While South Africa reeled in shock this week and the cumbersome machinery of international organisations creaked to life, the most effective responses to the xenophobic attacks came from municipalities, ordinary citizens and faith groups.
They don’t have international offices, specialist humanitarian coordinators or huge budgets, but they also don’t have to engage in protracted assessment and planning processes. They see a need and they hit the ground running, giving people food, blankets and hope. It may not all be done according to the disaster relief manual, but it is effective.
Central Methodist Church
The building in Pritchard Street is hardly equipped to provide a sanctuary for 2 000 people. Men sleep in the stairwell while women with children are in the hall downstairs where they get priority to receive blankets. Bishop Paul Verryn somehow manages to talk to us while fielding endless phone calls and helping the constant flood of new arrivals. The bishop is full of praise for the shelter staff: “We take a collection of R5 on Saturdays and with that money we pay for nine cleaners and 20 security staff.
The church has received donations from NGOs, such as Islamic Relief and Gift of the Givers, as well as private citizens who keep streaming in with carloads of blankets, canned food and clothes. “My only anxiety,” said Verryn, “is that we’ve been most amazingly well looked after because of all the coverage, but I’m not sure places such as Primrose and Germiston are getting the attention they deserve. We have to make sure we share our donations fairly.”
Germiston
At the Germiston City Hall the situation is dire. It is considerably smaller than the Methodist church, but it provides shelter to nearly 2 500. “It’s heartbreaking,” said volunteer Mxolisi Koom, who coordinates the refugees at the City Hall. An asset manager by day, Koom has spent every night this week tending to the victims — he even missed his wife’s birthday.
“After seeing what was happening, I just wanted to be here,” he said. “You wonder what happened to the people who are orchestrating these attacks, what demon must have possessed them?” Koom said they had received donations from individuals, faith groups and Ekhuruleni’s disaster management centre, “but it’s never enough”.
“The people consumed 360 loaves of bread last night — everyone got to eat, but what do we do the next morning?” He is assisted by volunteers from the community who cook pap for the refugees. “We have no meat, no vegetables — this is a challenging experience, but it’s what we want to do to make a difference.” Koom is amazed by the attitude of the refugees. “Even though they are stressed, they worked with us. It’s what made it possible for us to organise such a number of people.”
Reiger Park
Businessperson Cyril Reeby grew up in Reiger Park so when he heard about the crisis there on Friday night, he headed straight to the police station where church leaders and community members had gathered. “We just all knew we had to be there.” Reeby sent out an SOS by sms to friends and family: “Guys, its time to show our hearts. Please be at the police station at 16h30. Bring clothes, food, blankets, whatever you can. PLEASE!”
“We all sent out smss like this. People pulled through,” he said. They organised to have local centres opened up to house people, including the Reiger Park Civic Centre and the Anglican Church Hall. Reeby is now coordinating six relief centres in the Reiger Park area. By Monday morning there were more than 2 000 women and children at the Civic Centre and Reeby called in to Radio 702 asking for help. “The community came out in full force. This entire operation was financed by the community … they really opened their hearts and opened their wallets.”
Gift of the Givers
The Gift of the Givers Foundation swung into action as soon as the latest attacks began. “We were in Alex on Wednesday morning with blankets. We had 2 000 blankets in Germiston on Saturday night too when everything erupted there,” said foundation worker Allaudin Sayed. After radio appeals on Tuesday, volunteers came forward from the communities of Primrose, Germiston and Jeppestown and conducted a snap audit of the needs in those centres. The foundation hired a truck which they parked at the Village Walk shopping centre in Sandton for three days. “The response was really tremendous,” said Sayed.
Red Cross
By Tuesday night the South African Red Cross Society had provided foodstuffs, such as canned beans, spaghetti and pilchards, as well as nappies and formula and first aid, to 11 disaster areas including Jeppestown, Diepsloot, Alexandra and Primrose.
Kya Sands, Soweto, Duduza, Thembisa and the Johannesburg city centre were allotted any aid as these areas had not yet been assessed.
Jeppestown
By Sunday morning long lines snaked through the grounds of the police station as the Red Cross registered the refugees. By Monday the number of people in the police station appeared to have doubled and by Wednesday Red Cross estimates put it at 4 000. The city’s disaster management team was firmly in charge and water tankers and portable toilets were installed. Médecins Sans Frontièrs had a small medical team on hand to treat the wounded.
A marquee was erected to house some of the women and children, but the rest of the multitude — including a large contingent of blind Zimbabweans — slept in the open air. Refugees complained that they had either not eaten or had only two slices of bread in the past 24 hours. Children kept telling us they were hungry and blind people said they couldn’t get food as hungry people were shoving them out of the queues.
On Tuesday evening Oxfam was overseeing food distribution — two slices of bread and a cup of soup for each person. Chris Leather, Oxfam’s regional food security coordinator, emphasised that this was a stop-gap measure and they were part of a group effort between the disaster management team, NGOs and church groups and had divided up tasks. Oxfam agreed to provide food for two days and also offered to provide wash basins, jerry cans and soap which would be delivered when requested by disaster management.
Juliana Lindsey of Unicef said it was important for them to coordinate their response with that of the city and the departments of health and social services: “We don’t just go in and duplicate.” By Wednesday afternoon she said they were trying to secure items such as infant formula and feeding cups and were hoping for delivery by Friday. She also hoped they would be able to deliver toys and games for children by next week. They will do a further assessment to decide whether it is necessary to provide tents and sleeping mats for mothers with children.
But community members, who aren’t bound by official red tape and protocol, just kept arriving at the station with donations. Neuren and Helena Petersen arrived with a car full of disposable nappies and plastic buckets. Judging by the grateful reception they got from emergency workers at the centre, this was clearly not the first batch they’d delivered. They modestly brushed off our inquiries about their reasons for being involved, saying simply: “We are residents of Troyeville.”