Have you ever gone to bed hungry?
Hundreds of families in Cape Town’s Townships are going to bed on an empty stomach. Mass unemployment has led to a desperate need for food security – a basic human right.
Amazing, selfless mamas and tatas in the Township Communities have come together to start neighbourhood kitchens that help to provide nutritious, hot meals daily for the most vulnerable. In these cold, winter months, the numbers of men, women and especially children, standing in line for their only meal of the day or week, has doubled!
Thanks to the generous contributions of the Ikamva Labantu donors, we have been agile enough to respond to the immediate needs of the Cape Town Township communities. There is simply not enough food to meet the ever-growing demand! What men, women and children need now is food for the next 6 months. Today,
Ikamva Labantu supports 166 Community Kitchens that serve nearly 200 000 Meals per month, across 8 township communities.
Here’s how YOU can help, on this World Humanitarian Day:
- R50/$3 provides 12 hot meals or 5kg maize meal
- R500/$33 provides 125 hot meals or 40kg of rice
- R5000/$333 serves a hot, nutritious meal to 1250 hungry family members
- R50 000/$3 339 supports 7 community kitchens with food for a month.
- R500 000/$33 394 supports 24 community kitchens with food for 3 months.
Emily’s Story of Hope
Emily Stoffelf-Ndumiso, from her community kitchen in Lwandle, Strand. Since
Emily started cooking on a voluntary basis, at the beginning of lockdown, she has brought hope and unity to her community by encouraging the mamas in her street to come together to prepare and cook.
“This has brought a nice vibe to my neighbourhood; more than 10 mamas rotate in helping at the kitchen and I’m never alone. We can do a lot when we work together, united,” says Emily.
Emily serves lunch to 200 people a day, mostly children, three times a week. When she has the resources, she makes porridge in the mornings.
“Helping and giving has always made me feel good, since I was a child. It gives me strength to wake up every morning and prepare the meals. The need for food is really bad.”
She believes that the community kitchen also reduces crime because when there’s no food at home the desperate youth get involved in criminal activities.
“Ikamva Labantu helps me a lot with food and gas every month. I was a bit stressed in January wondering whether they will continue helping us, because I can see the positive impact in my community,” she concluded.
We honour the selfless women who with so little, give so much to their communities by providing hot, cooked meals three to four times a week to hungry neighbours. Thank you, loyal Ikamva supporters, for giving the gift of dignity to the young and old in these troubled times!
Wishlist
- Monetary donations from corporates and individuals towards purchasing ingredients for the hot meals served to communities daily
- Big stainless-steel cooking pots and gas stoves
- Corporate donations of nutritious ingredients for wholesome meals, e.g. rice, vegetables, maize