EDITOR’S COMMENT

Of floods, fire, heroes and ubuntu

As South Africa recovers from the recent floods and fires that ravaged large parts of the country, the distinction between its heroes and its villains has never been more visible to me. On one side of the divide are the victims and the heroes. On the other, the criminally opportunistic.

My heart aches for those who died, were injured, lost loved ones, their homes, their belongings. And it rages at those who could have, and should have, done more to prevent these tragedies. The people in high places, elected and/ or employed to ensure that their constituents’ fundamental rights are safeguarded, but who failed them – yet again – with empty promises, jobs not properly done — or even done at all, corruption, theft… the list is long.

At the same time, I am deeply moved by the acts of courage and ubuntu displayed by so many of its citizens. South Africa can hold its head high when it comes to per capita heroes. Aside from the trained professionals, our heroes include regular folk who jumped into raging waters to help, fought their way through fire and smoke to save lives and property, who are collecting food and essentials for victims, raising funds, and getting their hands dirty as they help clean up.

In his article Top 5 Professions You Need Courage to Take, Scott Miller puts firefighting at the top of his list of brave occupations. “Imagine looking at a building in flames and the terror that image seeds into an ordinary person’s brain. It takes courage to take on a profession that includes walking into a flaming building and searching for survivors. But jumping into the belly of the fire-breathing beast is not the only test of nerves that these brave people have to face… firefighters also deal with chemical spills that most of us would run away from.”

SAFSI (Southern African Fire Services Institute) says that since its founding in 1959, the country’s firemen are viewed as professionals rather than ‘brawny and not-so-brainy’ men involved in skilled labour. Until now, I wasn’t aware of the extensive training that professional firefighters undergo: emergency services, ambulance work, civil defence, creating fire safety plans for public buildings, handling and cleaning hazardous material (‘hazmat’) spills and so much more.

Well done and thank you to all of our firefighters, our emergency and medical personnel, our security officers and yes, our police officers, too. SAPS (South African Police Service) is consistently and widely criticised by the public for the wrongdoings of some of its members. The key word here is ‘some’. There are many officers whose work is exemplary – have a look at https://www.facebook. com/SAPoliceService to see their daily successes. Some pay the ultimate price: last week, Sgt Busisiswe Mjwara, Sgt Mathews Phakati and their dog (K9 Leah) died during a search for three drowning victims in the Msunduzi River.

My personal list of heroes includes the Gift of the Givers Foundation https:// giftofthegivers.org/, the largest non-governmental disaster response organisation on the African continent. In the 29 years since its formation by South African medical doctor Imtiaz Ismail Sooliman, it has raised more than R3.8 billion in aid for 45 countries. ‘KZN Flood Relief’ is one of its current appeals — https://giftofthegivers.org/disasterresponse/kzn-flood-relief/37064/. The Gift of the Givers Foundation provides unconditional assistance to those in need, whether they’re humans or animals, and regardless of religion, race, or political affiliation. I was amazed to read on its flood relief page that calls had been coming in, not just from those requesting assistance but also from “corporates wanting to support stricken communities. With all our troubles, frictions, and challenges, this is indeed an incredible country where the spirit of Ubuntu always takes centre stage and reigns supreme.”

The best description I’ve come across for ‘ubuntu’ is in the New World Encyclopedia. ‘Ubuntu’, it says, “is a traditional African concept that can be roughly translated as ‘humanity towards others’. Ubuntu embodies all those virtues that maintain harmony and the spirit of sharing among the members of a society. It implies an appreciation of traditional beliefs, and a constant awareness that an individual’s actions today are a reflection on the past, and will have far-reaching consequences for the future. A person with ubuntu knows his or her place in the universe and is consequently able to interact gracefully with other individuals. One aspect of ubuntu is that, at all times, the individual effectively represents the people from among whom he or she comes, and therefore tries to behave according to the highest standards and exhibit the virtues upheld by his or her society.”

It’s this that makes me proud to be a South African.

Ingrid Olivier, Editor

ingridolivier@idotwrite.co.za