Stronger together to empower communities during Covid 19
Covid 19 Update
As the current global pandemic continues to unfold, we have recognised the importance of working together to empower communities, now more than ever before. While we remain dedicated to upholding conservation initiatives throughout Africa, we also feel called to support local communities who have not been able to work and are struggling to put food on the table and feed their families.
With this in mind we have co-ordinated a number of initiatives from the making of masks to providing much needed food hampers to team members in Namibia, KZN and the Eastern Cape.
Alleviating hunger
We applied for funding from the Accor’s ALL Heartist Fund and the money received was used to provide 500 food hampers. These were delivered to the Mantis Collection’s team members, based at Mantis Biyela Lodge and Mantis Mthembu Lodge in the Umfolozi Park in KZN, families working on properties in the Eastern Cape as well as families and community members around the Zambezi Queen Collection, based in Namibia.
The hampers differed depending on the need – some were put together in consultation with a professional dietician, others provided much needed staples, but all intended to feed a family of four for a month.
Beyond food parcels
Due to the lack of tourism, the women from a tiny settlement of Kylemore in the Western Cape, who usually design and sew our animal mascots, were without work. We had to be creative in finding a solution to keep our business partners sewing and earning a living and are pleased to report that the seamstresses have temporary changed their business model and are making masks out of Shweshwe cotton. The masks are made up of 3 layers – according to the DoH guidelines – and are available in four sizes.
These masks can be ordered on our website and for every mask bought we are donating one to the Livingstone Hospital. For Mandela Day we made an initial donation of 500 masks to support workers at Livingstone Hospital.
