The community of Philippi had every reason to celebrate last Sunday as the Answered Prayers Foundation (APF) answered their calls for relief aid.
With many families struggling to put food on the table during the lockdown, the NGO has taken some community members under their wing by providing food parcels.
The founder of the organisation, Revered Anita Pamla said the APF has a project called Wipe off the Tears, which collects the data of families who cannot afford food.
She said most of these recipients are victims of gender-based violence.
She said she observed how many people have complained about not having food during the lockdown and while they have also been affected as an organisation, she had to do something even if it was small.
“We are in a tough period of our lives. We have at the Answered Prayers decided to stand up and be counted by providing something small to our community. But we not only give and give, but we encourage women especially to be independent, to stand on their own. We understand the situation is tough but women should not be scared to sell fruit, fat cakes and all these small things that can make them thrive in future. It is not a disgrace to sell fruit along the street. It is not a disgrace to sell fat cakes as long as there will be something at the end of the day.”
Ms Pamla said she formed the APF to help victims of gender-based violence gain confidence. However, she said the organisation is open to everyone, men and women, who want to assist in the fight against the scourge.
“But we want women to be able to speak. We want them to take ownership of themselves. Women need to lead the way. If we manage to do that, the violence against them and their children will decrease until we defeat it,” she told Vukani.
Some people survive by doing odd jobs and now they don’t have anything to eat. Others work as hawkers,” she said.
In embracing the gifts, the community sang and danced in a joyous mood.
Grateful for the gesture, Bishop Dumisani Qwebe said he was happy to be in partnership with such an organisations.
“First let me say this; as Nyanga Community Police Forum and police we are lucky to partner with that organisation and the likes of Gift of the Givers, Cesvi and others. They make our job easy. Now we have gender-based violence victims who are able to speak out through these organisations. To the APF, we thank them as part of the community. What they have done, giving out food to the poorest of the poor is a massive thing. People were excited about that,” he said.
Beneficiaries included gender-based violence victims, the elderly and the unemployed.