Durban Flood Heroes Recognized For Relief Efforts By Deputy Minister Of Social Development

Recently, the Deputy Minister Hon. Bogopane Zulu and the National Department of Social Development held an award ceremony to recognize the relief efforts offered by various organizations to help restore and rebuild lives after the deadly floods. The ceremony held on the 8th of June at the Sun International Elangeni hotel had over 200 prestigious guests and 30 organizations were recognized for humanitarian work.

Following the deadly floods earlier in April that left hundreds dead, billions of infrastructure damage and thousands of displaced survivors, many organizations stepped up to face the devastation left behind and offer help to the survivors. The National Deputy Minister of Social Development saw it fit to award the brave heroes that rose up to the challenge and help the Province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Ms. Bogopane-Zulu opened the ceremony with a heartfelt speech and said “This was an enormous disaster, it was not a disaster that only touched one of us or only touched KZN, this touched us all as human beings and the people of South Africa and you all came together to bring help to the people of KZN. You personify the meaning of ‘Ubuntu’. That is why we are here today, to acknowledge your contribution and thank you for coming to the aid of those who need it most.”

One of the many organizations recognized for their selfless acts, were the Scientology Volunteer Ministers who arrived immediately after the devastating floods, they set up teams to assist in search and rescue operations, donated food parcels, blankets, organised significant clean-ups and provided psycho-social spiritual counselling to the survivors of the flood for over 6 weeks.

The Deputy Minister bestowed the Scientology Volunteer Ministers with a framed certificate which states, “We thank you for building caring communities through partnerships that work, during the KwaZulu-Natal floods.”

“The founder of our organization, Mr. L. Ron Hubbard was a well-known humanitarian who taught us to always help our fellow man in any disaster. It is an honour to receive this and this is motivation to do even more”, said Mandy Pelser, Scientology Volunteer Ministers representative.

“You deserve this with all the work you have been doing. You have been all over and you even helped children with eye injuries to get glasses. You are awesome and we always love working with you because we know things are going to get done.” Added the Deputy Minister.

Abed Karrim from the Al Imdaad Foundation was also in attendance and awarded by the Deputy Minister for his contributions during the floods.

The recognition ceremony recognized many other organizations ranging from Non-Profit Organizations, Corporates and Government departments who worked with the National Department of Social Development during the KwaZulu-Natal flood disaster.

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