Pretoria - A Non-Profit organisation from Ga-Rankuwa has embarked on a mission to restore the dignity of orphaned and impoverished children during the national lockdown.
It's known as Freedom. Founder Shadrack Bokaba said having grown up in the area, he was dismayed to see young children struggling in child-headed households and others orphaned with no one to help them.
It was for this reason that he decided to organise sponsors to donate clothing and food to orphanages and struggling households.
He said what was important was to not only be a source of assistance through financial means or donations, but also for members of the community to get involved with helping school-going children to catch up on their school work.
“There are so many children here who are struggling as their parents don’t care or are not even bothered with homework, and the children end up falling behind," Bokaba said.
“As an organisation we don’t have much money, but being able to help these children with their homework and giving them the love they need really does make a huge difference.”
Nthabiseng Tshwane, secretary of the organisation, said with Covid-19 they had noticed huge gaps in the community and saw many families struggling to survive with grants as their only source of income.
“It’s so painful to see children living with children surviving only on grants. They don’t have school shoes or clothing to wear, and without a proper support system encouraging and teaching them the value of school, they are the ones who fall through the cracks.”
Tshwane said they assisted those in Grade 8 up to Grade 11 with homework at their schools.
She said despite many of the children being unable to come to collect, as they were in school during the donation day on Friday, the organisation would go through their lists and deliver to those they had managed to identify so far.
Divisional sales manager for Ackermans group in the northern Tshwane region, Cynthia Moraka, said they opted to take part in the programmes run by an NPO such as Freedom as it aligned with the company's corporate social investment programme, "Ububele".
“Because of Covid-19 we can’t do a full programme, but we want to support educational programmes because if you support a nation with education you are bound to create better members of society, as they will be working and supporting themselves.”
*For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit IOL's #Coronavirus trend page.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
Pretoria News