Anthea Arendse, principal of Mizpah Educare Centre in Beacon Valley
Since the advent of Covid-19 we have continued to keep things together – all protocols are implemented and we managed to re-open in September, months after President Cyril Ramphosa’s announcement of the national lockdown.
We identified the need within our own community and with the help of funds and donations we could distribute food three times a week, in addition to five nutritional cooked meals.
We started feeding in April, set up a kitchen and still continue to support four other community kitchens in the area.
As a community principal and activist I’ve experienced the loss of family members and similarly have our staff and pupils due to Covid-19.
Parents cannot afford to pay fees.
Many of our parents and neighbours were hard hit by the lockdown, having been left unemployed or with salary cuts.
Hence we started the feeding project to see that our children are fed during this time. We serve breakfast and lunch every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.