#OperationHydrate delivers truckloads of water to drought-hit areas
THE million-litre mark has been reached today for the amount of water #Operation Hydrate volunteers have been able to distribute to areas in South Africa hardest hit by the drought.
This morning six superlink trucks filled with pallets of bottled water made their way from Pretoria to Swartruggens in the North West province in the latest round of water deliveries leaving Gauteng.
#OperationHydrate is less than two weeks old but has shown the power of social media and decisive action to make things happen in real life.
Action matters says Yasneen Theba, one of the organisers of #OperationHydrate, because people are literally dying of thirst. Theba says he was shocked to see the extent of the drought in the Free State and parts of the Eastern Cape, just two of at least five provinces in the grip of severe drought.
“I remember when on our first delivery I got into Senekal and I was looking for a cup of coffee and a bathroom but all the public toilets were locked. There was literally no water.
“Later, watching people stand for three hours in the baking sun to receive a bucket of water that had to last them the whole day was emotional and shocking for me. We in Joburg don’t realise that the crisis is right on our doorstep because we can use 5 litres of water to wash a windscreen,” says the Joburg businessman.
#OperationHydrate started with a few individuals piggy- backing off their anti-crime WhatsApp groups and putting it out to grow on Twitter.
“It was literally a couple of guys saying ‘we should do something’ and before you knew it people just got involved organising and giving what they could,” says Fayyaz Moosa, the owner of the Houghton Caltex service station that has become one of the initial collection points for people to drop off donated water.
Since then the group has asked people to make monetary pledges to buy water rather than to donate bottles of water.
#OperationHydrate has negotiated with a water supplier to buy from source, which streamlines some of the logistical hurdles for the volunteers who are now registered as a Section21 company. “We never thought it would get so big, but for me I had to get involved because I know those areas in the country,” adds Moosa.
“They used to be great agricultural areas, always green. Now to see them as brown dirt and to see the animals dying and the people suffering has just been an absolute emotional nightmare – it makes you want to get up and do something.”
Theba says they’ve learnt the value of not sitting back and trusting the snowball effect. He says they’ve been able to mobilise hundreds of volunteers and hook into anti-crime networks across the country.
Local police and local community policing forums in the Free State and Eastern Cape have stepped in to help with distribution and maintaining order once the water arrives.
“I remember when one of our first trucks arrived in the middle of the night. We thought we’d wait till the morning to start unpacking, but people were so desperate we had to begin offloading and distributing immediately. We’ve seen a lot of footage about what’s happening to farmers and to livestock, but we haven’t seen the reality of what’s happening in townships and villages – it’s heartbreaking to see how someone can be so happy just to receive 5l of water,” he says.
Even as the ripple effect of the operation has been growing, Theba says they’re aware they’re only making a small dent in the crisis that is costing lives and putting food security at risk.
Operation Hydrate has secured corporate donations, including its first major donation last week of R500 000 from Mango Airlines. The next step, Theba says, is to deliver and install water collection tanks, to investigate the feasibility of drilling boreholes and to work with local authorities and communities to put more sustainable water management measures in place.
Those wishing to contribute can make a pledge by going to the Operation Hydrate Facebook page, following them on Twitter #Operationhydrate or calling 082 64 WATER.