Originally published in IOL News
The fact that hope is always stronger than fear, is happening in rural KZN. Where the Covid-19 pandemic has yet to make the full force of its fury felt, there is a team of caring volunteers who have taken steps to halt its relentless advance.
Doctors for Life International (DFL), supported by local organisations aQuellé, Emseni Farming and Domino Servite School – are giving the needy community the weapons to fight the plague.
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Since Thursday April 2, hundreds of households under Chief Hlongwa and Chief Ngubane have received brown bags filled with; masks, 500ml sanitiser, 5 L aQuellé natural spring water, 6-pack aQuellé flavours and information pamphlets in both English and isiZulu that give valuable advice on Covid-19 and the precautions that must be taken to save lives.
The response has been overwhelming. Said Dr Albu van Eeden from Doctors for Life, the Christian-based non-profit organisation founded in South Africa in 1991 and headed up by medical professionals who genuinely care about people and their needs, “The communities we have visited are extremely grateful to us for equipping them with the information and especially the materials to fight Covid-19.”
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One of the happy recipients later described, “A local official came to tell us, via a loudhailer, what to do – we told him that others had already been and didn’t just tell us what to do but even gave us what we need to do it!”
Another grateful mother said, “I have been looking for sanitiser and it is out of stock everywhere, and now we have been brought some to our homes! We even received some aQuellé too. We appreciate it so much that you came to educate us personally, now we know what Corona is and we want to say thank you, thank you.”
In spite of the tragic effects of this pandemic, this action has exposed the care South Africans have for one another – the real Ubuntu and genuine Thuma Mina spirit that is often overlooked.
