The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has left many NGOs in desperate need of funding and private donors. Many have shut doors and sent workers home, while orphans in their care have been moved to other capable centers.
Now as Christmas approaches, some NGOs are having to grapple with dwindling donors and more mouths to feed.
Christmas is a time for giving. However, more and more people are dependent on social relief for survival.
The COVID-19 pandemic and other challenges have made this a struggle for caring organisations. The Luvuyo Orphanage in Soshanguve north of Pretoria, which opened its doors in 2003, is not exempt from the current struggles.
The remaining employee from Luvuyo Orphanage Nozipho Bila says, “The kids are not here because we are still complying and I can say it’s sad. Since we started, this is our first experience not having children at this time. Especially to our other sponsors, people who assist in taking care of the children. It is not easy to explain this because we don’t when will this thing end.”
Caregivers at Luvuyo Orphanage were last paid in March this year after the Social Development Department withdrew funding due to compliance issues.
Bila says they’re trying everything in their power to have the impasse resolved.
“They wanted the surety of this place as it does not belong to us. So we still working on that. They want to be sure that when the children are here, we won’t we won’t be evicted anytime because they are in the best interest of the child.”
Another NGO in Krugersdorp says the situation is dire, especially now that schools and soup kitchens are closed.
Ronel Snyman from Cradle of Hope says, “It is a terrible time as schools are closed. Soup kitchens are closed so many people lost their jobs due to COVID and the impact on our schools that are closed. Soup kitchens are closed. The impact is quite devastating. We are flooded on a daily basis with pleads for food parcels. Our shelter for women is overflowing with GBV victims and their children as well as single mothers and the need is just so desperate out there.”
While other NGOs have started distributing food parcels and toys, it will be the very first time staff at Luvuyo Orphanage Home spend Christmas without the children at the center. All that remains is empty beds and a quiet recreational park.
In the meantime, NGOs are calling for government, including the Social Development Department, to ease lockdown and compliance regulations in the interest of their beneficiaries, while also appealing for private donors to come to their rescue.
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