Page 53 - Rural Voice III - Responding to a Pandemic

employees get what’s due to them. We distributed hampers to more than a thousand people from Klapmuts, Worcester, Tulbagh and Ceres, some through Sisterhood and some through Ubuntu. The teen girls and some of the Ubuntu volunteers also went to schools when they reopened, to ensure they received PPE, and that systems were in place if a child fell ill.
We also monitored SASSA by going to the post office and pay points to interview the elderly on how they felt about the service, and submitted the research to SCAT.
I ran an Introduction to Paralegalism training programme for 12 women from the West Coast, Ceres, Klapmuts, Elsenburg, Kraaifontein and Paarl. I developed a manual in Afrikaans, because it’s often difficult to get information on paralegal issues in the language. We are training women on legislation, so they can use the knowledge for themselves and their communities.
Casework is core to our advice office function. In the beginning of lockdown, thousands of workers were laid off and employers sometimes failed to apply for TERS funds. This meant workers would be at home with no income. We would engage with employers to ensure people received the money. We gave food hampers to single mums and workers who were laid off, and assisted women in particular with UIF applications.
We also started a soup kitchen, feeding 1,800 people every day in partnership with the Carmen Stevens Foundation, which also donated 350 hampers. SCAT support from March 2020 enabled us to give the community sugar, salt, sauces and spices to add flavour to the food parcels, and funds have also helped to buy gas and electricity.
SCAT equipping us, that was really amazing. With SCAT funds I was able to buy small cellphones for some of our board members, so that our meetings could take place on WhatsApp. Also, we bought a laptop, cellphone, printer and projector. SCAT also contributes part of my salary. So, I think we do fairly well now.
lessons learnT from The pandemic
We had to adapt. South Africans are warm people, and we like seeing each other face to face, hugging and shaking hands. That went, and we were locked up in our homes with phones as our only mode of contact. Technology became a very important part of our lives. I learnt that it’s very difficult getting women into a space where they can do a Zoom call, when it’s so foreign to them. I learnt that even in the time of COVID, corruption is rife, and that people will use a state of disaster to pocket money.
“I learnt that even in the
time of COVID, corruption is rife, and that people will use a state of disaster to pocket money.”
Training workshops
R 5693
Grant given for data and connectivity
R 1788
RURAL VOICE III: RESPONDING TO A PANDEMIC
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