Residents of Hout Bay’s Imizamo Yethu settlement were slowly getting their lives back on track thanks to the generosity of neighbours and strangers, a community worker said on Friday.

“Hout Bay may have its internal bunfights, but like a true family they pull together if there is a crisis,” said Joanne Chemaly of the organisation, Thula Thula Hout Bay.

About 1 000 people who lost everything when a fire destroyed their homes on Boxing Day were almost finished rebuilding their shacks. One person died in the fire.

The City of Cape Town had supplied the building materials and people had brought clothes, bedding, kitchenware, and food.

“One man even returned from a shop with his bakkie loaded high with toilet paper because he heard they were running low,” Chemaly said.

Another person put together a box of kitchen necessities containing pots, crockery, and cutlery.

They still needed men’s clothing in the slender sizes 30 and 32. People could contact Thula Thula Hout Bay via its Facebook page to make donations.

Chemaly said she needed storage space because her house was overflowing with donations. They had started storing goods in friends’ garages. They were storing winter clothes because of the current heatwave.

When the electricity supply had been restored they hoped to be able to collect small appliances like kettles and microwave ovens for residents.

“I have been reduced to tears more than once over people’s generosity,” she said. News24