May 2020 Newsletter
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has ” Margaret Mead
When President Cyril Ramaphosa heeded a call for all South African's to batten the hatches in order to flatten the curve five weeks ago, our immediate concern was for the welfare of our VUSA children. Devastating scenes from around the world, meant we had to protect our hospital workers but with many of the VUSA families already living below the breadline, we also knew we could not close our doors.
Many of South Africa's children previously received meals in daily school feeding schemes and these were reduced to two days a week. With many families on a 'no work, no pay' situation, having to feed an an additional mouth five days a week added to the strain. VUSA coaches supported one of the primary schools with in distribution twice a week, and as residents of Langa, highlighted a major concern - some children had to walk long distances to receive a meal thus compromising their safety. We thus were able to secure additional venues at two of our partner ECD centres for food distribution but the need was greater than we could supply and we then appealed to our communities.