As temperatures climbed and an overcast sky hung over a storm-ravaged township in eastern South Africa, survivors of deadly floods sought divine solace as they observed Easter Sunday.
Inanda, a rural township 30km from the city of Durban’s central business district, was one of the areas devastated by heavy flooding that has killed 443 people and left more than 40,000 homeless.
On Sunday, about 200 Christian worshipers gathered at the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa for an Easter service.
Photo: AFP
The large concrete church with a tiled roof ceiling is one of a few solid structures left standing, after raging floods engulfed the city last week.
The warmer temperatures throughout the day, from 15°C to 20°C, were much more reflective of Durban’s marketing slogan as the “warmest city to be.”
However, that warmth was not enough to soothe the grieving and suffering survivors.
Photo: AFP
Thulisile Mkhabela said she was at church because she still had “hope” that her situation would change.
“I felt I should come here to take refuge in the lord ... for comfort and to get that hope that we will go through this,” said Mkhabela, who returned home from her call center job on Monday last week to find floodwater damaging the house she was renovating.
The house started collapsing from the living room.
“We were still awake, so we took out whatever we could and took the children to the other house. [As] soon as we took them out then the bedroom started collapsing,” she said.
They moved to their outbuilding, which had also been damaged, but held together for the rest of the night.
The outbuilding has since collapsed and they are “squatting” in her brother’s house.
“Now there are 12 of us in a two-bedroom house. My brother, his wife and their children in the one room and the rest of us in the other room,” Mkhabela said.
Another congregant, Nokuthula Chili, had to evacuate her family from her home when floodwaters reached shoulder height.
Easter Sunday marks the day Christians symbolically celebrate triumph over death, but for this small Christian community, it marked the start of new beginning and a temporary distraction from the ruins around them.
Reverend Bhekubuhle Dlamini encouraged the congregants to keep their faith in the face of disaster.
As worshipers prayed, some got emotional, raising their hands as tears rolled down, while others fell to the ground — Chili’s faith remained unshaken.
“I don’t think there would be a better time for [the disaster] to happen than so close to the resurrection Sunday, a time meant for new beginnings,” she said.
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