Gift of the Givers feeds needy
|Published
AID: Sasko donated bread for the meals
Humanitarian aid organisation Gift of the Givers has intervened with much-needed food donations in impoverished communities affected by Cape Town’s taxi strike, providing kos to pupils who have been unable to go to school for meals since last week, and making door-to-door deliveries for the frail.
Gift of the Givers said it was donating over 15 000 loaves of bread, samp, maize meal, rice, non-perishable foods, meat, chicken, soups, beans, fresh vegetables and fruits, and cereal, to desperate residents in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Mfuleni, Dunoon, Mitchells Plain, Highlands Park and Bishop Lavis, among others.
Spokesperson Ali Sablay said there was a dire need to assist thousands of pupils who had been unable to go to school since last Thursday, reports IOL.
According to Education MEC David Maynier, 728 247 (roughly 60%) of learners stayed home from school on Thursday, while 12 026 staff members (21.5%) were absent and 48 schools forced to close.
The government’s National School Nutrition Programme is the only source of food for some of the poorest pupils in the province, and with seemingly no end in sight to the taxi strike, Sablay said it was important to provide as much relief for families.
“We are grateful to Sasko for the 15 000 loaves of bread they have donated. We are distributing those to all the soup kitchens who are then making sandwiches to distribute to the communities, especially the elderly who need to take their medication and to those who are ill and cannot stand in the queues,” he added.
“The taxi unrest in the Western Cape exacerbates an already challenging situation in terms of hunger, loss of income, unemployment, criminal activity and fear. A peaceful, pragmatic, rational solution is in the best interests of local communities, the Western Cape province and the country as a whole.”