Siya Kolisi and his former high school mates have come together to help families who have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kolisi Food Relief Project and The Grey Foundation made an appeal for assistance with some pupils’ technological challenges and they managed to raise more R150,000, which was converted into hundreds of food parcels.
The food parcels were also distributed to Kolisi’s former primary, Emsengeni Primary School. Among them was grade 12 pupil,l Daniel Butler, who said it is something anyone could do. “I feel like everyone should try to do their own part just to help out. It’s a simple thing that anyone can do,” he said.
Additionally, The Grey Foundation has also begun raising funds to assist technologically disadvantaged pupils at the school. Thanks to donations both from SA and abroad, the Grey Foundation has achieved 50% of its target and had already funded digital infrastructure to facilitate online learning in some of its classrooms, as well as supplying laptops those pupils who had only been able to access online learning from their or their parents’ cell phones.
“Connectivity and devices to allow learners to continue to study during lockdown is an imperative project at this time. All funds raised towards the technology appeal will be used to equip those boys with limited data and devices with the necessary tools to continue learning online,” said Grey Foundation chairman Andrew Bradley.
Grey High School Rector, Christian Erasmus said: “There are so many families that are struggling out there who simply do not have access to the technology to learn effectively via the Internet”.