The Emancipation Movement of Afrikans (EMA) has officially kicked off its annual fundraising holiday drive for child-headed households across the country.
This marks the third year of EMA doing its holiday drive, having started in 2021.
According to the organization, this fundraising holiday drive was triggered by the reality of seeing many children struggle to get food during the December holidays.
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Recognizing that whenever public schools are closed, there is often no one to provide food for needy children, EMA decided to take the initiative. Furthermore, they were driven by knowing South Africa’s festive tradition where most children take pride in receiving Christmas clothes and gifts.
“We recognized that often during the holiday season people are happy with their families, enjoying food, buying new clothes, etc. This had us wondering about children who live alone who have lost their parents. How are they enjoying the festive season? Who buys them clothes?
“Hence we decided to embark on this initiative to help close the gap and make some children’s holiday season truly festive,” EMA said.
Besides donating cash and vouchers, members of the public can assist by adopting a family or a child from the identified households, to provide basics like toiletries and sanitary pads for girls.
“They can also provide guidance and mentor these children to help mold them into upstanding citizens for the future. They could teach them skills like sewing, nail tech, steel work, and woodwork.
“We also would like for them to learn how to grow their own food and start businesses. Private companies can contribute by coming together to assist more of these families as we are not able to help all the families referred to us by various communities,” EMA appealed.
