Girl sends water to George
2010-03-11 10:33
Jackie Kruger, Die Burger
George - The severe drought in the Southern Cape made such an impact on a Free State schoolgirl that she arranged for hundreds of litres of bottled and tap water to be sent to George.
This touching gesture was realised on Wednesday when a truck delivered the shipment of nearly 700 litres of water to Blanco Primary School.
Anel Kleingeld, a Grade 4 pupil at Trompsburg Primary School, learnt of the drought on TV news and told her mother, Petro Kleingeld, of her idea to "send" water to George.
Collected bottles
Her mother said on Wednesday that all 128 pupils at the local primary school were involved in the project.
"Anel asked me: 'Mommy, where's that place where it's so dry?' and then told me about her plan. I couldn't say no to my daughter's initiative."
According to her, the schoolchildren collected various kinds of bottles over the past three weeks. They then sterilised the bottles and filled them with water.
Lourens Terblanche, owner of a transport company, transported the water to George free of charge.
Elydia Barnard, a secretary at Blanco Primary School, said she received a call out of the blue on Monday and was told the water would be delivered to the school later this week.
'Wonderful surprise'
"We didn't know about the plan at all. It's a wonderful surprise."
Nada Schmidt, head girl of Trompsburg Primary School, on Wednesday wrote in a letter to Blanco Primary School that "369 litres of bottled water has been sent as well as 340 litres of tap water which can be used for plants and animals. Most of our parents are farmers, so we understand how important water is."
Barnard said the principal of Trompsburg Primary School, Gerdus Marx, has arranged for a 5 000 litre water tank to be delivered to Blanco next week.
The level of the Garden Route Dam, George's main water source, was 25.2% on Wednesday.