Malvern mother of four struggles to feed family after job loss
Families around the country are struggling in the wake of job losses resulting from the heavy cost of the measures to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic put in place during 2020.
A MALVERN mother of four fears her family might end up homeless.
Shana Ducasse, who lives with her parents and four children, lost her job as a result of the long lockdown and restrictions imposed by government in its efforts to thwart the spread of Covid-19.
The 30-year-old was employed last year at a child care centre in Malvern while her father worked as a driver.
However, she is now afraid her family might end up without a home as the bills pile up around her.
Jobless
Ducasse’s story is similar to that of many other people who are now unemployed and unable to find work or earn a living.
Last year a study by 30 social science groups revealed three million South Africans had lost their jobs in the first few months of the national lockdown.
After losing her job, Ducasse said she tried working from home like people in other professions have done. “My father and I tried to do something from home to bring in an income. I began looking after kids and my dad started a little business transporting people to and from work, but we were not able to keep our heads above water,” she said,
“We owe the landlord over R8000 due to the rental increase in July,” said Ducasse in the first month of the new year.
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“In May he put up a water meter, and so with that we are a little behind with the rent and now and then he helps us with prepaid water and electricity,” she said.
Ducasse said the family’s rent is R7300 a month and water comes to about R1500 a month and electricity a little under R1300.
“With the little bit of money I make and what my father is able to earn, we basically can only cover the rent,” she said.
Ducasse’s children are 11, nine and her youngest are seven-year- old twins.
She said some days she struggles to feed them and often has to try to make the little food they do have stretch much further than it should be able to.
“We are both looking for work and have sent our CVs to apply for many advertised jobs. I even applied to my old place of employment, but my ex-boss said she is not taking in young kids anymore and that was the group I was employed to look after,” said Ducasse.
“The biggest problem is food. There are seven of us in the house with my parents, myself and the four children. I have been asking everyone I can think of if there is anyway we can please get some help from somewhere?” she said.
“We are trying our best. It is so hard for me to ask and if it were not for the young kids, I wouldn’t,” she said adding that she and her family are honest people and feel ashamed that they are being judged for being so poor.
“You are welcome to come into our home and see for yourself,” she said desperately.
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In the first part of lockdown last year, a variety of feeding schemes were set up to help families that were struggling to feed themselves and their loved ones. However many of the feeding schemes have since closed down or the donations of food have dwindled due to many donors losing their jobs.
Should you be able to assist Ducasse and her family in any way you can contact her via ducasseshana@gmail.com.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
