Uncedo Lwabantu, a development organisation, relied on well-wishers and its members to fund an end-of-year party for its orphans and vulnerable children.
This after the organisation’s main funder, the Department of Health withdrew its support. With the assistance of well-wishers, the children were given a sumptuous meal, cake and presents.
The organisation on 8th Avenue supplies 500 school-going children with breakfast and lunch on weekdays, and provides the sick and bed ridden with home-based care.
Meanwhile, the organisation’s founder, Hilda Phalame said 20 of their community health workers had gone to work for clinics and they needed to recruit more volunteers.
“We are struggling to get them [volunteers] trained without resources, and also to feed the children who need early morning breakfast before class and a meal after school to complement the mid-morning school feeding,” she said. “Without meals the children miss school and will be forced to resort to crime for survival.”
She said it would be difficult in the coming year to guarantee the children food security. The organisation’s other challenge was to provide adequate shelter where they could feed the children.
