My name is Quentin Haman, otherwise known by many as Max. On the 7th June 2017, my 45th birthday, I would end the day watching everything my family and I own be destroyed by what has been considered South Africa's worst natural fire disaster. Just six months earlier I suffered two heart attacks due to stress. The reason for starting this campaign is to appeal for help to rebuild all that has been lost and keep standing strong.
Let me start by saying thank you for taking the time to look over my campaign. I figured if I am going to ask for your assistance the least I could do is share all of what happened. I live in a small coastal town called Knysna situated in the Western Cape of South Africa. For more than a decade I have been blessed to call this amazing place my home. Many of you will know of this beautiful town as it is considered to be one of the top destinations to travel to. Surrounded by forests where elephants still roam free and welcomed by the alluring waters of the lagoon as you drive into Knysna, one immediately understands the peaceful serenity my home town offers to all that visit and stay. As peaceful and beautiful as it may be, it to can be faced with devastation as we would all witness on 7th June 2017.
Before
I continue allow me to share a little of what occurred leading up to
7th June 2017. In November of 2016 despite being a healthy, fit and a
person who doesn't drink, found myself suffering from a severe heart
attack brought on by stress related issues. It was a rough year by all
accounts for many and it had taken its toll on me. 30 days later I
would go on to suffer a second heart attack in December. Even though I
had two heart attacks within a month, thankfully I was able to
convince the doctors to not have me undergo heart surgery and instead
opt for alternative treatment. Reluctantly they eventually agreed and
allowed me 4 months to better my condition. The funny thing about
landing up having a heart attack due to stress is that when you manage
to leave the hospital, things are no different than when you went in,
well actually they worse to be honest. Spending almost 5 months in
both hospital and then recovery has a huge financial impact on your
life and if you unfortunate enough to not have specific insurance
policies in place, take it from me, its no fun at all. I decided to
spend some time on a farm just outside of Knysna as part of my
recovery. The plan was to spend a couple months camping and focusing
on de-stressing and healing my heart. And so I pitched my tent.
After
2 months of outdoor living and good healing I decided to move into one
of the farm houses that was available. This also allowed me to
continue to work on the aqua-culture training course I had been
working on for some time now. The farm had a large aquaponics tunnel
for me to make use of. (If you don't know about aqua-culture please
message me so I can share this amazing system of growing food with
you) This would be the perfect scenario to assist with my recovery,
help alleviate the financial strain due to all that had occurred.
Without any hesitation I moved my mother of 70, who I look after now,
myself and my daughters (who stay with me on every other weekend and
holidays) to this peaceful setting. Things were starting to fall back
into place and the world was looking lovely again.
The 7th June 2017 was my 45th birthday and as one does, you hope to have a calm and enjoyable day, preferably without any headaches. The above image is what we woke to. A raging fire traveling directly towards us. What made matters worse was the extreme wind conditions with winds in excess of 65km. As it moved closer we began to realise that we would in fact be ok. The heavy wind conditions was blowing the inferno directly past us. Considering the amount of trees and vegetation on the farm, we made the necessary provisions just to be safe. You can question and argue all the things one should or could do in a situation but in all honesty, only when you are faced with it can you act and sometimes you will stumble. 3pm that afternoon we would find ourselves being evacuated by police. The fire had passed us successfully but had jumped further back and made its way back towards us. The reality hit hard as we quickly grabbed what we could along with the cat and my daughters budgies and made our way away from the farm. Once everyone was in a safe area a group of us returned to try fight back the fire and save our homes on the various plots.
For
a little over 5 hours we fought back the flames as best we could.
During this time I tried to save as much of our possessions as I could
by placing much of our important belongings into a clearing.
Eventually around 8:30pm we all realised we had no other choice than
to evacuate or our lives would be in danger. As we rushed down the
only road that we could exit through, we watched as the flames sprung
up over the tops of the vehicles. Had we waited only a few more
minutes, we would all have been trapped. Completely soaked, covered in
black ash and lungs full of smoke we made our way out looking back
knowing that we were all about to lose everything. The nightmare
intensified when we drove back into Knysna to find so many other homes
and businesses on fire. There are no words that I could use to
describe what we were witnessing, only those that have been through a
similar experience could truly understand the chaos and destruction. I
personally felt as though we were somehow transported into a movie.
We returned around 1:30am the next morning to hopefully find that we had managed to save our homes. We had managed to save 2 of the homes so our efforts were not in vein. The home I was staying in was not so lucky and we arrived to find everything a smouldering pile of ash and debris. In a space of a few hours I had lost everything, even the things I had tried to save by placing in a clearing didn't make it. Embers had managed to land on the pile and had burnt it all as well. Everything was destroyed, even the aqua-culture tunnel was now in ruins. The fires would go on to burn for a couple weeks and in the end more than 700 homes would be lost along with hundreds of acres of forest and vegetation.
The past 7 months of my life have been the most challenging I have had to face. The above is what has led me to sitting here putting this campaign together. Not only has the fire taken our home and all our belongings but my work studio and workshop as well. With the amazing support of many around the country we have been helped with food, clothing, shoes and toiletries to help get us by. With more than 700 hundred families affected things have been challenging as far as finding a place to stay. Thankfully many of us have been given temporary accommodation by those not affected by the fires. As thankful as I am for the above there is the more pressing question of the long term. As of yet we are still unsure as to whether we will get any long term aid from the local municipality or government which has led me to starting this campaign.
At
the time of writing this we have a week left at our temporary
accommodation and have been unable to secure alternative
accommodation. I have decided to raise the necessary funds with your
generous support to help us get back on our feet and find some sense
of normalicy after all that has happened. We cannot sit back in the
hopes that we will get aid. As I mentioned, at the time I was not
insured as this was more a luxury than a necessaty. With your hep the
idea is to raise enough funds to build a basic wood cabin for my
family and me to be able to live in and to build a new aqua-culture
tunnel. We will then grow as many indigenous trees and plants that
will then be donated to all affected areas to help boost the growth of
vegetation that has been destroyed.
I find it difficult to ask for help, as many others do as well. It's not as easy as it seems. I find myself in a position where I need to rely on the kindness of strangers to help us rise from the ashes and so I ask for your assistance to help us get there. I have set up a Facebook Page for everyone to follow and keep updated as to what is happening. Please feel free to follow @ https://www.facebook.com/TouchWoodKnysna/
I am by no means a wordsmith so please forgive any errors. I know it is quite a bit to read through but its the first time I have managed to completely share the events that took place. Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to know more. Most importantly though, thank you for taking the time to read what we have been through and thank you for supporting us with your donation, it means the world to us.
Before I finish I would also like to share a couple other groups that deserve as much assistance as possible. I ask if you would please take a moment to check them out and possibly support them. So much can be achieved when so many helping hands come together to assist one another.
Verified - Families in need Knysna (Helping families who lost everything try get back on their feet)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/476032112739246/
Eden Be Needin (Helping feed the many animals and wildlife that have been affected by the fires)