The smell of freshly squeezed lemon, the brightly decorated table cloths, the clinking glasses and smiling little faces, have long encapsulated the emotions of a lemonade stand anywhere in the world.
Often used as a way for young adults and children to raise money for themselves or for others, lemonade stands are loved by everyone.
Salaam Foundation has however added a little twist to this global phenomenon with the running of its #LemonAid campaign, launched at a time of intense humanitarian need. There was a lot of thought that has gone into all of this as the organisation enters its fourth campaign.
In 2021, on a Sunday afternoon, the Salaam Foundation team and a group of volunteers gathered at their offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, to discuss a fundraising campaign for ambulances for Gaza, which was being bombed by Israel at the time.
Given the huge amount needed for an ambulance at the time, around R1 million, the group had to come up with a unique and awe inspiring idea that could use the voices of as many people as possible.
There was a pressing need for ambulances in the ground to assist Palestinian victims of Israel’s barbaric attacks.
Through the consultation help on that Sunday, the idea of LemonAid came about.
We spoke to three of the volunteers who were there on the day: Shamima Saley, Fatima Bham and Tasneem Valley about how they remembered the idea coming about.
The initial idea focused on hosting a pop-up as it was seen as the easiest way to raise funds quickly. The discussion then turned to the idea of a lemonade stall because a few weeks prior a few kids known to the volunteers had set up a lemonade stall outside their house.
From there, the discussion evolved and they decided to call it LemonAid with the emphasis on the “Aid” part as they would be providing aid to those in need. The idea was for children to take up the initiative and pop-up outside their homes and elsewhere, selling lemonade and other items they wanted to raise funds.
They wanted to have children at the centre of the campaign. It was about kids selling, kids supporting and kids buying from each other. There was also the second reason which was having South African children raising money for Gaza and the Palestinian children who were in difficulty. The campaign was also about teaching children entrepreneurial skills and an appreciation of what they had as opposed to the less fortunate.
Shamima, Fatima and Tasneem all say they were very surprised to see how the idea from their discussions at the Salaam Foundation offices grew and became such a success. The initial LemonAid campaign had a goal of raising funds for one ambulance and at the end of the campaign, they managed to raise enough for three ambulances. The huge success of is something that makes them quite proud to be a part of as it took place during COVID-19 conditions where social distancing and mask-wearing was still a feature.
This is the basic idea behind Salaam Foundation’s #LemonAid is a way to get the children of South Africa involved in making and selling lemonade and other items and using their time and effort to raise funds which will be going to children and people in desperate need of it. It is not about how much is raised. It is about the effort that children and young people put in selflessly to help others.
There is also the added element that lemonade, the drink, could possibly have emerged from the Middle East as lemons originated in the region. There are documents from the 10th century which reveal an Egyptian recipe that described mixing lemon juice with sugar.
