Johannesburg - Multinational non-government organisation Joint Aid Management (JAM) has distributed more than a million porridge take-home rations to children across South Africa who normally depend on school-feedings but have not been able to get them due to the Covid-19 pandemic which has shut down learning institutions.
The project works across all nine South African provinces and in addition to food distribution, is working in the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces to drill and equip boreholes and water points, ensuring the provision of clean water to communities in desperate need during the coronavirus crisis, JAM said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Our highly nutritious 'super cereal' provides the children at our JAM-supported ECD’s (Early Childhood Development) with approximately 75 percent of their required daily nutrients," JAM's South Africa country director David Brown said.
"With approximately 3,000 distribution centres across all nine provinces, we are continuing to feed those normally fed through our school-feeding programmes, ensuring that they do not go hungry during this time.’’
With sponsorship from retailer Pick n Pay, JAM South Africa will reach an additional 12,000 families with 51 tonnes of food hampers consisting of sunflower oil, rice, maize meal and soap.
Brown said as a national beneficiary of fast food outlet KFC's Add Hope initiative, JAM had expanded its focus to emergency food distribution, allowing it to reach an additional 4,000 families whose children would normally be recipients through the school feeding programme.
The NGO will also partner with another fast-food company, Nando’s which will open up some of its restaurants -- which remain closed due to a nationwide lockdown to contain Covid-19 -- in order to cook meals for vulnerable communities. This will reach some 55,000 individuals with hot meals to be distributed by JAM and other aid groups.
JAM said another long-time donor, chemicals group AECI, had through its foundation provided additional funding towards grocery and food items for 2,000 families, as well as handwashing stations to help curb the spread of the virus.
Founded in 1984, JAM runs programmes in Angola, Mozambique, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan and Uganda. Through partnerships with local governments, various organisations and donors, its South Africa chapter now feeds more than 120,000 children every school day.