On Monday, 09 May 2016, LifeLine Western Cape expanded its ability to assist those in need with the launch of its brand new WhatsApp Call counselling service.
Having provided telephonic and face-to-face counselling to people in need since 1968, the addition of this new service aims to make it easier and more affordable for everyone in the Western Cape to access LifeLine’s team of trained counsellors.
Glynis Depper, Vice Chair of LifeLine Western Cape, says, “By introducing WhatsApp Call as an option to our counselling service, we are hoping to reach a wider community that cannot necessarily afford the cost of a landline call but needs someone to talk to.”
Cost is far lower, or even free in certain areas
While the cost of calls to landlines in South Africa can range between 60c to R2.80 per minute, WhatsApp calls use less than 1MB of data per minute, which works out much cheaper for those who are on data plans.
Since the Western Cape Government recently launched the first 50 of its planned 384 public Wi-Fi zones (where anyone with a Wi-Fi-enabled device has free access to 250MB of data per month), many will also be able to call LifeLine via WhatsApp for free.
