A story to tell: Giving thanks

#Heros #UCTFirefighters #Leadership #Teamwork.

On Sunday morning the 18^th of April 2021 a friend of mine woke me up to tell me that there was a fire on Table Mountain. At first, we thought that it was not going be as massive as it ended up being. To cut the long story short, almost 4000 students were evacuated from their residences to alternatively safe and comfortable places. This resulted in the suspension of all academic activities for a week. Food and other essential goods were provided to the students during their stay at these alternative places until students returned to their residences on the 22^nd of April 2021.

Given such an overwhelming support, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the University leadership team for the love, care, and concern that they demonstrated by giving students time to heal from a catastrophic event. Let me also take the opportunity to express my gratitude to companies that opened their doors to accommodate students in such a short notice (Hats off to you! I salute you and I thank you).

Having said what has been discussed above, one can wonder and ask what then happened to the fire, how did it end? One might want to call them legends, but I prefer to call them heroes. These heroes are the so-called firefighters who played a significant and vital role in stabilizing the fire from causing further destruction. It takes courage and passion for one to play such an imperative role and I would like to say to them (I salute you for your amazing service). Fighting is not all about using machine guns, even a pistol can help a soldier survive in the battle, so the role played by some students cannot go unnoticed. Hence, I would like to throw a big shout to my fellow colleagues who grabbed the fire extinguishers to help fight the battle, I salute you for showing such bravery. 

Lastly, I would like to also throw a big shout to the individuals, private sectors and companies who donated food and other essentials. One person once told me that a hungry man is an angry man but with the large amounts of food that were donated anger never surfaced, it was just hope, happiness and joy in students’ eyes. They say water is life, but I think water and food sustain each other.

In conclusion, I would like to thank every person who pray to the Almighty asking Him to strengthen students and the University’s hearts from such a disturbing event. I THANK YOU.

This content has been published with no editorial intervention from UCT News.