PARTNERSHIP
WITH SPAZA SHOPS
Because Makers Valley Partnership celebrates enterprise, this project aims to help strengthen the local economy at the same time as supporting Food Security. Following consultations, two spazas in the Valley agreed to participate in a pilot project. As donor funding is raised, spazas are paid to provide nutritionally balanced food parcels to identified families. Friends and neighbours Connie Motsoeneng and Johanna Monama are managing the initiative. Connie was already working with children in Makers Valley, so she knows the area well. She says that many residents were unemployed and hungry for a long time, COVID-19 has only increased their distress. She wanted to help those in need, so when she was invited to manage the spaza initiative she happily agreed, and she recruited her friend Johanna to help.
Johanna immediately agreed to volunteer as she believes the work provides her with the opportunity to participate in a ‘mission of hope’ during these difficult times. Now when Connie and Johanna come across desperate living conditions, for example when they visited a one-room shack into which five hungry children were crammed, they feel that they are able to offer relief. They coordinate with the two spaza shop partners to ensure distribution of 40 food parcels each week. They do follow-ups with the recipient families to ensure that the system is working as intended and are very keen for the project fundraising team to raise as much funding as possible, so that more people can benefit. Johanna’s particular wish is that the Makers Valley model can be widely shared across the country, especially in rural areas where thousands more people are in need.
