While residents of several poor villages in rural Port St Johns continue to wait for government services like proper housing and clean water, a newly established NPO has made its mission to ensure struggling families at least do not go to bed on empty stomachs.
These include hundreds of impoverished families in Cwebeni village, described as one of the poorest communities in the Eastern Cape.
The Dispatch reported in January that the people of Cwebeni had sent a petition with nearly 1,000 signatures to President Cyril Ramaphosa and premier Oscar Mabuyane to intervene in what they described as a gross violation of their human rights.
They identified malnutrition, poverty and lack of clean water as some of the biggest challenges, with many families living in dilapidated mud houses that were not safe for habitation.
Since it was formally registered in late December, iThemba Kuluntu, loosely translated as Hope for Communities, has dedicated itself to providing poor families in Cwebeni and the neighbouring Hlamvana, Bholani, Vukandlule and Scambeni with food parcels and other necessities.
The NPO was founded by TJ Hanneman and his wife, Anke, together with some local residents such as Nosalathiso Petshana who act as the directors.
The Hannemans moved to Cwebeni three years ago.
“We live in this community, and we see their plight, we see the challenges they go through every single day,” Hanneman said this week.
“Many don’t even have enough food in their homes.
“It [NPO] has grown from personal acts of kindness into a formidable force for community support.
“We provide services including food, human rights education programmes, community profiling, support to local sports teams and preschool centres as well as identifying and addressing critical needs in partnership with local communities.”
He said their compassion extended to families living in dire conditions, without access to basic necessities such as clean piped water for cooking and drinking, proper sanitation and adequate housing.
“All of these families rely on social grants, many of the households are female-run or child-headed.
“We focus on supporting the most vulnerable and impoverished rural communities.”
So far, the organisation has managed to provide food parcels for more than 100 poor families in and around Cwebeni.
But Hanneman said that some families consisted of four to 22 family members that were all struggling and hoping for a better life.
In January, hundreds of people received food packages while iThemba Kuluntu had also partnered with SA Harvest to provide more food parcels to the families.
SA Harvest had provided more than 100 food parcels to the NPO for distribution to hungry families.
According to the NPO’s database, more than 500 families were in dire need of food in the villages.
“We have given food to some of these poor families about two or three times since December,” Hanneman said.
“Our goal is to feed all these struggling families every month.
“In total, we have transported over 4,800kg of food on foot, along cattle trails and rough paths to ensure it reached those most in need.”
In November, the SA Human Rights Commission recommended that Mabuyane declare a state of disaster due to high levels of child malnutrition in the province.
At least 161 infants and young children were said to have died in the past year from malnutrition.
Cwebeni Community Development Forum chair Nceba Mamve said many families in the area and surrounding villages had been trapped in poverty, despite the country celebrating 30 years of freedom.
“We work closely with the NPO and in one of the most tragic stories, we visited a family with 11 children, two female adults and a blind uncle.
“The family survives on a disability grant given to the uncle by the state.”
Mamve said some families had only enough food until mid-month and beyond that had to find other means of surviving.
“The issue of not having enough food is a real struggle around here.”
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