Page 22 - Rural Voice III - Responding to a Pandemic

“What we noticed is that people became angry being locked in one place, unable to visit family and attend gatherings, funerals, stokvels or church in large numbers.”
Training workshops
R 5693
Grant given for data and connectivity
R 5628
to a village, we would phone the headman and the ward councillor, to request their list of names of the needy. We handed the food parcels out ourselves, so we could check that the people listed were in real need.
We helped to house and feed a woman who was being abused by her unemployed, alcoholic husband. We were also involved in a project with SASSA. When people went to collect their social grants, we taught them about COVID-19 and why it is important to do social distancing. We bought sanitary pads to give to young girls from 12 to 15 years, and educated them about menstruation. A group of women in the community also helped us run soup kitchens close to the nearest schools.
supporT neTworks during covid-19
SCAT gave us a lot of support. They gave us money for food parcels, and we also received laptops, thermometers, sanitisers, cellphones, modems and data. This helped with communication with the community and to connect with Nokhukanya, our SCAT fieldworker, who responded quickly on WhatsApp. On Zoom, we could see one another and look at examples written down, and pictures.
lessons from working during The covid-19 pandemic
We managed to learn about different kinds of people and their attitudes, and the pandemic taught us to accept people the way they are and to go to where they are in their villages. If you only work in the office, you won’t reach people and won’t see what’s happening outside in the world. By going outside, you find more cases than you do sitting inside the office.
I’m proud of helping one person a day to make a life change. COVID-19 taught me to take responsibility, to get to know my children and community more by staying with them. Before, I used to spend 80% of my time at work, so I did not know my children that well. Now, we were in one place, giving each other love, and I was able to see another side of my children.
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RURAL VOICE III: RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC
Humansdorp food distribution