Excitement levels were high when a group of residents in Winterveld, northwest of Pretoria, saw a bright yellow chopper land in front of an orphanage and daycare centre to deliver food.
A group of Winterveld community members help offload food from a helicopter flown by members of the Covid Flight team that donates supplies to disadvantaged communities during lockdown.
The Bana Ba Kgosi centre for orphans and vulnerable children, where the food was delivered, usually looks after the children of Winteveld on school days. The centre has been providing meals for the children on a daily basis for more than 10 years. Molefe and her son, Lebo, who works with her, reached out to businessman Menno Parsons, chief executive of Master Power Technologies and a pilot for The Covid Flight mission.
“He said they had to turn people away. I got a few friends together and one guy bought the first ton of mealie meal himself. A whole lot of my friends started putting funding together and purchasing food. We did a few flights to get food there [Winterveld].” "The next three weeks will be taxing on us, but a community standing together against this virus is something special. President Cyril Ramaphosa was brave to go through this [declaring a lockdown], so we must support him,” Parsons said.
“We reached out to key role players, including the departments of transport and health, and they issued us with permits to operate. We rely on sponsorships and help from communities to carry out the missions,” he said.
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