Feeding vulnerable children in South Africa

DW (English)

Despite being one of Africa's largest food producers, South Africa still struggles with hunger and malnutrition, particularly among children. In Cape Town's Capricorn township, Nelson Mandela Day became a symbol of hope as over a thousand children received nourishing meals, thanks to the efforts of local organizations and volunteers.

Transcript

00:00Abandu Educare in Capricorn Township Cape Town cares for around 50 children from disadvantaged

00:07backgrounds. Many of them lack access to nutritious meals, a challenge that Shireen Blankenberg,

00:15the creche's founder, is determined to tackle. Most of them just come for porridge. They only

00:20have porridge in the morning, they don't have lunch, so we provide the lunch and the snack

00:26in between. I have 50 children here. Yeah, you could say about 15-20 don't have proper meal

00:33during the day, so that's why we cook a meal for them for lunchtime. A lot of them don't have a proper meal.

00:42South Africa may be a major food producer, but hunger remains a pressing issue. Over 63% of

00:51households face food insecurity and countless children go without adequate nutrition.

00:58Shireen isn't alone in this mission. The Okama Community Foundation, a non-profit organization,

01:05is also working to combat child hunger by providing meals to children in Cape Town's underserved

01:12communities. Today, Okama is receiving support from OREX, a desert salt company, to help feed even more

01:20children. It is hard to think how many people are struggling, that there's such a disparity between

01:28people who have, who don't even think that not having a, think about not having a meal. So apparently for

01:36these children that Okama Foundation is feeding every single day with two hot meals, is giving them

01:44something that they wouldn't have. And to wake up every morning with a hungry feeling in your stomach,

01:51how do you learn if you are, you know, if you're hungry, if your basic needs are not being met?

01:58Volunteers, including chefs from the local restaurant, Tiger's Milk, came together on Nelson Mandela Day

02:05to prepare over 1,000 sandwiches for children in Nusenberg. They also raised funds to support

02:12ongoing efforts. And we've raised over 20,000 rand today, and that's going to Okama Foundation,

02:21and 150 rand feeds a child per month. That 20,000 rand is going a very long way to make the difference.

02:28There were probably 120 people here today, which is just incredible. It's double what we had last year,

02:34so we want to double it for next year. Nelson Mandela International Day encourages people to dedicate

02:41at least 67 minutes to doing good. For these volunteers, supporting vulnerable children through

02:48food donations was a meaningful way to honour Mandela's legacy. I have learned during this period of time

02:56we're at this event, serving how to, especially communities that, I won't say nearly, but like I

03:04say, can give back people perspective, ways you can give back to your communities. Everything was fun,

03:10but really the last part we had on the beach, it was really touching and, like I said, it was motivating.

03:20My favourite thing of today was the unity of the people, the music, the dancing, the making sandwiches,

03:28and knowing it's going to go to the children. It was really, it was so heart-opening and

03:36just reminded of how beautiful humanity is, and that's it.

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