By Wen Hung | Project Leader
Mrs. Mabuza lives with her 7 grandchildren and her youngest daughter usually. All grandchildren study at Mabhahhu Catholic Primary School and four of them are from her eldest son who has a mining job in South Africa and 3 of them are from her elder daughter who is a factory worker at the other city. Her youngest daughter is 16 years old as a grade three student at secondary school. However, her son was unable to work in South Africa and returned home weeks ago due to COVID-19 pandemic.
“I am a small-scale vegetable farmer in my garden and used to farm for a living, and I could sustain my family life previously. However, it has been changed by COVID-19 pandemic and I ran out of money and groceries by faced the financial difficulty after the country lockdown. My grandchildren and daughter ate dinner at home and they were having school meals for breakfast and lunch before, but all of us have all meals at home now. Even I have more family members to help my farm work, I am unable to buy seeds or seedlings and it results in temporary food shortages in my family.
I also worry about my grandchildren and daughter because they are unable to study now. Even there are online education programs available but we have no devices and network to participate. Kids feel stressed, because they are not able to see friends, and it's harder to learn at home. My daughter is scared for the final examination as well. I hope the world could return to be normal as soon as possible.
At this critical moment, we are grateful to receive TFCF’s assistance. On my family's behalf and mine I would like to express our heartfelt thanks. Thank you very much for your extremely generous donation to me and my family.”
- Message fromMrs. Mabuza, the grandmother of the project beneficiaries
** Mabuza is the fake name due to the fact that the privacy and safety of individuals is respected.
Keep us moving forward during COVID-19 outbreak!
It has been almost 8 months since the new kitchen was completed at Mabhahhu Catholic Primary School. The school kitchen has provided over 130 meals twice a day since it was built. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide school meals to children currently. The school closure happened on March 18 due to COVID-19 pandemic, and we are not allowed to open the school kitchen and cook meals for students or children in the community now.
Eswatini, like the rest of countries in the world, faces an unprecedented and tough situation currently. The Kingdom of Eswatini has announced the partial lockdown to begin on March 27 and it has changed the way of life as we are used to. It has adversely affected educational system, and the impact of school closure is more severe for disadvantaged children and their families including children’s education and nutrition.
At the moment, all children are staying at home, and we will keep contacting all children and families we assist and care about their health conditions and seek any opportunities we can help them in the community.
With gratitude,
Wen Hung
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