West Gold Primary School donated 3 000 non perishable products and raised R10 000 in support of farmers hit hard by the severe drought specifically in the Northern and Eastern Cape provinces.
Melanie Swart, West Gold Primary spokesperson said learners gathered the items from their homes to contribute to the initiative.
“We started this because the severe drought in South Africa has an effect on everyone even if you live in different parts of the country,” Melanie said.
She added the initiative which was mostly driven by the learners saw an overwhelming response.
“As far as collecting the funds were concerned the learners ran a coin initiative while the rest was sponsored,” Melanie said.
“We are supporting the farmers because everyone is struggling and feeling the economic pinch.”
Welcoming the initiative, Tinus Erasmus, coordinator of Boere Droogtehulp SA, said the initiative is part of very big project that will help South African farmers recover from the drought.
“There are many people making donations and it may take two years to recover depending on whether the rains come or not. There are still many who are not aware about the drought and do not realise the seriousness of this issue we are sitting with,” Tinus said.
Koos Swart, principal of the school said, “We thought it would be a good thing to let the children know what it is all about in a sense of helping people who are in dire need. We decided to start this charity and we got a good response from our learners. We hope that what we have done will filter down to other schools in the community and business to come forward and support the cause.”
