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TUESDAY 1 September 2020 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | Email: post@peoplespost.co.za | Website: www.peoplespost.co.za
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SOUP KITCHENS
The need keeps rising
The City of Cape Town bolsters local community feeding kitchens. PHOTO: CITY OF CAPE TOWN
RACINE EDWARDES RACINE.EDWARDES@MEDIA24.COM @RAEEDWARDES
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s the country slowly eases out of lockdown, many people might be thinking that the end of hunger in vulnerable communities is in sight. But Pastor Ivan Jones says he has instead noticed a significant increase in the number of people attending his ministry’s daily food kitchens. This, he believes, could be attributed to the increase in unemployment rates and the difficulties that many community feeding kitchens have faced to stay open. Ivan and his wife, Bronwyn Jones, have for more than five years sought to cater to the needs of children in Lavender Hill. They started the Rise Up children’s programme, as part of their church Revelation Ministries, in shipping container offices on the Lavender Hill High School property. This space was ideal as Bronwyn worked for the school for 12 years. The children’s programme, which was launched during a time when gang violence was prevalent in the area, aims to create a safe space. About 250 children would attend their
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children’s programmes on Thursdays but when the lockdown was implemented, the ministry was forced to channel its energies into providing food security in the community through Project Lockdown. “I’ve always been instructed by faith to do things, and so we do it. We had our generous friends supporting Rise Up and when lockdown started, they switched up and started supporting our feeding stations,” says Ivan. The project runs four feeding stations – three in Lavender Hill and one in Stellenbosch where they were alerted to the need – with 18 volunteers in total who assist in the cooking and distribution of the food. “Now, we are cooking for 800 kids daily – and that’s just the children. We cook the type of food our mothers would cook at home – rice, lentil curry, samp and beans, pasta; and there’s meat in everything.” The group cooks the food in four 100l pots – one at one of their set locations – and also supplies children with fruit, juice and a sweet snack. And the need has simply grown and grown, says Ivan. “In the past two weeks, we thought we’d have fewer people because people are going to work. But we have seen an increase in the number of people coming
from at least 15 minutes away – mothers and children crossing the busy M5 – to come to our feeding stations.” According to the philanthropist, at one station in particular, the numbers of people in need grew from 250 or 300 daily people to 470. He says this could be because many food kitchens have closed down from a lack of resources. This has occurred despite the City of Cape Town’s ongoing efforts to assist. Grant Twigg, Mayco member for urban management, said in a statement earlier this year: “Through the urban management directorate, the City of Cape Town is making strides to fill the gaps, capacitating neighbourhood soup kitchens to feed hundreds of residents in their various communities. We are very pleased, as a city, to continue to help feeding our local vulnerable communities.” On Thursday 6 August, mayor Dan Plato handed over equipment and dry ingredients to two organisations serving almost 6 000 people in the Steenberg area. This marked his 200th donation to local food kitchens. Moriedah Dien is the founder of Dews of Quietness, a non-profit organisation (NPO) focussed on providing support for survivors
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of gender-based violence. “I can’t put it into words. Previously, we had to cook in normal-sized pots and toss it into a bucket and start a new batch. So this is going to be a huge help because we can cook it all at once. There’s a huge need for food; we didn’t expect this from the mayor, but we are so grateful,” Dien told City officials. Project Lockdown has expanded its feeding scheme to cater to 500 people a day, five times a week. Ivan says the generosity of his friends and close networks has enabled him to continue the work they do. The ministry hopes to continue to feed the community and even plans to treat their volunteers to an excursion soon. But once normalcy has returned, and the threat of Covid19 infection has dissipated, he hopes the ministry will be able to continue its programmes. These include Making Academics Bearable, which assists children with their academic performance, and the Rise Up excursions to remove children of vulnerable communities from their gang-ridden surroundings if only for a short while. V To assist Project Lockdown, contact Ivan on 076 1943 301 or Bronwyn on 073 2384 960.
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