Johannesburg - The winter season and the Covid-19 pandemic have made life unbearable for the homeless of Joburg and those who live around parks in the city.
Last week, three NGOs came together and took time out to ensure that the poor received meals and blankets in Glenhazel.
In fact, they received more than blankets and food as they were also referred to a vaccination site.
The founder of The Angel Network, Glynne Wolman, said the three NGOs came together after a need was identified to take care of the homeless who stayed around the parks and were never looked at because of their poverty.
The NGO supplies food and other essentials to poor communities in Soweto and other townships such as Sebokeng. They have had great success with those living on the streets, with some turning their lives around and reintegrating in the community.
“The people living in parks actually had careers and jobs in other countries and they came here trying to make a better life for their families, only to find that it’s a little harder. They are actually ordinary people who have landed on bad times.
Wolman added: “It’s important to give a hand-up as opposed to a handout. We would love to find places where we can establish vegetable gardens and (where) people are hired to look after those vegetable gardens.”
She said it was important to refer the homeless to a vaccination site because they could be forgotten.
“We need to create herd immunity, so all of us have to get the vaccine,” Wolman said, pointing out that the homeless may not have access to information about vaccines.
Sharise Weiner, founder of Warm the World, one of the organisations behind the soup kitchen, said she was happy to be part of the project. Her organisation employs 20 women who sew around 10 000 blankets every year for the poor. She said the NGO has been running since 2012.
It also has knitting groups supported by the elderly. “They say since its lockdown this sewing is therapeutic,” Weiner said.
Alef Meulenberg, chief executive of Africa Tikkun, one the NGOs participating in the soup kitchen, said he was glad to be part of a purposeful project which brought back dignity to the downtrodden.
Africa Tikkun was founded in 1994 and had Nelson Mandela as its patron. It was found with a sole mandate of undoing the social ills of apartheid.
“We normally do childhood development programmes, after-care programmes, career development programmes and feeding and health care,” Meulenberg added.
The Star