The Bangladeshi community of Cape Town donated non-perishable food to the value of R450 000 to boost the City’s Covid-19 relief efforts.
At the handover at Parow civic centre on Friday April 17, vice-president of the Bangladeshi Community of Cape Town, Montasim Rahman said it took one week to donate truckloads of food to collect the items which had been donated by 60 Bangladeshi businesses. “We are all in this together. This is the right thing to do,” he said, promising that this would not be the end of their goodwill.
Mayor Dan Plato expressed his gratitude for the much-needed donation, describing it as a “wonderful display of the warm community spirit that we have here in Cape Town”.
“The Bangladeshi community have opened their hearts at a time of great need. This coronavirus is something that we all need to fight against, and I’m very grateful for everyone who has come forward with donations for those in need during this difficult time,” said Mr Plato.
And he warned that we should not underestimate the coronavirus. “It’s a killer. And the worst of it is waiting around the corner. According to the medical fraternity, hundreds might die and thousands will be infected. We don’t want what we see around the world. Yesterday there were 900 Covid-19 deaths in one country in one day. Britain had 710 people die in one day,” said Mr Plato.
Friend of the Bangladeshi community Anton Peacock was approached by them when they wanted to make a donation of food to benefit people who would benefit from the donation. Mr Peacock said he had been working with the Bangladeshi community for many years as they had been donating food for soup kitchens. He then contacted the Mayor’s office to find where the greatest need was.
The donated goods include items such as flour, maize, sugar, baked beans, rice, cooking oil, porridge, and soap, among other items which will be packaged into 1 000 hampers. Mr Plato said local ward councillors, would help distribute these to residents in of the different communities, NGOs and soup kitchens across the Cape Metro who are best placed to provide a warm meal to vulnerable communities in need.
If you would like to make a donation to help someone in need, send an email to disaster.donations@capetown.gov.za