Feeding the hungry daily
"MOST people are unemployed and they don't get grants – they need help," said community leader Julia Mbambo from her soup kitchen in Walmer Township.
Mbambo spends her mornings in her mother's badly-lit kitchen cooking close to 50 litres of soup to feed the impoverished, including orphans and vulnerable children, in Area E. The soup kitchen – which feeds about 80 people five days a week – is part of The Sihlambesinye Community Project, coordinated by Mbambo.
The project also provides second-hand clothing and shoes to needy residents.
The clothing is collected by Glenda Brunette of the Walmer Angels Project.
Brunette organised sponsors to set up the soup kitchen and sees that vegetables and mealiemeal is available every week.
She also makes sure they have gas for the stove which was donated by the Union of Jewish Women.
"Because of the severe poverty, the Sihlambesinye community project is the only source of food and clothing for many residents", Mbambo said.
This includes grandmothers who have become their grandchildren's caregivers because their parents have died.
"They don't get grants because they don't have ID books or birth certificates, and they don't have money to get them."
People being treated for HIV and other illnesses also come for soup everyday.
Mbambo said they would not get better without eating a proper meal at least once a day.
Anyone willing to assist the project in any way can contact Glenda Brunette on 072-476-1040 or Julia on 079-853-2093.