CAPE TOWN – A Fish Hoek learner decided to play her part in assisting families who had lost their homes in the devastating Masiphumelele fire and delivered goods on Wednesday 28 January.
Grade 11 pupil Megan Nortier, who attends Fish Hoek High School (FHHS), said she felt compelled to help after witnessing images of the destruction on social media.
The Masiphumelele blaze raged for four hours and displaced 1 124 people, including 302 children and 50 infants, from 382 households on Tuesday 20 January.
Several fire stations responded to the scene as well as 40 ground crew members and three helicopters for aerial support.
“I could not just sit by and look at all the heart-wrenching images circulating on social media,” Megan said. “It really affected me and I felt helpless.”
She felt she had to act particularly after seeing a plea for donations from two organisations: TEARS (The Emma Animal Rescue Society), a Western Cape non-profit that rescues, treats, rehabilitates and re-homes neglected, abandoned and injured animals, and Living Hope, a Fish Hoek faith-based non-profit dedicated to community development, tackling poverty and disease.
Their appeal was broadcast on various social media platforms. “I instantly knew this was where I was going to make a difference and take action,” said Nortier.
From helplessness to action
The urge to help the families overwhelmed her one night. It affected her so much that she struggled to fall asleep and decided to plan a donation drive.
“It simply overwhelmed me one night as I tossed and turned. I drafted a plea, which I then posted on my Instagram platform, calling on all fellow pupils of FHHS, staff, family, friends and followers to join hands and donate whatever they are able to give to the families and animals in need — even if it meant donating a scoop of pellets from your own pet’s food container,” she said.
Community response
After discussing her plan with teachers, the school announced the collection drive, providing Nortier’s classroom as a donation point.
Eventually, the school’s passages and classrooms were lined with bedding, towels, animal food, clothing, kitchenware, personal hygiene items, shoes and more.
“I was overwhelmed by the response of collected donations at school, the donations dropped at my house, donations via the Pick n Pay and Checkers apps as well as monetary donations from people far away, which I used to buy more animal food.”
The donations kept pouring in until Megan’s mother had to collect items every second day to clear space at the school.
Challenges
Nortier remembered wondering whether the community would even come on board with her donation drive.
“My first challenge was getting people to believe this was not a scam, but an honest project to help families and animals in need.”
As donations accumulated, space became the primary challenge, but finding storage was preferable to having empty space to fill, she added.
Successful handover
The drive concluded on Wednesday 28 January, when Nortier carefully sorted the heaps of donations into designated bags.
“On Monday afternoon I came home and carefully worked my way through the mountain of donations, sorting and bagging each item into a designated bag for clothing, linen, shoes, kitchenware, personal hygiene items and so on.”
Representatives from TEARS and Living Hope visited her home to collect the contributions.
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