Mandela Day comes early for battling Livingstone Hospital

Mandela Day comes early for battling Livingstone Hospital

Mandela Day comes early for battling Livingstone Hospital

Mandela Day came early for Livingstone Hospital staff when they received 500 masks from a “buy one, donate one” mask project run by the Community Conservation Fund Africa.

Community Conservation Fund Africa executive director Di Luden said the organisation had decided to bring its Mandela Day initiative forward in light of the dire and immediate need for masks at the facility.

“It was the most humbling experience to visit the hospital and interact with the staff, who are exhausted,” Luden said.  “Though coping with the increasing numbers of Covid-19 infections, they [health workers] remain cheerful, upbeat, optimistic and we’re truly grateful for the donation.”

 

 

The outer layer of the donated masks is100% cotton, the middle layer is made of Spunbond interfacing which inhibits the transfer of small particles but does not inhibit breathing, while the inner layer is made of polyester.

The donation was arranged through Dr Emma Gardiner and Tania Muthen.

Staff at the handover said the masks would be given to the clinical support services, with the remainder to be used by emergency department personnel and for patients arriving at the hospital without masks.

“The masks are handmade by women in a job creation project, for women who normally sew animal mascots for tourists,” Luden said.  “The lack of tourism and the increase in demand for masks made them adapt their business model to sew masks not only to generate a much-needed income, but they also wanted to assist in trying to contain the spread of Covid-19.

“The masks are available to the general public and for each pack purchased, one will be donated to a local hospital in need.”  The masks are available in four sizes: men’s, ladies, teenagers (age seven to 12), in either a Shweshwe or washed denim look.

Luden said: “We are appealing to everyone to support this initiative, it will not only protect yourself and the people you interact with, but will ensure the survival for a small group of women and their dependents in Kylemore.”

Luden said the initiative would also help provide a much-needed supply of masks for hospitals in the Eastern Cape.

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https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2020-07-02-mandela-day-comes-early-for-battling-livingstone-hospital/

Food hampers for tourism employees in Zambezi

Food hampers for tourism employees in Zambezi

Food hampers for tourism employees in Zambezi

The Community Conservation Fund Africa (CCFA) and Accor’s ALL Heartist Fund have assisted 225 of the Mantis Collection’s team members and their families working in the Zambezi region, by providing food hampers to them.

The CCFA has had its hands full while tourism is on hold due to the Coronavirus, helping communities who rely on tourists for survival. An application to the ALL Heartiest Fund to help support team members in and around The Zambezi Queen Collection by Mantis (ZQC), which includes the Zambezi Queen, Ichingo Chobe River Lodge and the Chobe Princesses, was made. The fund application included helping families who live in the surrounding villages of Impalila, Kaskika and Kabulabula.

These team members are reliant on the income received from the ZQC in the form of salaries or community leases. The temporary closure of the ZQC in March this year resulted in payment of leases being stopped and the loss of the tourism income stream.

CCFA took the initiative with this donation to pack and deliver food hampers to the 225 team members. The hampers were put together in consultation with a professional dietician and are designed to feed a family of four for a month.

“Due to the loss of income from our business being closed, together with logistical problems of access to the nearest town by water being 98km away, it became essential that we deliver food to these communities,” says Adrian Gardiner, chair of CCFA. “Our thanks go to our partners, Accor and the ALL Heartist Fund, which has enabled us to support our teams and local communities.”

“The need is great,” says Di Luden, executive director of CCFA. “Without the generosity of the Accor and the ALL Heartist Fund as well as other funders, we would not be able to assist the most vulnerable. We are truly grateful that in some small way we have made a difference in the lives of the 225 families who are a vital part of the Mantis Zambezi Queen Collection team.”

Click below link to read feature

https://www.we.com.na/news/food-hampers-for-tourism-employees-in-zambezi2020-06-29

Mandela Day comes early for battling Livingstone Hospital

Mask-making project will benefit Bay health workers

Mask-making project will benefit Bay health workers

Port Elizabeth non-profit company Community Conservation Funds Africa (CCFA) has launched a programme geared at making face masks more fun and accessible during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the tourism industry devastated by the national lockdown and little hope the industry will pick up any time soon, CCFA has partnered with Baby Cuddles, a Western Cape company that designs and produces animal mascots for CCFA, to make masks for sale and to donate.

Since the lockdown, the team of seamstresses working at Baby Cuddles in Kylemore, have had to adapt and change their core business.  CCFA executive director Di Luden said the group of six women had to adapt to making masks rather than soft toys aimed at tourists.  Luden said for every mask purchased, one would be donated to Livingstone Hospital.  Following the department of health guidelines for making masks, Baby Cuddles uses the same Shweshwe cotton used for the mascots, and an alternative washed-denim look, to make the three-layer masks.

Melanie Laing of Baby Cuddles said: “I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to work with a team of very talented, wonderful women who are always happy and full of smiles, no matter what life throws at them.  “This time life threw them a pandemic but, as with so many South Africans, we have turned this situation around and are now making mascots into masks.”  With the demand for masks increasing since government regulations were introduced making it mandatory to wear them at all times, Baby Cuddles offers masks in four sizes, including  men’s, women’s, teenagers and children.

 

Click below link to read feature

https://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2020-05-17-mask-making-project-will-benefit-bay-health-workers/