Lesedi la Batho Social Relief Fund, South Africa

Our outreach team are always working in communities to change one life at a time through psycho-social support as well as providing other social relief such as assisting with Identification, placement in schools and food distributions.

In the month of August we conducted a food parcel distributions drive were 90 food parcels were distributed to families with financial difficulties to create a relief off their life. The food parcel contained:

• Cooking oil
• Tea bags
• Sunlight Green Bar Soap
• Soya mince
• 2x Tin fish
• 2x baked Beans
• Sugar
• Rice

The process of identifying recipients of the food parcels is led by our Outreach team who interact with financially disadvantaged individuals on a daily base through one-on-one sessions, support group sessions and sometimes from calls from local schools and the community at large to understand their needs and customise the offering.  We do this to ensure that these resources are given to the families that need them the most. Our GBV support group member, young mothers, support group team leaders as well as families identified by schools are considered first.

In early October we assisted one of our GBV survivors with starting a business selling perfumes as a means to provide support to reaching her goal of Financial freedom.. On the first day she sold one box which consists of 30 perfumes getting to a good start. We would like to wish Sarie the best on her new venture to becoming financially independent.

All this wonderful work has only been possible because of the generousity of our donors. Thank you for joining our course to change the community one life at a time. 

Our team has been hard at work, working with the community to create change in the community, one life at a time.

Recently, a family reached out to us expressing a need for support for their relative with mental health challenges. The person was assessed by our social workers, given a referral letter, and accompanied to the local clinic for further clinical assessments. The clinic then referred the patient to a hospital, where they received medical attention, and their progress will be monitored closely.

We provide families with support in various ways, with the priority being to keep the family together. We had the opportunity to assist two young children gain access to education. One of our Gender-Based Violence support group members referred us to the home of a young mother, whose children were not able to attend school. Her twin children who were supposed to be in grade 1 had not been attending school since the beginning of the school year. Our social workers conducted a home visit, during which, they learned that four of her children had not yet been documented and therefore do not have birth certificates. The Twins were assisted with placement in a school, secured transport, school uniform, stationery and a food parcel. Our social workers are currently assisting the mother with applying for birth certificates for the four children as this becomes a lengthy process because it was not done in time.

The death of a child is a life event that many of us are never prepared for. A young Grade 12 learner from a neighbouring school passed away a few weeks ago. Expectedly, the family did not have the resources in place to have a burial for their child. The news reached our social auxiliary worker who reached out to the Department of Education-District office, the school he attended and the ward councillor. Our team met with the family to find out more about their needs and Lesedi la Batho was able to assist with groceries, while the ward councillor and Department of Education provided other needs for the burial.

We would like to thank all our donors because none of the wonderful work we have done to make an impactful change in our community would have been possible if it was