Durban - Organisations working with rural communities are battling to stave off hunger and malnutrition among adults and children after April’s deadly floods washed away their food gardens and livestock and destroyed their buildings.
They are appealing for food, paint, cement, wood and corrugated iron sheets to rebuild their lives.
Woza Moya, which works in the Ufafa Valley near Ixopo in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, says at least 100 mud huts were destroyed, while their food gardens were decimated in the floods.
Woza Moya director Sphesihle Radebe said they started four large communal gardens during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 because food parcels were not sustainable.
He said at least 40 people managed to make a living from the gardens while the carrots, cabbage and spinach they planted were also used to feed 60 children from the various early childhood development centres in the area.
“We need non-perishable foods because people are saving money to rebuild their homes,” he said.
Although they have started replanting seeds, Radebe said it was unknown when the vegetables would be ready to harvest and in the meantime there were many hungry people to feed.
He feared that the late harvest would result in severe food insecurity within the next few months.
Radebe said some roads in the Ufafa Valley were still impassable and residents could not access government facilities like hospitals, clinics or the departments of Home Affairs or Social Development for help.
In addition, the losses caused by the floods, the high unemployment rate as well as the ongoing impact of the riots and looting last year had left many people desperate.
“As the days pass the situation becomes more dire,” Radebe said.
Meanwhile, the Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE) organisation says its main centre in Umgeni Park was completely flooded and the workshop where they built wooden educational toys for fund-raising was destroyed.
The floods also led to widespread destruction at several of the early childhood development (ECD) centres they support.
Director of Programmes Teressa (COR: Subs) Ngobese said the government did not subsidise feeding programmes at ECD centres. She said only schools had nutrition centres and children up to the age of five were not funded.
She said at many of the centres, boundary walls had collapsed, buildings were flooded and repairs to toilets, jungle gyms and roofs had to be made because of storm damage.
Ngobese said each of their ECD centres took care of 30 to 100 children and they were all in need of food.
She said repairs to buildings and walls also had to take place as a matter of urgency to ensure the safety of children.
Those who would like to assist can contact Woza Moya on 039 834 0023 and TREE can be contacted on 031 579 4711.
The Independent on Saturday