- Stellenbosch resident Jolene Samuels has started a vaccine campaign raffle that rewards people for getting their jabs
- The campaign was started to encourage people to go and get their vaccines.
- Raffle draws take place daily.
A Cape Winelands resident has started a social media campaign to get her community to vaccinate and in return she rewards them for getting their jabs.
Jolene Samuels, 35, from Stellenbosch said what started out as a joke among her 4 000 Facebook friends quickly turned into one of the most talked-about initiatives on social media.
She decided to start a raffle after she got her jab when those in the 35+ age group were allowed to get their vaccinations.
"Last week Thursday I posted on my Facebook that I have some items at home that I'm willing to give away if people can provide proof that they went to get their vaccine, just to lift the mood, since I was feeling quite chuffed that I had finally gotten my jab," she said.
Within minutes, some of her Facebook contacts had sent her proof, saying they got their jab.
"It's amazing that people out there are wanting to donate towards this vaccine campaign. My phone has not stopped ringing since the campaign raffle started spreading like wildfire on social media," she added.
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According to Samuels, people across the country have now gotten on board wanting to donate items for her campaign.
"I've given away perfume, homemade rotis, Tupperware, coffee beans, alcohol, airtime, tracksuits and we've recently been donated a cash prize of R500 that will be up for grabs soon," she added.
The agricultural training consultant said draws for the raffles happened daily.
"I do the draws based on items I have at my disposal. On Wednesday we had three draws, wine, airtime, and Tupperware; tomorrow it's airtime, craft beer, and a tracksuit that was donated by a small business in Mitchells Plain," added Samuels.
All prizes were donated by the public.
Samuels stressed that even though the campaign had been wonderful in uplifting people's spirits with the free gifts, she received verbal abuse from anti-vaxxers labelling her a "mass murderer" and calling her a "witch" for encouraging people to get vaccinated.
"I've taken a break from the raffle draws over the past weekend just to recoup. It's been very overwhelming," she added.
Kuben Nair, 39, Parkhurst, Johannesburg donated 48 bottles of beer to the campaign raffle as he believed the vaccination was the way out of this pandemic.
"I know that over a quarter of people are hesitant, especially young people. I believe they aren't anti-vax, but just need better information, assurance, and motivation. I've been trying to do my bit helping to inform people," he said.
Nair decided to get involved after he saw the engagement and excitement Samuels' raffles garnered and among younger people waiting for September so they could qualify for the raffle.
One lucky draw winner from Ottery, Nina Onkruid, said she won perfume in the draw and was happy with her gift.
"It's exciting in the sense that more and more people are now motivated to get the vaccine and I think that's the idea," she added.
Waltina Johnston from Blackheath won coffee beans from the raffle recently and said she was "over the moon" with the prize.
"I'm a coffeeholic and when I won that prize, I was ecstatic. I've been promoting people to get vaccinated and some people have taken note," she added.
According to Johnston, Samuels was the reason she went for a walk-in jab when their age group was given the green light to get the vaccine.
Candice Masters said she won four bottles of red wine last week in the draw and felt awesome.
"Most importantly, I support Jolene's initiative on creating a positive online message on the Covid vaccine program. And the engagement and traction the raffles are creating are so positive versus the influx of anti-vax misinformation and all the RIP posts we see daily on Facebook," she added.
Samuels said she would continue doing the draws until the prizes stopped coming in as it was spreading a wonderful, positive energy.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde welcomed the initiative.
"When the Western Cape launched its mass vaccination drive on 17 May, we called on society to help play a role in registering their friends, family members, and fellow community members for their vaccination so that we can beat Covid-19 and save lives in the province."
Winde said it was "wonderful to see initiatives such as these, which will help our vaccination programme in a big way".
Samuels said if people wanted to enter the vaccine campaign raffle, all they needed to do was tag her in their vaccination photos and their names would be added to the draw - or inbox your photos to her on Facebook.