CAN lends helping hand to Gugs residents

Community organisers prepare food for the community.

People across the city are finding creative ways to give and share resources with the less fortunate, and food has been a big part of that.

Among the do-gooders was group of young people from the Gugulethu Community Action Network (CAN) who donated food parcels to NY 144 residents on Tuesday April 29.

Pamela Silwana, who is leading this initiative, says as young people in her community they decided on strategies to bring awareness to the community by creating an environment of giving back to the less fortunate during the very difficult conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“As the administrator, I have to see that everything goes according to plan.

“I make sure that safety is practised at all times, I ensure that all groups are functioning and make sure we tackle the needs of Gugulethu community in these trying times.

“What we do is organise group ourselves in our community and come up with ways that my community can eat while staying indoors.

“We try to keep our kids busy with school work while schools are close. We are also aiming to be a relief for people who need food urgently,” she said.

Ms Silwana says they work closely with the community who help them identify families who are struggling financially.

“We are not a non-governmental organisation. We are a group of young professionals. (We are) 93 members, with only 40 active members. Some of us are qualified doctors, teachers, artists and engineers.

We are regular neighbours who want to help our community.

“We provide our community with food parcels, vouchers, clothing donations, sanitary donations, water, educational pamphlets about Covid- 19, hand sanitisers, toys and we give out educational books for kids to keep studying.”

On Friday, she said, they delivered 130 food parcels in sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 and on Sunday they delivered Shoprite food vouchers to 180 families and vegetables to the informal settlements.

“And we have our soup kitchens running daily,” she said.

Ms Silwana says they have exciting plans for the future, which includes assisting existing soup kitchens as well as starting 30 new ones.

“We will provide (information about) how to keep your kitchen Covid-free. I don’t want to say too much but there is more good news coming for Gugulethu residents,” she added.