Relieving Distress
When an 11 month old boy first presented to Mentor Mothers, he was significantly underweight. With no source of income, his teenage mother was forced to give inadequate amounts of very poor quality food to her new baby. Another two year old child with TB, living with his grandmother, was also malnourished. No Child Support Grant (CSG) and poor food security meant he often had to take his TB treatment on an empty stomach.
These situations are unfortunately not uncommon in the communities surrounding Zithulele, which led Kate Sherry who lived and worked in Zithulele for a few years, to start the Relief of Social Distress Fund (RSDF) in 2010. The fund was established to offer emergency short term relief and support to families in dire need, and now falls under the Jabulani umbrella.
Mentor Mothers (MM), a local Philani operated NGO, is the main referral source for this fund, as frontline workers in the community are best placed to identify families who could best benefit from the RSDF. The guiding principle of the fund is “a hand-up and not a hand-out” with small, low profile, short term funds or food parcels offering emergency relief to families while we help them ‘get back on their feet’.
JRHF manages this fund very carefully. Specific criteria, amounts and duration periods have been put in place to ensure that this fund is not misused and that only families in extreme need benefit from it.
Through short-term support from the fund, the underweight 11 month old is doing well. The family has managed to organise a CSG with the money and purchase better quality complementary foods. The two year old has also had support from the RSDF through the supply of food parcels while the family has now applied for a CSG.
Seeds for the food parcels have been kindly donated by Starke Ayres and funding for the RSDF comes from others in the Zithulele community as well as outside funders. The RSDF is a good example of how relatively small amounts of support can make a great impact.
These situations are unfortunately not uncommon in the communities surrounding Zithulele, which led Kate Sherry who lived and worked in Zithulele for a few years, to start the Relief of Social Distress Fund (RSDF) in 2010. The fund was established to offer emergency short term relief and support to families in dire need, and now falls under the Jabulani umbrella.
Mentor Mothers (MM), a local Philani operated NGO, is the main referral source for this fund, as frontline workers in the community are best placed to identify families who could best benefit from the RSDF. The guiding principle of the fund is “a hand-up and not a hand-out” with small, low profile, short term funds or food parcels offering emergency relief to families while we help them ‘get back on their feet’.
JRHF manages this fund very carefully. Specific criteria, amounts and duration periods have been put in place to ensure that this fund is not misused and that only families in extreme need benefit from it.
Through short-term support from the fund, the underweight 11 month old is doing well. The family has managed to organise a CSG with the money and purchase better quality complementary foods. The two year old has also had support from the RSDF through the supply of food parcels while the family has now applied for a CSG.
Seeds for the food parcels have been kindly donated by Starke Ayres and funding for the RSDF comes from others in the Zithulele community as well as outside funders. The RSDF is a good example of how relatively small amounts of support can make a great impact.