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The Salvation Army is pleading with South Africans to donate blankets, food and clothes to those who live in the streets in this cold season.
This follows the South African Weather Services (Saws) predicting an above-average winter as opposed to a bitterly cold winter season.
The Salvation Army started its annual winter blanket appeal by handing out 200 blankets and serving soup and bread to those in need at its headquarters in Braamfontein, Joburg, last month.
The NGO’s spokesperson Thataetsile Semeno said the coming winter was going to be very difficult for homeless people as they rely on churches and charitable organisations to beat the cold.
“It’s going to be difficult for them because they rely on our handouts and on us helping them by giving them blankets and clothes. Not only that but hot meals to eat,” he said.
“We have started a winter blanket campaign where we ask the community to think of those less fortunate and help them to at least have a warm winter.
“Some are children staying with their mothers in the streets. You can imagine a child of 10 with their mother in this cold weather.”
Semeno said despite not previously seeing a homeless person dying because of the cold weather, they were trying to avoid that situation.
He said The Salvation Army would appreciate donations of clothes for children and women.
ALSO READ: Here’s where to donate clothes and other items
Saws forecaster Lehlohonolo Thobela said they were seeing patterns of above-normal temperatures for some parts of the country.
“We are expecting a cold winter and with the seasonal forecast, we are suggesting that the temperatures will be above-normal or above the average that we would have of winters.
“This still suggests a normal winter that we are used to just that we will have colder days than other days as we have cold fronts passing through,” Thobela said.
Scientist in long-range forecasting at Saws, Christien Engelbrecht, said they were expecting warmer than normal conditions for June, July and August.
“For the next few months, we are predicting above-normal temperatures. “Even though we are predicting above-normal temperatures, sometimes one will get some cooler events but on average, the season as a whole is expected to be warmer than normal.”
Engelbrecht said in Gauteng, the month of May was wetter than normal. “The winter started quite wet over Gauteng but the predictions are that there were slight chances of above-normal rainfall for the next few months but one must remember that during winter, there is not really much rainfall anyway,” she said.
“It doesn’t mean there’s going to be a lot of rainfall but it seems like there will be a few times during the winter that rainfall is possible over the Gauteng area.”
She said areas which generally receive rainfall during winter were expected to have above-normal rainfall between June and August.
NOW READ: ‘Intense’ cold front to hit parts of SA this week
– lungam@citizen.co.za
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