Former teacher asks for help after fire consumes her home into ashes

Moloto – It was a week ago when fire consumed the home of Faith Kamsasa and her family in Magodongo Hillview, Moloto, leaving them only with clothes they wore that evening. The fire broke out at around 9 p.m. on 23 October 2025, quickly engulfing the garage and spreading through the rest of the house.

Her grandchild was the first to smell the smoke while watching television in the sitting room as a family. “At first, we thought the child was imagining things, but we decided to go outside to check. I looked under the garage door and that’s when I saw that the cars were already on fire. When we tried to go back inside, the fire had already spread into the house and we couldn’t do anything. That’s when my grandchildren started running up and down screaming for help.”

Neighbours quickly responded to the cries. “One of my neighbors called the firefighters, who arrived shortly after. We also tried using buckets, but the fire was too strong. We decided to save our lives and not go inside again,” she said.

As the firefighters battled the flames, the first fire truck ran out of water and called for the second truck “but still, the fire was too strong to control”.

Since moving into the community in 2023, Kamsasa described her relationship with her neighbours as exceptionally good.

Her son, Brian, attempted to put out the fire but suffered minor burns. “I told him about my handbag that was near the bedroom window. He broke the window and managed to save it. My handbag had my ID, some of my son’s documents and other important papers,” she said.

The family lost everything, including two vehicles: a Mazda 2.5 diesel bakkie that belonged to her late husband and her own Toyota RAV4 SUV, which was still new. “It pains me,” she said.

“If I can estimate the total value of everything, including the cars, it must be more than R2.5 million,” Faith said, overwhelmed with the profound loss. “I’m still in shock. Everything that I worked hard for turned into ashes. I get depressed when I think about what was in the house. I try not to be alone because I fear I might fall into depression.”

Kamsasa and her family are currently staying at a neighbour’s house. “Eskom helped by installing electricity in this house, as it didn’t have power before,” she said. “I’m asking for help to rebuild my house.”

The cause of the fire remains unknown.