A Randfontein woman is grateful for her nephew’s safe return home following the disaster that hit parts of KwaZulu-Natal recently.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald, Portia Mahloba, 43, who’s also the founder of the Ithemba Project, said her family panicked when they couldn’t find Siyanda Mahloba, 21, whose apartment building was washed away by the floods.
He was missing for a few days after his apartment building collapsed completely,” Mahloba said. He’d lost all his belongings.
Mahloba said she was extremely grateful when she learnt that Siyanda managed to escaped the disaster and had taken shelter somewhere else. He had no means to contact his family, but he eventually was found thanks to the efforts of the family and the Ithemba Project members, who are currently in the province helping to feed displaced families. Through the Project they are providing drinking water, food and blankets.
Mahloba said they’ve identified 650 families who were displaced by the disaster, and having seen just how much they’ve suffered, the thought that something could’ve happened to her nephew was unbearable.
She has family members living in different parts of the stricken area – some in Umlazi, some in the west of Durban, and other in Durban South – and as soon as the disaster hit, they checked on all of them.
She believes that mostly the poor have been severely affected, “Especially those who lived in shacks; their homes disintegrated. We’re glad that we’ve managed to make a small difference and have assisted many families.
My sister had to move in with our mother, after water started seeping from underneath her house,” Mahloba said.
Her brother who was working in the harbour was left stranded temporarily as all the main roads had been destroyed.
“It is painful that everything that was either destroyed or damaged severely might take long to rebuild, but we’re grateful our loved ones were spared,” Mahloba said.
