DURBAN - The Aryan Benevolent Home (ABH) in Chatsworth will soon run out of flour for community volunteers to make rotis used to feed hundreds of residents in place of bread, a staple at the home, which cannot be found in stores.
Looting and destruction of property erupted last week Friday and has brought KwaZulu-Natal to its knees with shops and businesses shutting their doors for safety.
As a result, daily essentials like bread and milk have been out of stock for days while residents, desperate to buy groceries, wait hours in snaking queues, at the stores that are open.
ABH chief executive Naren Pattundeen, said the home, which accommodates 450 adults and 100 children, had managed to feed its residents thus far.
ABH is an essential service operator offering 24-hour nursing and healthcare to the elderly, mentally and physically challenged, children, and victims of domestic violence.
Pattundeen said due to the shortage of bread, the Mandela Youth Centre approached them with the idea of making rotis and fortunately, the home had flour available and the volunteers turned over 250 rotis yesterday and a further 250 rotis today.
“This has created so much of joy for our residents because bread and rice is their staple diet...Roti is a delicacy for the residents and now it’s about having food in their stomachs.
“This is working well for us but it comes with other challenges. Now we need to get flour and margarine,” he said.
He said by Sunday, the home will run out of flour and rice while the milk ran out today.
“We got our children and adult residents used to black tea… but in every child’s life you need to give them some calcium,” he said.
Pattundeen said they are working towards uplifting the spirits of the residents and making sure that anxiety is at a minimum.
Clive Pillay, the programme co-ordinator at the Mandela Youth Centre, said the idea to make the rotis came about after RK Khan Hospital approached them for a solution to the bread shortage issue.
He said the centre already has a partnership with the hospital because they run the vaccination site.
“I went back to speak to my activists and they said why don't we make roti. We thought roti is used daily in homes in Chatsworth so why can’t that be substituted for people to eat with their food every day,” said Pillay.
Yesterday within an hour or two the centre had mobilised volunteers who came with their mothers, grannies and seasoned roti makers, he said. Since the initiative started at least 30 volunteers came forward to help.
Pillay said 500 rotis were made and half were given to the hospital.
RK Khan Hospital board chairperson Reverend Cyril Pillay said the volunteers made the rotis for the hospital as a gesture of “goodwill”.
“I welcome any assistance to help the hospital because we have restricted staff, we also have a cleaning and a linen problem and this crisis has really crippled the health industry,” he said.
The Youth Centre said tomorrow, rotis will also be made for the Cheshire Homes, which accommodates and cares for children with severe mental and physical disabilities, and they would reach out to other residential institutions who do not have access to bread.
“We would like to think that this is contributing in some way to nation-building especially after what has happened,” said Pillay.
Pillay said as this is Mandela month, in addition to making the rotis the youth from the centre have suggested getting volunteers from different race groups to go out and clean up the malls and places affected by the looting.
He said this will show the public how the youth can work together to bridge the racial gap which has been widened by the civil unrest.
Pattundeen has also appealed for assistance with food and other necessary items.
“We are sending out a massive appeal for people to help us now. Money is not most important now, what’s important is for us to have the goods for the residents,”he said.
The home is in urgent need of flour, medication, adult diapers and fuel among other items.
THE MERCURY