Covid-19: MES Kempton Park faces troubling times

Multiple industries are grappling with the choice to shut down operations because of the coronavirus outbreak, especially non-profit organisations (NPOs) such as MES.

MES Kempton Park is facing these real challenges as they continue to serve the homeless and vulnerable inner city communities.

“There is a whole community of people who might not even be aware of what is happening around them – the homeless community. They make up over 100 000 people in Johannesburg alone and are found at every street corner, every park and homeless shelter,” says Leona Pienaar, CEO of MES.

MES acknowledges that in most cases the homeless communities are often subject to many communicable or pre-existing illnesses which often include elderly people and very young children.

“MES faces the real tough choices of whether to quarantine the people they serve, the challenge on how to protect staff and volunteers, or whether to shut down operations completely until the pandemic subsides,” says Pienaar.

What will MES do?

• Upscale internal communication initiatives to share hygiene and first-contact details for staff, volunteers and clients.

• Hand sanitiser will be available at all entry points to all facilities and in bathrooms.

• MES will continue to provide nutritious meals served at the canteens under strict hygiene control and will not have group meetings or discussion groups.

• People will be managed in smaller groups of less than 20 at different intervals. Where possible, food parcels will be distributed instead if they have access to food preparation facilities.

• If we suspect any infection, we will notify the relevant authorities and make available registers to assist with contact-tracing.

• MES’ after school centres, holiday programmes and training centres are closed from March 18 and will re-open on April 15. During this time they will provide healthy cooked lunch meals for the kids that can be collected at MES centres with formal arrangements with the youth leaders to ensure immune systems are boosted.

• Outreach meetings will be suspended until further notice.

• MES has a central email where staff, clients or volunteers need to report anyone who is suspected of having the virus or have tested positive to ensure contact-tracing protocols can be issued.

How can the public get involved?

MES urges the public to alert relevant authorities should a homeless person be found who might be suspected to have the virus.

Kemptonians can also get involved by sponsoring or donating much-needed necessities that can help keep up the immune system: healthy, fresh foods or food that does not require much preparation time and effort such as instant soups, 2-minute noodles, dried fruit, nuts, oranges.

• Supply of sanitisers, wipes, tissues, cleaning materials to assist with maintaining high standards of hygiene.

• Motivation or care packs, immune boosters and flu injections for staff to continue serving in these difficult times.