Gift of the Givers distributes 1000 food parcels
The Gift of the Givers foundation visited Bethal area on Wednesday and Thursday. The Muslim community of Bethal joined hands with Afgri Milling as well as Gift of the givers to distribute food to some of the needy people in Bethal and eMzinoni.
A thousand food parcels were handed out over the past two days.
Afgri Milling (Philafrica Foods) donated mielie meal while Gift of the Givers supplemented the parcels with tinned food, salt and sugar.
“Philafrica strive to transform the lives of millions of Africans – economically, socially and spiritually through food processing in Africa.” Said Beki Sibanyoni, Ops manager for Afgri Milling, Bethal, “we donate approximately 70 tons a month. This is not just for the lockdown period, but we are going to see if we can continue this going forward.”
On Wednesday most of the food parcels were distributed in the Bethal town area before moving to the refuse dumping area and eventually into some of the homes in eMzinoni. The area around the Mosque is filled with people looking for work to be able to earn an income.
One lucky job seeker was able to secure employment at Afgri Milling when Beki decided to employ one from the group on the street.
Emily Thomas, Project coordinator from Gift of the Givers, said that the problem at the moment is COVID-19. “There is tremendous poverty that accompanies the COVID-19 period. That is the one reason that we as Gift of the Givers were motivated to go to different communities and distribute food parcels.”
“ We were approached by Afgri Milling as they indicated they had mielie meal to donate,” said Emily, “They wanted to distribute the meal into their surrounding areas and asked if we could help with the distribution in Bethal and surrounding areas.”
We felt that as Afgri Milling is donating the bags of meal, so can we add to that extra food,” continued Emily, “so that we can give more than just mielie meal.”
“it is a pleasure to hand out the food,” said Emily, “but it is also heartbreaking.”
“it is nice to be in partnership with people like Afgri Milling and the Bethal Muslim community and they want to give back to the community,” concluded Emily, “it is a nice feeling when people want to make a difference where they are in their community.”
The Bulletin asked Ahmed Ravat (Imaam at Bethal Town Mosque) about their involvement.
“We witness on a daily basis many skilled personnel coming into town, waiting outside our Mosque gate and on the corners looking for someone to come offer them a job so that they can earn a living for the day and feed their families,” said Ahmed, “Yesterday we reached out and managed to put a smile on these faces when we handed out the food hampers sponsored by Gift of the Givers and Afgri Milling, Bethal.”
Thomas Mogadime, a spokesperson from Bethal Police station also accompanied the team as they distributed the parcels. Thomas quickly gathered the children and gave them some lessons on COVID-19 and hygiene.
The Bulletin hope to bring you more news of Gift of the Givers as they progress to Ermelo next.
The Gift of the Givers Foundation is the largest disaster response non-governmental organisation of African origin on the African continent. The essence of our presence is to bring hope and restore dignity to the most vulnerable.
PLEASE READ: Gift of the Givers
On their website they write the following on Hunger Alleviation:
Backing the global fight against hunger, our aim is to contribute tellingly in the quest to save the lives of the starving and malnourished – human or animal.
From serving a warm plate of food to a starving child to providing vital feed for cattle suffering the result of drought, and from distributing vital supplies to families living in war zones to feeding people displaced by natural disasters, we work tirelessly to ensure those in need are freed from hunger.
Apart from such short-term assistance, we continuously search for and deliver effective solutions, designed to give effect to long-term change, developing and implementing small-scale self-help agricultural projects within needy communities, empowering them to improve food security levels.
In addition, we continue making available our protein-based Sibusiso Food Supplement, the world’s first groundnut high-energy and protein supplement, which requires no refrigeration. The product, innovated by ourselves, is ideal as a disaster-relief foodstuff and is provided to people who are – as a result of disaster displacement – rendered sub-clinically malnourished.
Philafrica Foods writes this about Who They Are:
OUR VISION
To transform the lives of millions of Africans – economically, socially and spiritually through food processing in Africa.
OUR MISSION
To unlock the potential of African agriculture through food processing, sourcing directly from smallholder farmers, and actively investing in new markets across the continent.
OUR APPROACH
We believe that the most effective way to transform agriculture on the African continent is to create market pull through large-scale food processing. However, to do this well, we believe it’s critical to support each stage of the value chain and care for all stakeholders involved. This can only be achieved through vertical integration all the way back to the farm gate. It also means working closely with smallholder farmers on crop variety improvement and technical assistance to enhance efficiency on the farm and the quality of produce.
PLEASE READ: Philafrica Foods
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