It is hard for most people to imagine a daily struggle for food. The Viva team has witnessed sick children being sent to school, because they are fed 2 cooked meals there and there is no food at home.
We have seen teenage boys arrive starving at breakfast time, because the last meal they had was lunch at school the previous day.
We have seen young men running for kilometres to make it in time to a food distribution point in Central Johannesburg.
We have messages of thanks that read: "The food parcel from Viva was a life saver and came at just the right time." and "I had cooked a meal with the last food in the house and did not know where the next meal was going to come from. Then I got the call from Viva to collect food." "My grandchild arrived home from school with a food parcel today. We had no food left in the cupboards."
During the Pandemic sociologists began calling COVID19 the "Hunger Virus" as lockdowns robbed people of their only income. Every time the economy takes a hit, the poor feel it in their stomach.
We thank every donor who made it possible for Viva to distribute close to 3 million meals from March 2020 to December 2022. You made a big difference!