A year-long Covid-19 lockdown that was introduced by the government in March last year in an effort to flatten the curve of the pandemic has exposed a sad reality faced by the country when it comes to food security.
This is according to Percy Malepe, a community activist and co-founder of the Ikemeleng Foundation which runs a soup kitchen to feed hungry people in Diepsloot West. The foundation grows a variety of vegetables and herbs including spinach, cabbage, potatoes and onions using a small vacant piece of land inside the yard where the soup kitchen operates. Malepe explained, “We’ve been running a soup kitchen for some time now, feeding the hungry.
Following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in people coming to the kitchen in order to get something to eat every day.
“We realised that in order to sustain our soup kitchen, we needed to have our own garden in which we can grow enough vegetables and stop relying on handouts,” Malepe added that the organisation had also decided to embark on a campaign to teach the soup kitchen beneficiaries how to grow vegetables to feed their families.
“Many people in this area are not working and some goes to bed with empty stomachs. Through this garden project, we have managed to inspire a number of community members to grow their own vegetables in their backyards. “We want to see less people coming to our soup kitchen because they have learned how to make a living through the micro-farming project.”
Related Article:
