A healthy baby girl made her unexpected arrival at Camps Bay Beach on Sunday January 2 at 11.15am.
With the assistance of staff and volunteers from the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre, an Identikidz staff member asked for assistance with a young woman in labour.
Volunteers Marylin Afrika, Rahdee Salie, Judith Henn and Aaliyah Anthony assessed the situation and found the baby was already crowning.
They assisted the mum with the delivery of the baby and ensured that she and her baby could wait undisturbed until paramedics arrived.
The City’s mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, said the teams are ready for any emergency and are on duty every day over the holiday season to assist beach-goers. “This new year surprise has provided a little extra festive cheer. We commend our volunteers for staying cool under pressure and helping the mum give birth. Our staff have quite the track record in helping bring new life into the world. It’s just more than five years ago now that two other disaster management staff helped deliver a baby in the Camp’s Bay area just before Christmas. On that occasion, it was a boy who was named after one of the staff members. Well done to all,” said Mr Smith.