Food Security, Covid-19, May 13, 2020, 6:18 p.m.

Helping neighbours in need in South Africa

Author: Christel House South Africa

Our staff members have shown just how special they are by not only supporting our students during the COVID-19 crisis, but also extending a helping hand to our neighbours who live in the informal settlement community of Freedom Park.

Mr Randall Daniels, the Engineering Graphics and Design (EGD) and Technology Teacher at our High School has been actively involved in donating to the Freedom Park community since joining Christel House as a Consumer Studies Teacher in 2006. He taught students to give back and hone their culinary skills at the same time by asking each student to bring a vegetable along to class. Together, the class prepared soup with the ingredients and handed it out in the community.

Mr Randall has been providing 100 families in both Freedom Park and Jim Se Bos with meals three days per week since lockdown started. “I started doing the soup kitchen because I noticed a need for it and I simply couldn’t do nothing when there’s people who don’t have anything. It’s also part of our school’s core values, so I try to lead by example,” said Mr Randall.

The soup kitchen continues to run during lockdown, with the permission of local police and with necessary COVID-19 safety precautions, like wearing protective masks and gloves, in place.

In Christel House’s effort to assist families during lockdown, the school has also provided some fundraising support. With the school’s help, Mr Randall’s project recently received a R100 000 donation from an anonymous British donor, which will be used to provide 100 weekly food parcels to Freedom Park families over eight weeks. Before the COVID-19 lockdown took place in South Africa, some of our teachers and staff members distributed essential items, such as soap, bread, toilet rolls and disinfectant sprays to families in Freedom Park. They educated community members on how to sanitise, the rules of social distancing and handed out flyers with more information about the COVID-19 pandemic.