Myburgh Foundation shows compassion for foreigners in our town
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of World Refugee Day, the Myburgh Foundation recently focused on the welfare of refugees and displaced persons through their campaign.
Besides being known for their charity work, the Myburgh Foundation recently extended their services to accommodate the needs of refugees and asylum seekers.
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of World Refugee Day, the respected NGO from Toekomsrus held a one-week campaign that revolved around welfare and humanitarian activities for vulnerable members of the society.
World Refugee Day is celebrated on 20 June every year. The South African government describes it as a special day when the world takes time to recognise the resilience of forcibly displaced people throughout the world.
Randy Christian, founder of the Myburgh Foundation, said the campaign kicked off on Wednesday, 17 June.
“We started to provide refugees and asylum seekers with information about the required procedures to obtain proper documentation to mitigate the number of illegal/ undocumented foreign nationals within our community.
“The distributed pamphlets and consultations will equip asylum seekers with information on their rights and responsibilities in their host country (South Africa) as well as put mechanisms in place for them to acquire relevant section 22 permits (asylum) and section 24 (refugee) permits without the risk of exploitation by unauthorised persons, as well as access to institutions such as daycare centres for their children, and medical care.
“We have recently been in contact with Bianca Robertson from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as the Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre in Pretoria. Management welcomed our interest to provide our services to vulnerable displaced foreign nationals with access to information and facilitations.
“We have also visited a total of 35 foreign-owned shops to educate the owners about the importance of adhering to the Covid-19 safety measure regulations that are needed to help curb the spread of the virus, as well as checking staff’s temperatures using our infrared temperature scanners.”
Randy said to date, their organisation has distributed 78 food parcels to vulnerable households, with more to come in due course.
This is basically our bit to bring about positive change and create awareness concerning the plight of vulnerable refugees within our community, as well as the dreaded Covid-19 threat.”
