents studying for their matric exams in a difficult year beset with teacher strikes and an extra-long June holiday, the fire has been devastating.
Community leader Zoliswa Gila, 40, a mother of five children, said her 20-year-old daughter Sinovuyo studying at Sinenjongo High school, was preparing for her matric finals but is now scared of the exams as she lost all her school books in the fire.
Sinovuyo’s friend Asanda Boyi, 18, who is at Du Noon’s Inkwenkwezi Secondary School also suffered the same fate.
Boyi said she feared that she might not perform well during her matric final exams as her English, history, Xhosa and geography text books were all burnt.
“On the 25th (October) I’m writing final matric exams. I m very concerned, distressed and worried,” said Boyi.
Gila said Sinovuyo had told her she did not know what she was going to do about studying and was very anxious.
“She said she was more worried about her school books than anything else lost in the fire,” said Gila.
Gila said she and her youngest daughter – aged 10 – were watching tv at about 11pm on Friday when they heard people screaming that there was a fire.
When she looked outside she said she saw flames engulfing her neighbours’ shack. She shook her other children awake, grabbed their identity documents, and fled.
On Saturday morning people were seen rebuilding their homes and sifting through the debris in the hope to possessions they could salvage or re-use.
City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service Command and Control Centre spokesperson Theo Layne confirmed the blaze and said they received a desperate call at 23:13 on Friday.
Layne said 50 shacks were demolished by the blaze leaving 200 people homeless.
He said seven fire engines and four water carriers, plus 48 fire fighters were sent out to fight the fire.
The blaze was extinguished at 01:24 on Saturday and there were no reported fatalities or injuries.
“The cause of the fire is undetermined. We have handed it over to the SA Police Service (SAPS) for further investigation,” said Layne.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape’s Education Department spokesperson Paddy Attwell said the affected matric learners must tell their school about the loss of their books and if their school could not help them “then the education district office will do everything to supply them with what they need”.
Attwell said “most” matriculants will start their exams on October, 25, while some would start as early as October 13, depending on the subjects they took.
— West Cape News
No comments:
Post a Comment