It has certainly been a year that hit us without warning, changing the way things have been done for years, changing the economic climate and changing the face of poverty in South Africa.
At Ukama we have worked tirelessly this year to keep trying to feed as many hungry people as possible and to support communities left in despair after the announcement of Covid-19 Lockdowns. It has changed the way we have worked since 2014 for good.
The Ukama Team and Community Leaders that we work with haven’t missed a single day this year, working tirelessly for the improvement of conditions in townships in the “Deep South’ of Cape Town.
We are INCREDIBLY thankful to our sponsors, donors and supporters who have managed to keep us going this year. Without them, we would be unable to continue as we rely solely on donations in our Non-Profit Company.
Besides all the projects we also managed to support 200 families with food parcels for the months of April, May, June, July and August 2020.
With your help we look forward to continue the amazing community building we have achieved in 2021.
ECD CENTRE SUPPORT
When we reopened in January 2020 we were supporting over 400 children in Informal ECD Centres in Vrygrond and Masiphumelele, as we have done since 2014.
We also started our Ukama Community School which had 20 refugees and children of teenage mothers who were previously unable to access education.
All this came to an abrupt stop with the announcement of Covid-19. All preschools were closed at the end of March 2020. Only 3 schools managed to reopen again in October 2020 and the rest were forced to shut down due to having insufficient space to socially distance the children and being unable to provide all the PPE and equipment needed for prescribed sanitation. We are currently (since October) supporting 150 pre-school children with hot meals, clothing and educational equipment.
Our aim for 2021 is to increase the amounts of children supported in informal ECD centres, working with local social workers to identify the children most in need in the various communities we support.
SOUP-ER HERO INITIATIVE
Covid-19 hit South Africa in March 2020 and our communities were really in a bad way. The economy took a nosedive and millions of people were without work, children not at school on their feeding schemes and people were hungry everywhere. We started engaging with community leaders, school principals and other NGOs and within a month we had set up Soup Kitchens run by the community, in the community and assisting their own people.
Ukama provided pots, stoves, electricity, gas, utensils, cooking ingredients and sanitising equipment and we quickly began feeding in Vrygrond, Overcome Heights, Ocean View and Masiphumelele.
Since the end of March 2020 we have been feeding between 8000 and 13 000 meals per week, and continue to do so due to the economic situation having not yet stabilised.
We are still seeing so much need in the communities we work with and hope to have enough funding to continue supplying our kitchens in 2021.
AMAI TEEN MOM SUPPORT GROUP
The Amai Teen Mom project has run throughout 2020. Our mission is to support, nurture and educate 10 teenage mothers living in Masiphumelele.
2 of the Moms are in school full time and the others in school part-time completing either Matric or O and A level schooling.
We provide nappies and toiletries and food parcels for the babies and mothers.
We work with the Hebron Project to give the moms and their babies outings and socials.
Visionary Ladies Organisation assists with support groups and mentorship for all of them. We are SO proud of all the teen moms who study, support their own babies and earn extra money with entrepreneurial endeavours.
It was amazing to see all our teen moms assisting at soup kitchens’ voluntarily during the entire lockdown period…. what an inspiration
they all are!
It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.
Nelson Mandela
