It has been another tough year with COVID-19 exacerbating the many disparities that are apparent in under-resourced communities in South Africa. Poverty alleviation, food distribution programmes and youth development play an important role in uplifting communities, and the Mustadafin Foundation has been hard at work ensuring that these basic human rights are met.
This is what the Mustadafin Foundation has been up to in the last quarter:
1612 Youth positively impacted: “Our goal was to impact 1400 youth over a five-month period with our different development programmes. We bypassed this amount with a total of 1612 youth enrolled in our different programmes,” says Ghairunisa Johnstone-Cassiem, director at Mustadafin Foundation.
Mustadafin’s youth development programmes include literacy development, wellness, cultural awareness, and discussing gender-based violence (GVB) in communities.
Five empowerment courses for 16 days of Activism: Mustadafin hosted a campaign in partnership with local law enforcement that included self-defence sessions, talks from local law enforcement and pop-up support clinics for women and children that have been victims of abuse.
“It is very difficult for a child to focus on learning when they are worried about their own safety and the safety of their peers,” says Johnstone-Cassiem. “Through the GVB campaign, we wanted to provide youth with a safe space and support to speak up against GVB.”
15 046 food parcels distributed: “Through the different feedback programmes that we run, during the last four months, we distributed 15 046 food parcels and provide cooked meals 27 910 to impoverished communities within the Western Cape,” says Johnstone-Cassiem. “Knowing the extent of the hunger crisis in South Africa, we plan on increasing our food distribution and feeding programmes.”
According to recent statistics*, at least 20% of households in South Africa do not have adequate access to food. With the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown, many have lost their work, making it more challenging to provide for families.
Currently, Mustadafin is running 33 feeding programmes assisting 40 communities.