Cape Town - In a quest to restore their home, two Freedom Park Informal Settlement teenagers are pleading for help to prepare a comfortable environment for when two fire survivors are discharged from the hospital.
Elize Gilbert, 40 and Tasneem Gilbert, 23, suffered severe burn wounds and were admitted to hospital after their one-room shack caught fire on Saturday morning, leaving two children distraught in Ottery. Elizehas undergone surgery at Groote Schuur Hospital, while Tasneem, who is disabled, remains in the Intensive Care Unit at Victoria Hospital. They lost everything in the blaze.
Felicia Gilbert, 16, said: "Everything is just too much on us, but all we want is their safe return and knowing they'll have a comfortable home to recover from. They're in a bad state ,and will need help. No one knows if my mom will ever see again. Her eyes are still closed, and my sister’s body is covered in wounds. I think they will be in bed for sometime.
"No one works, and we'd like to ask for some material and furniture."
She and her sister, Mauricia Gilbert, 19, were still sleeping at their aunt's shack when they heard her home was on fire.
"We rushed, and when we got there, we were told mom and my sister were still inside. It was a nightmare. Luckily, the guys could break the wall and save them. They already caught fire. My sister was literally burning when they took her out. I only saw someone with a flame on TV, but now, it was my sister.
"It hurts so much. I believe if we were in proper houses, none of this would have happened. I feel like government failed us when they still built us shacks, and they're still failing us because no one came to check how we are doing since Saturday," Gilbert added.
Dennis Buggs, a community leader, said it's believed a box exploded when power was switched back on after load shedding. "We did tell the officials we didn't want shacks anymore when they moved us here, but they wouldn't listen. Look now. We're joining statistics of burning informal settlements when they could have just built us houses in the first place. They must come fix Elize’s house because our poor community can only do so much to help. Government must step in in this situation."
They moved to the new structures five months ago to allow me a housing development to take place in their former occupied land.
Councillor William Akim said the cause of the fire was still under investigation and confirmed the fire happened after load shedding. He said the estimated fire damage was about R70 000. He thanked the community for sticking together in a time of need.
Jermaine Carelse, spokesperson for the City of Cape Town's Fire Service, said the fire crew managed to contain and extinguish the fire just after 8am.
"Four persons were displaced, and a woman and a female minor sustained burn wounds and was in a critical condition. Both were rushed to hospital by ambulance. The cause of the fire is unknown," Carelse said.
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