Securing food through SMS campaign
The exhilarating launch featured an awareness trail walk in Modderfontein, and formalities and entertainment by Buti Green, the organisation’s mascot that will hype this project going forward.
With the effects of Covid-19 turning numerous individuals’ livelihoods upside down, a recently launched SMS campaign seeks to help the most vulnerable across Gauteng.
The Green Development Foundation (GDF), under the TELFA Group, launched this innovative concept called FURA – a word that is derived from the Venda language and means ‘to be satisfied’.
GDF, a non-profit entity plying its trade in the agricultural and engineering sectors, launched this initiative on 26 September with the aim to raise much-needed funds to bolster its food sustainability project for underprivileged settlements across the province, including Honeydew.
The exhilarating launch featured an awareness trail walk in Modderfontein, and formalities and entertainment by Buti Green, the organisation’s mascot that will hype this project going forward.
The founder and chairman of TELFA Group, Mulalo Thabela, also the brains behind this concept, is deeply committed to this initiative, which was made possible by a collaboration with Ekurhuleni Artisans and Skills Training Centre.
“After Covid-19 we realised there was a bigger gap in terms of the provision of food among the masses of the country. But we also realised it was key to come up with a solution that will be more sustainable in terms of addressing food security in the country. So we launched FURA with the aim of maximising food security at household level,” he explained.
He said people can SMS FURA to 48991, which costs only R10 per SMS. He added that another way to support the campaign is by donating old shoes in which they will plant a variety of flowers and sell them.
He also mentioned that individuals and organisation wishing to go above and beyond the minimum contribution are welcome to contact them for their banking details.
Besides Honeydew being the beneficiary, neighbouring Kya Sands, Eskom, Lion Park and Eskom informal settlements were part of the outreach list.
“GDF is a non-profit entity and all that is donated will go into our programmes,” Thabela assured.
He also cited that instead of buying and distributing food packs to these communities with the funds, they came up with an even better concept for the purpose of sustainability.
“Compared to going around and giving away food parcels, we realised that we needed to give the people something sustainable, so we came up with a concept called Nutrition in a Bucket where we put various types of veggies in a bucket. Most townships don’t have space to plant crops, but if they have a bucket or two, they can plant their own crops to feed their families,” he explained.
He further explained that their vision is to expand the concept to reach every corner of the country and the SADC region, including neighbouring Zimbabwe.
To learn more about this organisation, visit www.gdfsa.org/.
