PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - The impact of the lockdown is starting to show in Bitou's poorest communities where the little income some of the residents' have been receiving has been stripped away.

This has become visible to those who help these communities through various initiatives. 

"The gratitude on a little boy and girl's faces on Monday when we gave them something as simple as a litre of milk touched me deeply. They are so little and so hungry," said Tanya Hyde from the NPO Muddy Pooches, which was formed several years ago to feed dogs in Plettenberg Bay's industrial area, but has since grown into a drive to help dogs' owners too. Every Saturday the organisation not only takes care of dogs that are brought to them, but of the approximate 200 children who own them.

"Obviously with the lockdown, this gathering has not been taking place, but the need still exists, so we've decided to make up food parcels and deliver it to those who need it," Hyde said. They usually serve the communities around the industrial area including Bossiesgif, Qolweni and Pine Trees, but the plea for help has come from elsewhere too, including Kwanokuthula and Kranshoek.

Generosity of locals
Hyde and her team have managed to obtain the necessary lockdown permits to be able to make up the food parcels and deliver them, and thanks to the generosity of locals they have managed to hand out about 20 parcels a day. Local businessman Duncan Brown from Beacon Island KwikSpar also donated R10 000 worth of food.

Hyde's mom Christa Rodriguies also made a few masks which will be handed out to those who need them.

Those who want to help the initiative can drop off food at the Beacon Island Total garage where it will be collected by Hyde and her team, who also continue to feed the hungry animals in the area.

Social group the Plett Dinner Club also fed amost 300 children from Kwanokuthula, Kranshoek, the Crags and New Horizons recently. "Let's control what we can and stay sane through these trying times. Helping others is my way of doing that," said organiser Rob Bokelmann.

Provincial help
In the meantime, provincial treasury approved the allocation of R53-million additional funding for emergency food relief programmes. "We know the lockdown is … impacting on the livelihoods of many families across the Western Cape… We have therefore taken a number of emergency steps to ensure our residents get the nutrition they need," said premier Alan Winde.

• The emergency plan includes R20-million for the distribution of 50 000 food parcels, each of which will support a family of four for one month. The department of social development will allocate these funds to selected NGOs to prepare and distribute the food parcels.
• About R5-million will go to the same department for delivery of an additional 10 000 cooked meals per day for a month.
• A further R18-million will be given to the department of education to initiate a school feeding programme from 8 to 20 April, set to target the 485 000 existing school feeding scheme beneficiaries with one takeaway meal a day at about 1 000 schools.
• Another R10-million has been earmarked to increase the number of beneficiaries receiving food at existing department of social development feeding schemes to 6 520 people.
• The department has also reactivated the Early Childhood Development (ECD) feeding schemes at the majority of the 1 100 ECD schools funded by the department, which would feed up to 80 000 children a day.

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