Up in smoke
A family in Muldersdrift suffered insurmountable loss when their house burnt down.
On Sunday, March 20, Ferdie Craukamp and Rochelle Bodenstein were at their home in Muldersdrift enjoying a pleasant afternoon with their family. Little did they know that tragedy was knocking at their door.
“It was in the afternoon. We had our grandchildren and our daughter here,” Ferdie began. “The main transformer outside had been stolen, so we hadn’t had power since Friday. On Sunday we put on the generator because the food would start to go bad. Our grandsons were playing in the room and all of a sudden the eldest one ran into the lounge and shouted ‘fire!’.”
The family ran outside and realised that the fire had started in the garage and was spreading rapidly. They watched with despair as their house with all their belongings went up in smoke. “We didn’t have insurance and I had just gone on pension this year,” Craukamp said. “We were looking forward to just being pensioners and going on the road to spread the gospel,” he said.
Bodenstein said all she thought about was saving the kids. “We didn’t think about grabbing clothes or anything else. We just wanted to make sure everyone was safe. Once everyone was safe we thought about the cars. I ran back inside and one car was already engulfed and it was spreading. “
Both of them spoke about how their community rallied and assisted them – from extinguishing the fire, giving them a place to sleep to donating clothes. Craukamp shared, “The first donation we got was from my neighbour across the road, who gave me three shirts. You don’t realise how devastating it is to have nothing, not even a toothbrush.” Rochelle added, “We never realised how much we were losing when this house was burning down. We knew we were losing a lot but we didn’t realise it was up to a bar of soap. We were so busy fighting the fire but we didn’t realise the extent of the loss. It hit us a few days later.”
Amidst the loss, the couple believe there is a bigger plan and are holding on to their faith that God would not allow more than they could handle. This was a tragedy but it was not a loss for them. They are in need of basic home appliances, whether they are second-hand or have never been used.
Contact Ferdie or Rochelle on 060 990 0060.
