Covid-19 Response

Here in Cape Town, as the lockdown continues we are increasingly hopeful that we are past the peak. Thanks for contributing to our Covid-19 Response Fund, you helped us bring hope to a lot of people!

At the outset of the Covid-19 lockdown we began to provide support to Mfuleni schools in the Starting Chance programme. In March we supported the 9 schools in the full programme, but as reality of the lockdown’s impact and the school closures became apparent we expanded our support to the 30 schools registered with us.

Fortunately, the Rachel Swart Fund contacted us in April and offered to support Lonwabo Special Care Centre. They have generously continued to cover the shortfall in salaries and have just paid the July subsidy. I am happy to say this has forged a new partnership, and RSF will be supporting Lonwabo as we move forward.

Starting Chance initially paid a subsidy of R1500 per person at the end of March. When it became clear that the lockdown would continue for months, rather than weeks, the board reassessed our position and we decided to settle on paying a subsidy of R1000/person. Amazingly, across the 29 schools with the help of Stichting Mzamomhle it has been possible to pay 156 subsidies per month for a period of four months – the last has just been distributed on 24^th July. I doubt we could have achieved this without the expertise of our Treasurer, Carl Nielsen, who managed this process. Incredibly, the total distributed in subsidies to the end of July is R737250 - it has kept food on the table for atleast 156 households.

Backyarder unrest due to increasing rentals imposed by "landlords" in Khayelitsha and Mfuleni has led to violent protests and widespread land grabs. Amidst uncertainty that is compounded by fake news and confusing government communications our schools have been readying to reopen. It is not a strightforward process - the Department of Social Development has insisted on the online submission of extensive sets of forms. Our fieldworkers have worked tirelessly with small groups of principals to help and assist them in being able to comply with the submission of Standard Operating Procedures and Self-Assessment forms.

Access to correct PPE is a prerequisite for compliance before reopening is permitted. The Starting Chance team took delivery of PPE materials, some of which was sourced from Mfuleni-based suppliers and put together 30 Covid-19-Kits providing the schools with the essential materials they required to deep clean facilities prior to reopening, together with PPE required for staff to safely operate the schools.

 21 of the 30 schools were ready to open in July but many opted to defer opening to August and some are even waiting for September. The principals are concerned that many parents have no money, so fees are unlikely to be paid in July. DSD has also  created a great deal of uncertainty due to communication received from the Department of Social Development declared that only registered facilities will be permitted to open – this is in conflict with official statements. Due to the threat of sanctions being taken on those who do not comply, many principals are fearful of overstepping the mark. At this point, even though some schools are now open few children are returning and it is far from certain that centres will be able to reach a point of financial stability by the end of August. Our board will therefore reassess the situation and determine whether it will be necessary to pay a further subsidy to help principals and teachers survive until more normal attendance numbers are resumed.

For many children, school meals provide their main meal of the day - lockdown has largely prevented this from happening unless schools were registered and receiving a subsidy - in our case few schools are in this position. Lockdown has left pantries completely bare and gas cyclinders empty. This year in July, the Mandela Day “67 minutes” was transformed by Starting Chance to “Feed a child for R67/month” to run a social media fundraising campaign aiming to raise funds for food to feed the children returning to schools as they reopened. There were 2119 children attending the schools registered with us prior to the lockdown. In total R38 800 was raised. This is yet to be distributed as we are waiting to assess how many children return in August.

Thanks once again for supporting our response to Covid - it continues to make a real difference.