Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
Do you remember our newsletter from last year, in which we reported on persistent rainfall and flooding? As a result of which, the power in many households in the entire Helderberg region was out for up to 24 hours and our Playway Pre-Primary school was completely flooded?
This year we had very nice, mild weather up until the end of June 2024. But on the night of July 6th to 7th, 2024, the situation changed suddenly: one had the feeling of deja vu, because the next morning there were reports of major flooding in many places again.
Many roads had to be closed due to flooding; large boulders from the mountains made roads impassable.
In addition, there was a sharp drop in temperature at higher altitudes, which resulted in snow. Some mountain passes were as smooth as glass and, as we don’t have winter tyres here in South Africa, the sudden onset of winter led to numerous accidents.
From Sunday, July 7, 2024, it rained every day, often so heavily that the sewage system could no longer absorb the masses of water and the streets flooded. During the night from Wednesday, July 10 to Thursday, the extremely heavy rain was accompanied by storms and hurricane-force gusts. In the Wynberg area in Cape Town, a tornado blew off many roofs.
Very quickly after the first major floods, we received calls for help:
At Sikuthale Pre-School, the ceiling collapsed into the kitchen because the roof was leaking. An adjacent classroom was also damaged.
We are happy that, despite the continued heavy rainfall, our workers were able to immediately renew the roofs in the kitchen and classroom and install a new interior ceiling in each case.
We received another call for help from Florentia, the Principal of Lekkerbekkies Edu-Care Centre in the Rusthof township. In March 2018, we built a new kitchen here together with three architecture students. The problem: the adjacent roof of the old building is still made of asbestos, which is leaking in some places. This means that water runs onto the upper roof of the extension and from there down the inner wall. The adjacent roof therefore had to be completely replaced.
When we asked all the kindergartens on Friday, July 12, 2024, whether there was any further damage, Cynthia, the Principal of Small World, also got in touch. She also has an old asbestos roof that had broken in some places due to the heavy rain. As a result, the water ran down the walls there and meant that one of the classrooms has been unusable since then. The old roof has now been replaced with a new one.
Janetta, the Principal of Sunshine Kiddies Day Care Centre in Sir Lowry’s Pass, was happy that we checked with her to see if everything was OK. The water came through the ceiling of one classroom, so that it is currently unusable. There is a risk that the interior ceiling will collapse due to the high level of moisture. This is why this class had to be temporarily combined with another class.
Fortunately, there was no further major damage.
We are pleased that this time we had no complaints at all, especially in Sir Lowry’s Pass, at the Kingdom Kids kindergarten. You may remember that this school was completely flooded during the last major storms in September 2023. The beautiful vegetable garden and the kindergarten, which was made of wood at the time and accommodates over 100 children, were completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt.
We reported in our newsletter in November 2023 about the construction of a new wall to protect the kindergarten and the vegetable garden from further flooding in the future, and it has now been confirmed that this was a good investment.
In addition, while we were still busy building the wall, a South African aid organisation had agreed to tear down the kindergarten and rebuild it with its own donations. Since the new school is a kind of prefabricated building, it was built quickly without the kindergarten having to be closed for a long time. Everything has turned out beautifully. Colourful and child-friendly. Kingdom Kids now has four different classrooms and new toilets with basins.
And there is something positive to report: On July 18, 2024, our partner organisation Masikhule held its Mandela Initiative, as it does every year on Mandela Day. Many beanies, socks, ponchos and scarves were knitted and crocheted for and on this day, which were then distributed to the children in the townships. In addition, everyone who could not knit or crochet had the opportunity to donate soft blankets for the children. Golden Sunbeams supported this campaign with 120 cosy fleece blankets.
Vicky Roper (centre), founder of the CHEAFRICA Foundation and Jeanine Andro (right) from Masikhule with Britta (left) are happy with the beautiful warm blankets.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our sponsors, long-term supporters and donors. Because only with your help is it possible for us to provide quick and exceptional assistance in such challenging situations where it is most urgently needed.
Warm greetings from the still damp and cold Cape
Britta & Claudia