SA church sets up UK help group
2005-07-07 16:25
Pretoria - Members of the Dutch Reformed Church in London set up a support group for South Africans on Thursday after the explosions in the city.
The group, led by Dominee Dawie van Vuuren, were willing to help expatriates with moral support, trauma counselling and getting to medical centres for treatment, said a spokesperson.
It would not be able to help with enquiries about the fate of individuals.
Van Vuuren can be contacted on his home telephone number: 0944 192 383 9719 or his cellphone 0944 781 588 6872.
People seeking help or who were able to help could send an e-mail to info@sagemeente.com.
Meanwhile, for former Johannesburg resident Steve Dunn, news of the London blasts triggered a frantic round of SMS messages to family living near the British capital.
Advised to stay away from London
"We did a family roll call by SMS messages, everyone okay," said Dunn, a computer consultant based to the south of London, in an e-mail received by Sapa in Johannesburg.
Dunn, who was born in Zimbabwe, trained as a programmer in Johannesburg and lived there for about a decade before moving to the United Kingdom to establish a career there in the 1990s.
His colleagues were shocked at news of the blasts.
"...advice from security at work is for everyone to stay away from London."
Fellow employees working at the firm's London sites were told to remain in their offices "until further notice".
As news of the blasts spread, the cellphone network used by Dunn and family members gridlocked.
"I hear from mates that police with dogs are at all main train stations and airports."
- SAPA