GIFT of the Givers has handed over 300 blankets and 200 bottles of hand sanitiser to the Midland Hospital in Graaff-Reinet.
With the influx of children, especially from the Western Cape and Gauteng, visiting senior family members in the Eastern Cape during the extended holidays, there is growing concern over the impact this will have on the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, CEO of Gift of the Givers, said that the foundation has made sufficient provision to intervene and assist hospitals in the Eastern Cape with the looming threat.
This week, a disaster relief team of Gift of the Givers and JM Landmann drilling services in Bethlehem will be equipping three boreholes which were drilled earlier this month at Cebe Junior School and Tafalofefe Hospital in Butterworth. While the rest of the country was panic-buying and stockpiling this week, a drilling team of 16 men, led by hydrogeologist, Dr Gideon Groenewald, GOTG project manager, Ali Sably, and Corene Conradie, the organisation’s Eastern Cape coordinator, were locked in a race against time to supply the drought-stricken community and hospital of Cebe with water before lockdown kicked in on Thursday at midnight.
“Water is the absolute first necessity when it comes to sanitation, and we are therefore committed to do whatever we can to provide in this basic need,” said Sablay.
He also indicated that the drought intervention teams in Adelaide, Graaff-Reinet and Makhanda would, as disaster relief operations, be able to continue carting water to communities despite lockdown.
