Ivory Park residents receive assistance during lockdown
Locals receive food parcels during the lockdown.
The community of Ivory Park received essential food parcels from the Social Development Department at Hikhensile Clinic and from the local community centre on April 2.
The dedicated team of the ward committee and ward councillor led the distribution of the food parcels. Locals queued at Hikhensile Clinic to collect food parcels from social workers and nurses who assisted with the distribution.
The parcels were mainly vegetables since street vendors who sell these are closed during the lockdown.
Local resident Linda Tetyana, from Ivory Park Extension 9 who collected her vegetables from the clinic, said she went to the clinic to get her child her 12-month vaccination, and luckily she found people being given the food parcels.
“We usually used to see this handout of food parcels from the clinic, however, at some point it stopped. In most cases, they would give to the elderly and the needy families to offer them that necessary support,” Tetyana said.
“For me, it is the third time I came to collect and it has been a great contribution in our stock of food during this lockdown,” added Tetyana.
Ward 133 councillor Julia Gololo said, “There was this family I visited. They had nothing and they were happy that we assisted them and at least they will have something to eat for the duration of the lockdown.
“This is a social development programme where health workers from the clinic identified those in need and the elderly, from then we created our database.
“Those who came to the community hall to collect were newly identified by the ward leadership. We gave them as soon as they arrived to avoid long queues as we are practicing social distancing.
“We gave 174 packages at the hall to families who were identified and Tshidi Maponya, the social worker, has vowed to bring more next time as there is a need from the community. A group of individuals could not get the packages and as a result, I spent R700 from my pocket so they could buy something for themselves,” said Gololo.
