We take actions while government is still making plans. Due to lockdown Kgomotso Children Centre had to close its doors - but it didn’t close its eyes. We started the „We Can’t Eat Air - Campaign“ to hand out food parcels to 65 families of KCC kids who are in a desperate situation.
Since day one of lockdown more and more kids and families have been approaching KCC to seek help. The government of South Africa has been promising to give out food parcels to families in need but so far they don’t arrive where they are most urgently needed. Families in Soshanguve and Winterveld are starving because they run out of food and don’t have money to go and buy. Since last week Thursday we were trying to get the permit to travel to shops and deliver food to the most needy kids. We waited, did follow-ups and still they kept us waiting. Early this week the support organisation TTK in Germany send the money to buy food for the families.
“On Tuesday two KCC kids came so hungry and it broke my heart even worse to see them in that state while government delay us a permit to help these kids.“, Kgomotso says. „Then we decided to go to police to seek help or convince them to escort us to the shops.“ At a second police station Kgomotso was eventually granted a 1-day-permit to travel to town in order to buy food. It was a big break-through and they rushed to town
„As a centre and as a community leader I care for my people. This initiative was started when I saw that our people are struggling to apply for the government food parcels. Our community, they are very hungry. Especially the kids that we are serving at Kgomotso Children Centre. That’s why I came up with that campaign.“ - Kgomotso Nyalungo, founder of Kgomotso Children Centre
At the shop they managed to to buy most of the products for all 65 families. Today, three social workers from the local Father Smangaliso Mkhatshwa Secure Centre came with their cars and permits to help staff with the food parcels. The campaign managed to give out food parcels to 24 families in only one day. The families were very happy as many of them were already left without any food. More food parcels are now on their way to the other families and will be distributed during the next days.
„We are still pleading with you to continue to give us more support, so that we can reach to other families. We have approximately 200 families that need help.“ - Kgomotso Nyalungo, founder of Kgomotso Children Centre
