Less fortunate children from Ga-Rankuwa will be receiving clothes during the national lockdown, thanks to a Non-Profit organization called Freedom. Founder of the organization, Shadrack Bokaba said having grown up in the area, he was dismayed to see young children struggling in child-headed households and others orphaned with no one to help them.
He decided to organize sponsors to donate clothing and food to orphanages and struggling households. Bokaba said it was important to be the mode of assistance but it was also important for members of the community to get involved with helping school-going children to catch up on their school work.
āThere are so many children here who are struggling as their parents donāt care or are not even bothered with homework, and the children end up falling behind. As an organisation, we donāt have much money, but being able to help these children with their homework and giving them the love they need really does make a huge difference,” Bokaba said.
Nthabiseng Tshwane, Secretary of the organisation, said with Covid-19 they had noticed huge gaps in the community and saw many families struggling to survive with grants as their only source of income.
āItās so painful to see children living with children surviving only on grants. They donāt have school shoes or clothing to wear, and without a proper support system encouraging and teaching them the value of school, they are the ones who fall through the cracks,ā added Tshwane.
She said they assisted those in Grade 8 up to Grade 11 with homework at their schools and despite the fact that many of the children being unable to come to collect, as they were in school during the donation day on Friday, the organisation would go through their lists and deliver to those they had managed to identify so far.
Divisional Sales Manager for Ackermans Group in the Northern Tshwane region, Cynthia Moraka, said they opted to take part in the programmes run by an NPO such as Freedom as it aligned with the company’s corporate social investment programme, “Ububele”.
āBecause of Covid-19 we canāt do a full programme, but we want to support educational programmes because if you support a nation with the education you are bound to create better members of society, as they will be working and supporting themselves,ā she concluded.
