Sile2okuhle Lockdown Journey

 It has been over 135 days since the lockdown journey began, and we have seen the world evolve in different ways. Many of us have lost our loved ones due to COVID-19, some are in hospitals, not sure what tomorrow will hold,  and some have lost jobs, but we are still trying to make ends meet in these trying times. As an organisation that seeks to spread love and care worldwide during this period, we send our condolences to those who lost their loved ones, well warm wishes to those in hospitals recovering and sympathies with those who lost their jobs. We also advise the whole country to brace as COVID-19 cases rise in South Africa. As said by many, it gets worse before it gets better. We hope and pray that it will get better soon.

For more than 135 days, we have gone around KwaZulu-Natal province, although much of our work can be traced in Durban. We have provided different types of services across the city but most commonly providing food for the homeless. However, our journey has not been comfortable since we been facing various challenges as an organisation. Still, we strive to make a difference and show care to our community and those in need. In this blog, we will discuss our ups and downs during this lockdown to ensure that we serve our community and clarify a few things.

Firstly, we were not chosen in the first list to provide food for the shelters that had been established by the government when the lockdown began. The funds allocated to help the homeless and shelters were assigned to other organisations and catering companies. We volunteered to provide different sporting activities to keep the members of each shelter entertained and reduce depression, boredom, and so forth. These sporting activities were not feasible because of restrictions such as social distancing of 1 meter apart between members. These were significant restrictions to curb the spread of the COVID-19.  We were later approached by a donor who supplied us with the necessary products and material to resume food preparation. The donors gave us a platform to provide our services efficiently. The eThekwini community provided us with vehicles as a source of transport to every place allocated to us, such as Drive-in, Jewish Centre, Denis Hurley Centre and Belhaven Memorial Centre, to mention a few.

Secondly, in many of the places we were allocated, we had a few problems with the shelter members'. Some were bullies, arrogant, or deceivers. We encountered members who would try to deceive us to get more food through lying that they did not get any food and rejoining the line. In some places, our members had to be extremely attentive to this stop them from getting before others have been fed. Some would not listen to instructions such as following the line, refusing to leave the tent, refusing to stand a meter apart and other related instructions. In some places, we were assisted by security guards and metro-police to maintain order when providing services. These problems made providing our services complicated and burdensome. However, not all members behaved in this way. In other shelters, we have made friends and family. 

Thirdly, we have had complaints of name-calling and use of offensive language. We do not recall this kind of behaviour from our members. We have tried maintaining a professional relationship with members even when they are rude, aggressive and use offensive language towards our volunteers. Some members reported to different authorities that we were using foul language to the members. It was shocking to learn of such things when volunteers have been the ones who have been called names and received offensive language from the members. It is imperative to clarify because as we provide our services, we have seen members taking advantage of our kindness and care.

Fourthly, we have also received complaints from shelter members that the food was not enough and many have gone further to accuse us of corruption. We talked to a few so that they could shed more light on why they thought we were corrupt and gave us their thoughts. We concluded that the members believe that we received a lot of money from the government to continue our projects. None of the members are aware of our financial and donor position. Therefore their conclusions stem from speculations. The members think we received millions of Rands; hence we should have bought a lot of food to provide them with four (4) meals every day. However, this is not the situation; private individual donors fund our resources and cannot sustain to feed them four meals every day. It can only be possible if we get more donations and more volunteers to get more resources and workforce. We have appealed to the government and other various other individual donors to support us. Therefore, the assertions that the organisation and its members are corrupt and abusing funds is misleading and a lie. As an organisation, we can only provide what we can at that period. For those that were misled, we apologise. 

 Fifthly, we have had our dry spells without food to provide for those in shelters. At some point, shelter members were complaining that they were not getting any meals from other organisations, so they would rely on us who were serving supper at that time. We asked different people and organisations to have donations and help, but it took a bit longer to have the resources we needed. However, after a few days, we managed to get a donor, and we resumed our services. Our worry was on those days we failed to serve, and some were unable to get food, and we also strained other originations. However, there are now a few organisation that are still able to provide services since many have run out of food and they are a few donors donating to them.

Furthermore, the lockdown has strained many people, even those who genuinely wanted to help. This has also affected us and our donors sometimes may also feel strained as the lockdown keeps being extended. No one knows for how long this will last; hence many donors and organisations will be strained.

In a nutshell, the whole country is going through a lot and many have lost loved ones,  savings and their jobs. However, even organisations and donors have also been struggling to provide their services to the community. We have pleaded with the authorities to distribute resources allocated equally and carefully to ensure that the homeless people's rights are protected and that they get accommodations and food. We are heading into an unfamiliar phase were the future is unknown. COVID-19 cases remain high and no one is sure for how long the lockdown is going to last. We hope and pray that it will be better soon and we will be able to live our healthy lives again. There is still more work to be done and more hands required to make South Africa a better place. Please stay safe, wash hands to save lives, and wear a mask to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Once again, condolences to those who lost their loved ones due to Covid-19 and well wishes to those recovering from COVID-19. We hope the above image will motivate you to exercise and stay strong.

Written by Tanaka. D Dhumbura