TWO boreholes, drilled at the Darul Shifa Centre for the elderly and the Darul Huda orphanage in Lenasia by local organisation AWQAF SA during May last year, came not only to the rescue of the institutes last week (14-15 October), but provided much-needed relief to neighbouring communities.
This after a water outage, initially scheduled for 12 hours turned into a two-day crisis for local residents. Several homes, organisations, businesses and mosques then opened up their own boreholes to relieve the areas that were cut off.
Aslam Ismail of the Darul Huda orphanage in Extension 13, Lenasia – which houses 18 orphans and four staff members – said the orphanage never even felt the impact of the water outage, thanks to the borehole.
“The borehole really helped us. We were also able to supply residents with fresh water during the outage,” he said.
At the Darul Shifa Centre in Extension 11, a major crisis was averted when Tembelihle, an informal settlement, also ran dry.
“We opened up our borehole and assisted the community of the informal settlement with free water. We filled buckets for 8 hours non-stop that day. I cannot tell you how many people that amounted to, but it must have been a lot. At 6.30pm we filled the last of the buckets,” said Naseega Botha of the Darul Shifa Centre.
The distribution of water did not go unnoticed in social media, local resident Mubeenah Ismail posting that the borehole provided by AWQAF SA at the Darushifa Elders Home in Lenasia Extension 11 Lenasia, was supplying water to needy informal settlements.
“We should be so thankful that we live in a giving community, and despite all our challenges, our unsung heroes from our community always come to the rescue. This is a thank you to everyone that is helping to ease the situation and give us access to water points, thank you!! May the Almighty reward all abundantly,” she said.
AWQAF SA CEO, Zeinoul Cajee, said the organisation – which focuses on community building – was committed to providing boreholes to key institutions. This especially in disadvantaged areas where water was scarce, or expensive for non-profit organisations such as old-age homes, orphanages, clinics, and schools.
“So far, we have drilled over 50 boreholes around the country. We will continue doing more as we get more funds. We thank our donors for their generous contributions and wonderful hearts.
Those who wish to contribute are welcome to do so via our bank account:
AWQAF SA FNB
ACC 62052040145
BC 250655
REF: CELL NO/ NAME/water.
