Feed helps schools in need
A German NPO, Feed (Food, Education, Energy & Development) is giving back to Potchefstroom schools and crèches in need.
A German NPO, Feed (Food, Education, Energy & Development) is giving back to Potchefstroom schools and crèches in need.
The company runs school feeding programmes and provides locally produced and vitamin-enriched vitality porridge three times a week. Since the beginning of this year, Feed has been supporting two crèches and a school in Ikageng, providing approximately 500 children with meals.
The organisation aims to run the feeding scheme for the next three years. The schools and crèches were selected because of their urgent need for help. Among the schools, they assist is Motswedi Wabotsilo Child Development Centre, a crèche in Sonderwater Ikageng.
Phyllis Kaunda founded the centre shortly after retiring as a principal and decades of being an educator. “I realised that children in this area needed assistance and that motivated me to start a crèche,” she said. Phyllis says the initial plan was to enrol 20 children, due to lack of finances. However, before she knew it, she ended up with about 90 children.
“It’s been tough because everything comes from my pocket. So, I’m extremely grateful to Feed for assisting us; it makes a great difference,’’ she added. According to Edith Brasche, a Feed board member, over R3,5 million in private donations was raised from corporates doing business worldwide in 2021, with a special focus on societal engagement in South Africa.
“With these funds, we could distribute vitality porridge to school children in two schools in the Potchefstroom area. In so doing, we supported several hundred families during this horrible pandemic,” she said.
“With our founding member and partner, Sunfarming, we have been able to raise more public funds from the German Development Bank, DEG. This enabled us to distribute another 28.5 million vitality porridge meals to more than 12,000 school children and 60,000 family members in an area of 200 km around Potch for nearly three years.
We also cooperate in the certified training of local people in sustainable agriculture so they can start gardens or instal new schools and community ones to produce food. Feed is calling for donations from private companies and associations worldwide to finance the school feeding programmes and training.
To distribute the vitality porridge to the schools in the area and support locals in their gardening projects, Feed needs the help of more local people who want to support the sustainable development projects and help those in need in the area. If you are interested in actively supporting Feed in the school feeding programmes or if you would like to know more about Feed Potchefstroom’s development programmes, please refer to www.feedngo.co.za or contact k.jooste@sunfarming.de. 
