Thank you for your interest in this initiative.

How do we ensure vulnerable families have enough to live during this difficult lockdown time and beyond without compromising social distancing and human dignity?

Amakhaya Amabini has a plan and you can easily sign up below.

We believe pairing two households (one that has a bit to share with one that needs a little extra) is a win-win:

1. It promotes dignity: households will be able to shop for what they need. A few hundred rands a week would make a massive, direct, and immediate difference.

2. It promotes physical-distancing and avoids crowded central food points.

3. It alleviates pressure on NPOs/NGOs/feeding schemes while supporting the retail economy.

4. Money transfers and online food vouchers are easy to do from anywhere. Not bound by geography

5. It does not rely on complicated delivery channels to get food to others.

6. It fosters relationships between families/households. It’s not a one-way interaction, but also about building supportive relationships and connections across economic barriers, especially during times of disconnect.

Are you a household who has a bit to share with another household?

Become a Blue Household supporting a Green household
Choose R100, R200, R250, or R400 weekly over 8 weeks to help a household that has lost income.

You can:
1. Buy Shoprite vouchers
2. Buy prepaid electricity for your household’s meter
3. Buy data (please check with your household for their service provider)
4. Send cash to a cellphone number via FNB eWallet, Standard Bank instant Money, Absa Cashsend, Capitec send cash, Nedbank Quickpay
5. EFT. If both households have a bank account, you can deposit money directly into their account

Even if you are overseas, grocery vouchers and data are very easy to do via your debit/credit card. We're looking at overseas instant cash transfer options too.

How will you know the family you help is a family in need?

We’ve already identified 50 eligible Green Households through community work and community organisations. These are families who are currently falling through the cracks and not receiving much help from other sources. This pilot with 50 households is running with Ottery CAN. Should the pilot prove the model successful, we will roll it out to other areas.

Next Steps

If you’re keen to register as a Blue household, please complete the Google form below

We’ll send you a welcome SMS with the number of your paired household as well as a suggested introductory message to send to them. We will also send a weekly SMS reminder for the next 8 weeks. We know data privacy is paramount, so we’ll keep your data safe and certainly not share it with any third parties.

We recommend a steady weekly commitment. You can sign-up for your chosen amount of between R100 - R400 a week, but you should commit to 8 weeks minimum. Of course, there is nothing stopping you from continuing beyond the 8 weeks or sending more, if/when you can. We also understand our world is so uncertain right now, and if your personal circumstances change please let us know, so we can find another Blue Household to take over.

We are simply facilitating the process on a volunteer basis, there is no admin fee and we do not handle any money.

We welcome your feedback on this project. We want to scale up this idea, but first, we need to know it works.

*Please note, that this would not be a tax-deductible contribution as each household is not an NPO. We are looking at ways that we can get retailers and government on board to support this process in a useful and productive way, and will keep you posted with those developments

We know this is a big commitment, and THANK YOU very much. We can get through this crisis TOGETHER.

Please see our Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/AmakhayaAmabini