Hoedspruit-based Hlokomela produces 5000 protective buffs for farm workers
Sowing project alters their production of washable sanitary pads to produce protective buffs.
An award-winning HIV and AIDS programme is refocusing some of their projects to curbing the spread of the Coronavirus in the next few weeks.
Hlokomela is an educational and treatment programme targeting workers, including foreign migrants, in the agriculture, nature conservation and tourism sectors in Limpopo and Mpumalanga.
With South Africa’s nationwide lockdown in response to the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic, Hlokomela has altered their sowing project in Hoedspruit that produces washable sanitary pads to produce protective buffs for farm workers, said MJ du Preez, marketing manager of Hlokomela.
“With the money raised over the last two weeks, Hlokomela has disinfected buses that transport staff to farms and given health awareness talks to about 4 000 people. We have also bought fabric and started manufacturing the buffs for workers to wear on their daily commute. We’ve set up multiple handwashing stations outside all our projects, distributed sanitiser to fifteen companies and packed ninety basic hygiene hampers for farm workers in the Ohrigstad area. These hampers contain soap, buffs and washable sanitary pads for women.”
“Donations are urgently needed to implement basic interventions in the agriculture sector of Limpopo to ensure the safety of farmers and farm workers, while they are continuing to supply food to the nation,” Du Preez explained.
“Hlokomela is committed to helping to slow down the spread of COVID-19 by continuing with these efforts, but needs the support of the community to upscale their interventions in the weeks to come.”
Visit www.hlokomela.org.za or the Hlokomela facebook page find out more.
* Hlokomela aims to reduce HIV vulnerability through peer education, raising of awareness, prevention and treatment. The project has been running successfully for eleven years and is currently rolled out on 71 sub-project sites. An estimated 25 000 people are reached annually through the activities of the programme.
