Mandela Day is now history for many but for some it continues through the daily activities of serving communities despite resource challenges.
This is exemplified by schools and clinics in townships such as Alexandra. One of these is the Alexandra Clinic which attends to hundreds of in- and out-patients. The clinic is a referral institution for other surrounding smaller clinics and also is a feeder for interns from Wits university.
Yvonne Lefakana, administration manager of the clinic said Mandela Day galvanised those who were less sensitive to the plight of the poor, to at least think of momentarily doing something good for others. “The ethos of clinics is community work, and doing so selflessly and continuously,” she said. “Our call to duty is beyond heath and includes other things of material, spiritual and motivational value.”
The clinic uses its good image to canvass for support to help the community and is collecting school shoes for distribution to needy children from surrounding schools. She said school shoes were not included in the government grant for schools and left poor children exposed to ridicule by their more well-off counterparts. The clinic has targeted to collect 1 000 pairs of shoes and has already collected 775 pairs.
“The shoes will be given first to those in primary schools and later to those at secondary level,” she said. “We engage in various social programmes every month and hope our partners will continue to support us in the interest of uplifting the community, especially children so that they don’t drop out and miss on education which is the only weapon they have to exit their poverty.”
