Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers sterling role during the Cape Town runaway fires

WHEN runaway wildfires hit Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town­ recently, destroying property and displacing thousands of people, many volunteers answered the call to assist with major humanitarian exercise that followed.

So did ministers from the Church of Scientology. 

A team from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers (SVM) battled thick smoke and unbearable heat, working side by side for hours with firefighters to extinguish the fire. Other members of the SVM brought much-needed supplies to university students’ displacement sites, trauma counselling to firefighters and more to assist.

The fires caused extensive damage to the University of Cape Town, which lost part of a library housing rare and historic documents. Over 4000 students were displaced and housed in hotels across the city. Private properties that were destroyed by the fire included the house of Thulas Nxesi, the Minister of Labour and Employment.

Advertisements

SVM counsellors also provided counselling to firefighters coming down from fighting the fiery fire on South Africa’s iconic Table Mountains. 

“Hearing of the disaster, we immediately raced to assist our community. It was inspiring to see other organizations and residents banding together to make sure our firefighters had all the support they needed to battle this raging fire” ,said Dylan Cefail, a Scientology Volunteer Minister from Joburg who has been in Cape Town for over 300 days to help the city with the covid-19 pandemic.

READ:  UCT salvaging books from burned library

“Amid our usual work on the frontlines, we couldn’t keep a blind eye to the fire”, added Cefail.

He considers that helping the brave firefighters who are risking their lives and backing them up is the least he can do.

More vehicles were further organized as additional support by the volunteers, bringing more food, water, and eye drops, necessary due to the amount of smoke and other needful supplies to displaced university students, fire stations surrounding the Central Fire Station & Sentrale Brandweerstasie and more. 

The firefighters were grateful for the assistance and one divisional commander at one of the stations expressed great thanks to the SVMs’ presence during Cape Town’s hour of need.

Since the COVID-19 induced lockdown started in SA, the SVM have decontaminated over 63,000 buildings nationally, they have donated over a million hours on the frontline during the covid-19 pandemic and have sanitized over 1.2-million taxis, fire engines, buses and more to curb the spread of covid-19 across the country.

The SVM disaster response has responded to more than 200 disasters over the last 4 decades, from 911 to earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods or the like internationally to bring help to millions.

Advertisements
By The African Mirror

MORE FROM THIS SECTION