As the coronavirus (or COVID-19) continues to sow fear around the world, with the real-time tracker showing more than 219 000 confirmed cases and close to 9000 deaths, the stockpiling begins.

South Africa was hit hard on Sunday with the news that the president has declared a national state of disaster, and instead of stopping, thinking, and making a plan, many flocked to the shops to stock up on a lifetime’s supply of toilet paper, hand sanitiser and canned goods.

Experts say fear of the unknown is the root cause of panic buying, and basic rationality often flies out of the window.

By now you’ve had some time to reevaluate, and you’re probably feeling a little guilty, because, while you’re hiding within your fortress of canned beans, less privileged South Africans are going hungry.

Over 9 million school children rely on a daily meal from the National School Nutrition Program. For many of them, that’s the only thing they’ll eat that day.

Now that the schools are closed due to efforts to stem the spread of the virus, millions of kids don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

If you’d like to do something to help, check out this incredible initiative from Superiate, called ‘Cans with Purpose’:

Lee-Anne Liebenberg, Siv Ngesi, Gareth Cliff and Jeannie D are already on board, and the company is appealing to big businesses to put their best foot forward to help in these troubled times.

Over to Brad Stern, the man behind ‘Cans with Purpose’, talking about the project:

Cool, now that you know what it’s about, on to how you can get involved.

Cans with Purpose is donating all funds to Afrika Tikkun, which is using them to buy and deliver food to children in need.

To help out, you can donate directly to Afrika Tikkun, using the following banking details, or simply scan the QR code to donate via SnapScan:

Those banking details, again:

• Account Name: Afrika Tikkun NPC
• Bank Name: First National Bank
• Branch Code: 261251
• Account Number: 62049876719
• Swift Code: FIRNZAJJXXX

And that QR Code:

Simple.

For more details, head on over to Superiate.

The only way we’re going to make it out of this pandemic in one piece, is by working together and helping each other out.

In the words of our president – “this is the most definitive Thuma Mina moment for our country”.

Let’s all respond to this call for common action.