Covid-19 emergency response

Following the national lockdown announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March 2020, the Trust devised an emergency response plan. It was understood that the emergency response would not necessarily align with the pre-existing plans, but would remain strategically aligned to the extent possible.

In summary, support was structured as follows: food packages or food relief was provided to 25 ECD practitioners/operators from both Daniëlskuil and Postmasburg communities, hand sanitisers were distributed to 1200 households without water access, and 2000 community healthcare workers were provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) supplies.

Several online meetings were held with local partners throughout this process, to discuss the logistics and understand how the situation was evolving in the community. The partners committed themselves to assist with the distribution.

All the equipment, consisting of N95 masks, gloves, sanitisers and food parcels, were delivered between 17 and 18 May 2020.

Branding and Arts Project

In the 2020/21 financial years, the PHT also facilitated the Schools Arts and Branding Programme. This initiative sought to introduce and motivate learners to think outside of the mainstream career options by encouraging them to view “Art” as one of the career options. The Trust was looking to redesign its logo so that it could represent what it stands for.

Participation was open to learners from grades 6 to 9 in the schools of the Trust host communities. The Trust worked with the local graphic designer firm, Borake Netserve (Pty) Ltd, to produce a video to provide basic information about the Trust. Teachers then used it to facilitate an introductory graphic design session that provided learners with a background to the Trust and its aims.

The Trust received several entries from the learners, from which the top three logo designs were selected. On 23 August 2021, the community trustees had a mini-prizegiving ceremony. The top three learners received tablets valued at R2500.00 each. The prize was used as an incentive for learners to continue their passion for art-based careers. Laerskool Postmasburg, as the winning school, won the full amount of prize money: R10,000.00.