Some of the other instances where I was involved in to date:

Evacuated Onrus manner and Kid brook twice during fires. This involved organising the safe havens for the residents at the NG Church and the United Church, the people to assist the folk there , the ambulances to get the folk in the frail care to the hospital etc. , and the counselling of the traumatised.

Here are a few other examples of where we have got involved.

Some of the other instances where I was involved in to date:

1. Evacuated Onrus Manner and Kid brook twice during fires. This involved organising the safe havens for the residents at the NG Church and the United Church, and the people to assist the folk so placed there, the ambulances to get the folk in the frail care to the hospital etc., Counselling of the traumatised.

2. The setting up safe havens in the area as well as training of the people to assist in time of disaster. This has been started, but needs to continue and be developed further.

3. Evacuation of residents from Meerensee.

4. Ensuring that necessary supplies were available, as well as getting donated supplies needed to “hotspots” where the men and woman were on the scene. ( Hands on )

5. Often monitoring of the fires in areas where the other vehicles have not been able to traverse thus giving vital feedback to the Chief.

6. Counselled law enforcement officers , traffic and fire ,as well as family and residents who, for example, experienced the incident where the pitbull mauled a child and the child’s granny.

7. Counselled fire crew having 4 bad scenes in Stanford area, one being a fireman attending a scene where his Aunt burned to death.

8. Counselled staff where there were people burned, over the Christmas period in Hermanus.

9. Was involved with counselling of a family and residents, after a young man in Caledon died in a fire.

10. Counselled staff where a known resident in Mount Pleasant was run over.

11. Traffic control and road closures at various fire and law enforcement scenes.

12. Assisted in search and rescue above Eastcliff in mountains.

13. Monitoring of staff in fire scenes.

14. Assisted in rescuing an elderly lady who had collapsed during an evacuation, having been trapped in their house in a local retirement village.

15. Have been called by Law enforcement officials to council a distraught woman contemplating ending her most valued life. God’s Grace prevailed and the valued life was returned to a grateful family. Longer term help was also arranged.

16. Assisting with SAPS with trauma counselling and staff interaction at various scenes including the work place.

17. Assisted in counselling various members of public in areas affected by trauma. Assisting in various ways, for example counselling a single mom stranded with the three children in Hawston losing everything when their house burned down. I arranged further assistance in order for them to get their lives back to normal. Follow up is also an integral part of recovery.

18. I also regularly debrief and chat to the staff when they have had bad scenes, and assist in training them to be prepared for what they will see and what they will feel, and how to cope with it. i.e. develop coping skills to normalise their living.

19. Have supported staff where themselves or their family have been ill or injured eg, one such case of the Firemen whose son was hit by a car.

20. I have also instituted services at churches throughout the Overberg to unite the community with the uniform services and to create awareness of their effective part in the blessing of inter community services support.

21. I also created prayer support with the ministers in the area. To great delight this is continually increasing. Prayer support in times of need and disasters mounts and is so provided.

22. With the fire at Knysna we took relief items for the families in the fire; we counselled members of the community as well as the firefighters, especially those badly burned, and their colleagues witnessing the incidents. We strongly believe in follow ups. About 3 Months after the fire we did just that, and were received with such joy and gratitude, that we ourselves were deeply blessed.

23. After a horrific accident, one of the staff needed to have major surgery in a hospital far from his home. The family could not get there to support them during the operation due to the distance. 1 Life Rescue paid for the accommodation for the family to stay for a week near the hospital and was able to support their family and assist in their recovery.

24. Counselled fire and rescue staff that were involved in the Villiersdorp fires who also had rescued people in a horrific accident. These brave ones retrieved bodies of people who died in a landslide which followed due to rain generating large volumes of water. They also retrieved those blessed to have survived a horrific accident. They themselves were exposed to extreme danger of further landslides.

25. Located family of the person whose vehicle went off the mountain in Hermanus. Did the death notification as well as organised a support structure around the family, including family and their church.

26. At times of various fires , arranged water and food for the staff and delivered the food and water to the staff on the scenes.

27. Assisted with the riots in Kleinmond making sure that all staff in uniform had refreshments and were safe.

28. Evacuated various Retirement villages at times of fires, as mentioned, ensuring that the old folk had a place to go to, and were taken care of physically and emotionally. This also included frail care residents who needed to be taken in ambulances to hospitals.

29. At various Possible suicides , I counselled the people , and set up the necessary support structures for them.

30. Counselling of young lady after attempted farm attack in Stanford.

31. Counselling and taking care of law enforcement officers after the attempted necklaceing during with riots in Zwelihle

32. Unrest in Zwelihle – Rescued baby and social worker that had no formula to feed the young baby.

33. Unrest Zwelihle – Sourced and delivered coffee to all services serving at their point of duty. Meals were also delivered.

34. Counselling and care of officers traumatized, or injured.

35. Provided support to families seriously affected by major accident scenes.

36. Provide support to the forensic services during traumatic scenes and events.

37. A Police officer was seriously injured in recent unrest in the area. We provided continual support to him and his family form the initial incident through his transfer per helicopter, ensuring further professional assistance both inside and outside SAPS, to the present. We also provided counselling, motivation and support to the officer’s colleagues. In cases like these regular follow-ups are necessary.

38. Was Hostage negotiator at various hostage situations , ensuring all parties safe , and people re united with family or receiving the necessary treatment , without drastic measures

39. 1 Life Rescue assisted during the January fires in Betties Bay, Hermanus and Franskraal with the following :

• Food and refreshments distribution

• Sourcing refreshments

• Assisting members of the community and staff that were injured or traumatised

• Motivation and supporting staff working

• Assisting persons having lost their homes to get help from various agencies

• Locating lost families or family members

• Assisting to find places to stay for families in need

• Assisting persons trapped in their houses and helping to bring them to a place of safety

• Fire monitoring

• Assisting with animal evacuations

40. After these terrible events of the fires in 39 above 1 Life Rescue’s work is not finished. We are providing trauma counselling to amongst others listed below who have been affected during the fire:

• Staff who fought the fire or worked in related roles

• People who lost their homes in the fire

• Other members of the public affected

• Members of the public and staff injured as a result of the fire

• Camphill school, a school for special needs children, teachers and workers , who had to all evacuate the area under very traumatic circumstances

• Camphill farm community , who were also severely affected due to the trauma of evacuation under the circumstances

To say the least our mandate is multifarious in its operation.

Please note all these incidents have private people involved. As such, confidentiality is imperative. If further confirmation is necessary, please contact us and we will do our best to clarify the situation.

Deo Gloria . To God be the Glory