Page 41 - Rural Voice III - Responding to a Pandemic

Shawn Damon – a helper on the day Jeremiah Olyn, resident Danielskuil
projecTs and programmes in response To The covid-19 pandemic
We formed a forum with SASSA, the Department of Social Development [DSD], SAPS, the Department of Health, local businesses, the youth centre, councillors, and the mayor. The DSD gave us about 600 food parcels for Danielskuil, and we received 168 for the beneficiaries of KSDF, because we have a feeding scheme. We soon realised it was not enough. We wrote to the DG Murray Trust, through the Lesedi Solar Park Trust, and they gave us a hamper. The local mine also gave us about 400 food hampers.
We were also assisted by the Peace Humansrus Trust. As part of the South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program [REIPPPP], the Trust is required to set aside funds for rural development and education programs. We were lucky, because we were the only NGO in this area apart from the youth centre, so we were chosen. We expressed concern that people living in the informal settlement don’t have access to water, so they gave us 500 sanitisers and masks to share with the community.
We used an assessment form to determine who was most in need of food parcels, and a WhatsApp group to gather names and details. In this way, with the help of the community, we assessed who required most help. We did not want to favour anyone, which is what the municipalities and the mayors were accused of doing. As long as people met our assessment criteria, of each person in the house allocated less than R520 a month from the breadwinner’s salary, they would qualify. SCAT gave us R10,000 every month, which we used to provide about 15 hampers. We asked the community what they wanted in the hampers, and tried to procure the goods from local suppliers.
awareness programmes
When it was time for the SASSA payouts, we distributed masks, and explained to the people why they needed to do social distancing. We provided them with sanitisers. We also checked whether each and every business provided floor marks for social distancing.
We monitored schools when they reopened, to check if all COVID-19 protocols were in place, and when they had challenges – like screening. If they needed people to assist with the screening, we would connect them to the Department of Health and the Department of Social Development [DSD]. Our DSD-paid carers started doing
Food parcels distributed
244
COVID grant funding given to LDA’s
R 50 000
RURAL VOICE III: RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC
41