Covid Community Support
Caring for Parks and People
For many of us, a visit to our national parks is a pilgrimage. A chance to escape the rat-race and spend time reconnecting with nature and admiring its pristine beauty.
To get there, we often pass local communities whose livelihoods are inextricably linked to the parks; and the tourists, who – under normal circumstances – flock to them.
As Jane Goodall put it “when we put local communities at the heart of conservation, we improve the lives of people, animals and the environment.”
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, tourism has dried up, with drastic repercussions for surrounding communities, with many families now in dire straits.
As passionate supporters of our parks, we would like to help these people during these trying times.
As South African National Parks (SANParks) CEO Fundisile Mketeni says,
“This period requires all of us to join hands to assist the most vulnerable of society in our country where children, unemployed women and the elderly living with small children are most affected”
According to a SANParks media release issued on 19 May 2020, an estimated R13 million will be required to purchase food parcels, hygiene products, education materials and water tanks for the approximately 7500 families bordering national parks.
(Source: https://www.sanparks.org/about/news/?id=58063).
At a time like this, please join us in helping our vulnerable families adjoining the parks who are struggling to put food on the table.
Funds will be allocated on a needs-based approach and will include, inter alia¸ food, hygiene products and water tanks.
Photos ©SANParks
