I left home early this morning, for St Peters, feeling quite anxious. The first two hours of our prep day had created a fair sized disturbance outside the church and I must admit I was expecting a small riot during the handover of the food today. I also had no idea if I was going to be returning home tonight, based on the threats of arrest I had received from the SAP, as a result of the disturbance. I sent my sister the numbers of my lawyer buddies and asked some very good fr

I don’t really know what to say about today. It was very hard. The pics and videos are a glimpse into the world of the foreigners who live amongst us, who serve us dinner and drinks, who guard our cars, work in hair salons and on the side of the road selling vegetables. And sometimes end up on the street. They are beautiful and community minded and look after each other while away from home, homes they have often escaped due to hunger and violence. They are suffering right no

Yesterday 7 of us headed into our beloved valley to hand out food parcels to a community who are really suffering due to the impact of Covid-19 and the lock down restrictions. These people are made up mainly of the elderly and young children and we CANNOT and WILL NOT stand by and allow them to suffer due to no fault of their own. To each and every one of you who has donated, shared posts etc etc we thank You, they thank You....from the bottom of our hearts ❤ Here are a few p

Another consignment of incredibly well made masks delivered this morning by Elizabeth Sim. Thank you so much to Elizabeth and all the other seamstresses out there who are doing all they can to protect the people in our communities. Well done ladies. Watch this space, if you are slightly less sewing literate and would like to make masks. The #50square initiative will be launched this week and we are going to supply all South Africans with the information necessary to make supe

Another amazing example of a Food Chain in action! Matthew Jacobs, a 17 year old young man from Westville identified the Bhambayi Project as a community he wanted to assist. Matt raised the money and went to the shops to buy a lot of food, which Ubuntu Army collected from his house and delivered to Sne and her team in Bhambayi. Within two hours of collecting Matt’s contribution, the food was distributed to the community. Food Chains are powerful and life changing for the star

Do we have any graphic designers/ illustrators amongst us to assist in creating a very simple “how to fold and tie a mask” sequence of graphics/ illustrations. Just simple folded fabric type graphics. No need for hands or anything complicated. This entire wordless sequence will be distributed, with the help of the department of health, as a single jpeg to communities, and really as many people as we can reach. Hopefully we can create a viral master piece that reaches everyone

Well done to everyone involved over 400 masks in 24 hours!! This is how you kick Corona in the ass. We’re onto something. All headed straight into the Ballito hot spot and the remainder distributed in the communities.

Bhambayi Food and Bedding Drop Another successful delivery of food, books and bedding to the crèche today. It was a beautiful day and the whole of Bhambayi seemed to be chilled and relaxed, and when I arrived all the young kids were laughing and playing. It was beautiful to see joy between people again. Illembe Frontline Workers A massive thank you to all the ladies who have contributed this week. I have just handed your 81 masks over to the chief pediatrician of the Illembe

Phoenix Child Welfare Food Chain A super busy day so far. Thank you to Phoenix Child Welfare for the kind donation of food hampers which all went to the crèche in Bhambayi for distribution to the desperate community members. Hunger is a real problem at the moment. You can help the by creating a Food Chain ( https://www.foodchainubuntuarmy.org/ ) with someone you know. The hampers don’t need to be extravagant. The starving are grateful for anything. And this is what a Food C

Alain has just stepped up as the Ubuntu Army coordinator for refugees (mainly Congolese and Rwandan) in Durban central. He has been living and working in Durban for the past 17 years and has been instrumental in helping compile and manage the list of desperate and starving refugees in the CBD. While food is becoming a priority, he is also going to assist us in distributing masks and soap to those in his community who are in need. Alain is also my contact person for the Food

Bhambayi A very wet Ubuntu Army delivery to Bhambayi today. Food, clothes, bedding, and a whole lot of Easter eggs. Well done to Mandy, Bhambayi Project and St Martin's Church for organizing the food. Thank you to the Pretorious family, to Wendy and to Pamela for contributions. The people we are reaching are truly grateful and inspired by the possibilities. A Catch Up Good morning Ubuntu Soldiers! I have been super busy and haven’t had the time or the energy to write this lon

Mask Materials Update Here is some interesting info on the fabric and materials required to make masks. It looks like, a filter material, embedded between two layers of fabric, seems to be the way to go. I’m not sure what that means to the people sewing out there, but definitely food for thought. We continue with our trips into Bhambayi tomorrow and donations are welcome. Check out www.ubuntuarmy.org for details on how to get involved and how to donate. Hungry Refugees We ha

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you’re all having (another) great day with your families. We are live! You can find us at www.ubuntuarmy.org . Please share far and wide and let’s get the spirit of Ubuntu flowing. A massive thank you to all of you who have supported this army of Ubuntu. You guys are the power and the guts behind what we are trying to do. This is your platform. Please use it. Let’s take the fight to the settlements, to the refugees, to the poor and the sick. Let’

What an incredible day. I spent today delivering food to Congolese and Rwandan refugees, throughout Durban. To classify these people as vulnerable is an understatement. A bucket of grains and cereals, and a bag of mielie meal is all that stands between them and starvation. It is sobering to think that there are people in Durban, right now, starving to death. In fact, 1 000 000 people in SA, face critical food shortages and starvation over the next month or two. Refugees rank

Thank you to Maria for coordinating the donation of 200 pairs of ladies shoes and to the residents of Plantations in Hillcrest for the donation of food, clothes and toys. Most of the clothes went to the Dennis Hurley foundation, while we took all the food (and a lot of shoes) to Bhambayi for distribution throughout the settlement.

A fantastic donation of another 40 super well made masks, made to the big red box on the verge, from the mysterious golden sticker seamstress/ seamster. Plantations Estate, Hillcrest Thank you to Maria for coordinating the donation of 200 pairs of ladies shoes and to the residents of Plantations in Hillcrest for the donation of food, clothes and toys. Most of the clothes went to the Dennis Hurley foundation, while we took all the food (and a lot of shoes) to Bhambayi for dist

Another drop at Siyathutuka Creche. Thabk you to everyone who contributed!

I am very happy to announce that the Malacca settlement became the first Ubuntu Army site where EVERY member of the community now has a mask. This really goes to show that when ordinary people put their minds to it, anything is possible. Well done to everyone who helped to make this happen. Please keep the masks coming. There are so many people who need. ❤️

I am setting up a mask and soap deposit station on my verge at 141 Adelaide Tambo Drive, Durban North tomorrow morning. If you have any contributions, please deposit them in the big red box. Apart from masks and soap, Dettol and sanitizer would also be super welcome. All contributions are going to distributed to the residents of the Bhambayi informal settlement, every Tuesday and Friday afternoon. I am also setting up a mask making material (fabric and elastic etc) drop-off a

Malacca Masked Members of the Malaccaa informal settlement with 40 new masks, once again sewn by Sofie Mazzotti. There is such a need in these communities for masks and soap. We need all we can get. If you have a sewing machine and a few hours to spare, please help us out.