Page 30 - Rural Voice III - Responding to a Pandemic
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 Food parcels distributed
96
COVID grant funding given to LDA’s
R 50 000
PPE distributed
5200
Port St Johns food distribution
how The pandemic impacTed The work of The porT sT johns communiTy legal advice cenTre
Most people in Port St Johns work in informal jobs, such as hawkers who sell fruit and vegetables, woodcutters, or part-time domestic workers. Many also depend on social grants. During lockdown level 5, those who had informal jobs could not work and did not have food. We raised funds for them to get food parcels during this time. If there were incidents of gender-based violence, people would have to call us or WhatsApp us, so that we could refer cases. We could not interact in person with clients, because we were not in the office.
Fortunately, we have a forum which includes government departments and NGOs, where we share our services and problems that we encounter. During lockdown, we referred clients to those who were accessible, such as the domestic violence section of the Magistrate’s Office. During this time, we had a case in which a young woman was murdered by her boyfriend. He was later arrested and charged. A local ward councillor helped the family of the young woman with the burial costs, as the family was very poor.
When our fieldworker visited homes, we would do a teleconference with the family to solve grant issues, explaining to mothers that when they leave their children with a grandmother, they do not have the power to take the grant money that is meant for their children.
projecTs and programmes in response To The covid-19 pandemic
We educated our community about the COVID-19 pandemic, arranging with the Station Manager of Sajonifi Community Radio to give us a slot. We spent 30 minutes on air, explaining everything about our services as an organisation and what to expect during the time of the pandemic.
We received 1,100 food parcels from the Solidarity Fund through SCAT to distribute to the community. Also, The Open Society Foundation of South Africa [OSFSA] provided us with 300 food parcels and masks. We identified those from our communities who were vulnerable, because they had lost their jobs due to COVID-19.
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RURAL VOICE III: RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC



















































































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