Residents of Eldorado Park, south of Johannesburg, say every day should be a Mandela Day and that people should strive to constantly help their fellow South Africans. The country marked Nelson Mandela International Day on Sunday.
Cheryl Pillay is a community leader and organises the Eldorado Park COVID Response team, that assists COVID-positive households with medical and psycho-social support. They also assist with care packs, food and basic medication.
She says in Eldorado Park, community members often wait up to six hours for an ambulance to arrive. Pillay says this initiative, operating under the Comeback Mission NGO, needs donations and medically trained volunteers.
“The moment they find out that they are positive, they don’t know what to do – so we go and do those packs also with breathing exercises. On average, we’re doing 12 to 15 callouts a day on a medical response – with regards to the COVID packs are between 20 to 25 packs a day that we’re delivering.”
Nelson Mandela Memorial Lecture by ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa
