Cape Town - The campaign by Sans Souci Girls’ High School to collect cans of food to help those in earthquake-stricken Türkiye and Syria, the idea of Grade 12 pupil Chloe Jooste, culminated in a special handover ceremony to the Gift of the Givers (GOTG) on Monday.
The pupils built towers with the food tins before handing them over to GOTG, which was one of the first international rescue agencies to respond to the disaster, and also runs the largest hospital in the north of Syria close to where the earthquake occurred.
GOTG would be delivering the goods to the earthquake survivors Jooste said she was struck by the devastation and pain of the survivors of the earthquake, which occurred on February 6, and felt the need to step up in whatever way possible and assist.
That was how this campaign to collect food cans for the earthquake survivors kicked off.
“Many tens of thousands of lives lost, people our age … homes and businesses razed to the ground … dreams destroyed. With survivors having to start all over again … facing an uncertain future … (it is) indeed a human tragedy of unimaginable proportions,” she said.
According to Reuters, the latest statistics show at least 56 000 deaths, 2 562 injuries, 2.5 million people displaced, 200 089 destroyed buildings, and at least 24 million people affected.
GOTG project manager Ali Sablay relayed the harrowing scenes they encountered when they first arrived and expressed how needed the food relief was.
“One of the major concerns over there was the shortage of food, blankets and other essentials. This will go a long way to make a difference in these people’s lives… Initiatives like this play a very important role and we would like to thank this school for going the extra mile.
“It only took 45 seconds to wipe out 45 000 people. When our search and rescue teams first arrived, people were fighting for them to come to their flats and houses just to see if their family members would be pulled out from the rubble.
“We found children refusing to move away from rubble because their mothers, fathers and siblings were lying underneath,” Sablay said.
Sablay said on the seventh day, GOTG and Proudly SA teams pulled out an 80-year-old woman who was stuck under rubble with no oxygen, water or food.
Principal Shirley Humphreys said she was proud of Jooste and all the learners for their willingness to help those suffering so far away.
Humphreys also thanked Norman Henshilwood High School for actively helping them collect food cans as well all the learners, parents, businesses, religious groups and donors who assisted them.
They collected over 4000 cans, but were aiming for 10 000.
“As a school our motto is to be of service, so when Chloe asked if we could collect cans of food to help those affected by the deadly Turkey/Syria earthquake disaster, we had to think logistically how to do that.
“We started with our own interact group within the school, but then the project soon grew bigger. It started slowly, but the more exposure we got, the greater contributions were,” Humphreys said.
Retired judge Siraj Desai, who was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to head the office of the legal services ombudsman (Olso), also contributed to the collection and commended Jooste, her fellow learners and the school for their initiative to uphold common humanity for those in need.
“Before the earthquake, Syria was the subject of war, famine and sanctions which impoverished the country to great extent. These problems were compounded by this earthquake,” Desai said.
Desai urged the learners to continue on the path of being empathy-driven world leaders.