“Winter is the year’s harshest season and thousands of children from Cape Town’s disadvantaged communities don’t attend school because of a lack of basic necessities to keep them dry, warm and fed for the severe winter months,” says Community Chest of the Western Cape CEO Lorenzo Davids.
“The primary objective of the Winter Readiness campaign is to inspire individuals and businesses to take action to help alleviate the situation of its most vulnerable citizens during the severe winter months.”
Davids says that Community Chest wants to engage with individuals and businesses to encourage them to contribute in the form of purchasing children’s winter survival kits comprising drimacs/raincoats and wellington boots for a cost of R350 per kit.
“Our goal is to raise R750,000 so that children from areas such as the Cape Flats that are prone to flooding have waterproof clothing to ensure their attendance at pre-school this winter,” he explains.
“At Community Chest, we encourage the early education of children and are encouraged to see the rise in the number of children accessing early childhood development (ECD) programmes such as formal and informal crèches, as well as sports and playgroups that provide holiday programmes and stimulate development. However, we remain concerned with the high absenteeism in winter due to lack of appropriate clothing.”
He continues: “One of our major focus areas is early childhood development and our research and feedback from social development representatives is that keeping children dry in winter is a big challenge in the Western Cape and a big reason for the high absenteeism figures in the region over the winter months.”
In disadvantaged communities, attendance at pre-school is key as most parents work and need their children to be taken care of while they are at work. “Sometimes parents have no choice but to send their kids to school even when they are sick so it is of utmost importance that they are warm and dry,” Davids adds.
For more information, go to www.comchest.org.za.
