Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams
We have been in lockdown in South Africa for almost ten weeks. On 1 June 2020, Lockdown was reduced to Level 3. Although the curfew has been lifted along with other
restrictions, we are still a long way from returning to normal life.
At least school is now open for several classes but still not for all. This affects our kindergartens, our children and teachers very much as they must remain at home. We described the “vicious cycle” that this results in, in our last newsletter. Not only do the children receive no education and thus no preparation for their school education, they do not receive regular meals. For most of them this is far worse! The kindergarten learners usually have breakfast and a warm meal at midday.
Due to the parents still not being permitted to go back to work and thus not earning money, many families are suffering from hunger. Our kindergarten teachers also worry about their lack of a salary. Since the principals have no income, the existence of the kindergartens are at risk. We support them regularly with funding but our funds are also limited and we cannot foresee how long this situation will continue.
We are delighted that several kindergartens provide their neighbourhoods with hot meals from their soup kitchens. Poverty in the townships has increased due to the corona crisis and the food queues are getting longer. The promised government food parcels have not reached the townships in the Helderberg region yet. That is why we are continuing to support our partner organisation Masikhule with the distribution of food parcels or food vouchers. This takes place via the kindergartens to the most needy children and their families. This week 1,197 food parcels were distributed to 38 ECD Centres. We donated a packet of crayons and an exercise book to each parcel.These will be very useful to the children who are engaged in the daily “MASIKHULE SHARES” activities.
Our South African partner organisation Masincedane (www.masincedane.com) requested us to support disabled people with food vouchers to which we immediately agreed. Due to their disabilities they are not able to visit the soup kitchens in their neighbourhood.
Even though the number of people infected with the coronavirus is still very low, it is still on the increase and the peak is forecast for August/September 2020. We are hoping that the forecast will not be as negative as many predict it to be. Washing hands and wearing masks have become a matter of course for the little ones. Hopefully these measures will help to avoid the worst.
Golden Sunbeams is currently assisting almost solely with providing food and other necessities. This is only possible due to the great encouragement we receive during this difficult time.
Our heartfelt thanks also go to our partner organisations Masikhule (www.masikhule.org) and Masincedane (www.masincedane.com), to our kindergarten teachers and those teachers who distribute hot meals in their soup kitchens and who provide their communities with food parcels or food vouchers.
In order to continue our measures to avoid hunger and poverty in the townships, we are very happy about donations or pledges for donations.
Our donations account is:
Golden Sunbeams e.V.
Standard Bank of South Africa
Account number: 1011 2371 777
Swift code: SBZAZAJJ
BIC 03-30-12
Thank you, best wishes and please stay healthy!
Britta & Bernd