Gift of the Givers helps hard-hit community
THE Gift of the Givers Foundation yesterday donated medical products worth more than R2 million to the drought-stricken community of Aberdeen in the Eastern Cape.
The humanitarian aid organisation also donated over 475 food parcels and hygiene packs to farmers and farm workers in the area.
Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said the foundation would drill boreholes at hospitals to assist drought-stricken communities in sourcing water.
Sooliman said the Mthatha pharmacy depot would also receive R2m worth of medicines to support the health department, and he promised more medicines would be donated.
“In addition, 30 hospitals will send vehicles, from up to six hours’ away, to Graaff-reinet (today) to collect bulk food and hygiene items, linen savers, adult and baby diapers for patients, and PPE (personal protective equipment), pulse oximeters and non-contact thermometers for medical staff,” he said.
The foundation has been assisting various communities in the Eastern Cape over the past year, as the coronavirus pandemic compounded the dire situation in the province.
In December last year, it donated more than 900 oxygen machines to hospitals in the Eastern Cape, leaving hospital executives relieved and ecstatic.
The foundation also converted an unused wing at Makhanda’s (Grahamstown) Settlers Hospital into a 20-bed Covid-19 isolation facility.
The hospital was equipped with oxygen points and high-care isolation facilities.
In February, the foundation assisted the struggling Adelaide community in the Amathole District, facilitating the creation of six more boreholes and providing 400 food parcels.
The area around Adelaide had been drought-stricken since 2017, while poor infrastructure had left the area without water since 2014, Sooliman said.
“The desperation in the farming community is heart-rending in the face of an unending drought. Government budget cuts, Covid-19, job losses and a lack of rainfall has exacerbated the challenges in the province.
“(Yesterday) food parcels and hygiene packs were provided to 475 farmers and their workers from Aberdeen at our logistics centre in Graaffreinet,” he said.
Sooliman said the organisation had visited several hospitals in the province to determine which facilities needed infrastructure upgrades. “Government departments and communities welcome our intervention in these tough times, given the increasing financial crisis facing all sectors of South African society.”