Kate Crossland has been raising funds in the UK to help a rural community in South Africa access much-needed food aid during the lockdown.
Mpumalanga, South Africa (15 July 2020) – Kate Crossland struck up a friendship after seeing a comment made on a Good Things Guy post. The post was about one of Cyril Ramaphosa’s speeches and Kelly Szabo had commented about how tough it was for people in rural communities to wash their hands when there was no water.
Kelly (64) moved to the rural Allemansdrift B after her domestic Lydia (70) retired there; it is Lydia’s ancestral home. Kelly, having worked for an NGO for 30-years and after visiting the rural community, moved to aid them in accessing water, medical care and other aid that was promised over the decades but never arrived.
The community is made up of 627 families most of which are child or grandparent-headed households. HIV and TB are rife within the community and many of the young adults move away to big cities and never return. The community has struggled to survive over the years as the old get older and the young keep leaving.
When Kelly and Kate connected, Kate started sending small amount of money which converted into Rands, became enough to help Lydia. She used the Computicket process to help more and more families as she saw the need growing. Eventually, Kate decided to ask her friends for help so they could assist more of the families in the rural community. In the UK £11 is one meal at the shops but it converts to a full food parcel in Rands.
This information motivated Kate and her own friends to raise as much as possible
“I receive a photograph of the head of the family plus their ID number, I have never requested this but it seems to be how it is done for transparency. I will forward this on to anyone who is able to donate £11 or multiples thereof. Pounds go so far in SA and I feel that I have an opportunity to help a very poor community.”
Through the use of various voucher systems, Kelly has been able to purchase food for the community and provide families with vouchers to buy other essentials. According to Kate, Kelly travelled for three hours to get to the nearest Shoprite the first time and was able to buy four full food parcels.
Since then, Kate has managed to raise £1272 and her goal is £7500 which will put the community in a much better place. Kelly and Lydia are working to make sure every family gets the food they need. Kelly managed to get the local government to deliver water at the end of May.
Kate is updating everyone on the daily happenings in Allemansdrift B via Facebook here. Kate and Kelly are proof that if one person fights for a cause, an entire community can thrive!
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