The inspiration of Nelson Mandela changed the lives of 600 of the most disadvantaged children in Soshanguve this week when a sustainable feeding scheme was rolled out Tuesday last week at the Bana Ba Kgosi School & Feeding Centre in the build-up to Mandela Day.
This unique school feeding scheme for children in Soshanguve, west of the Tshwane Metro, should be an example to the rest of the country, says Reverend Doris Molefe, chairperson of the Bana Ba Kgosi School & Feeding Centre in Soshanguve. She highlighted a sustainable feeding scheme for “orphaned, poor, sick and vulnerable” children as a priority for those who want to make a real difference on Mandela Day.
Now Molefe and her community has the backing of a leading South African law firm Adams & Adams Attorneys, the country’s’s largest practice in intellectual property law. Together with their CSI partner, Umma Afrika Charity Trust, the law firm has committed to a socio-economic project, Thandi, for the Winterveld/Soshanguve area.
Some of the first elements of the project expanded the initial support of eight weeks to the Bana Ba Kgosi feeding scheme for a further year, providing daily meals for up to 600 children. They include 180 pre-school children at Bana Ba Kgosi and 420 children walking in for lunch from three surrounding schools.
Staff at the Adams & Adams offices in Pretoria on Tuesday packed 125 non-perishable, high-quality, fortified and enriched nutritious food parcels. The parcels can feed a family of four for a month and were delivered to the social workers at the school to be distributed to the neediest. Staff also donated clothes, and games, stationary, books, toiletries, blankets, and shoes etc.
Announcing the project on Tuesday, Godfrey Budeli, partner at Adams & Adams Attorneys, said “the above projects clearly demonstrate that the partners and staff of Adams & Adams Attorneys are committed to the fulfilments of Mandela’s legacy. We can make a small gesture of solidarity with humanity and a step towards uplifting and betterment of those who are less fortunate than we are. It is against this background that we are all gathered here today.”
He also announced that the firm donated surplus furniture to the school “in order to improve infrastructure and – most importantly the quality of education”.
Molefe says within the first eight weeks of the feeding scheme “teachers reported a remarkably positive difference in participating children”. Although their project for many years provided a basic meal, this is now of a better quality.
Virginia Karayiannis, from Umma Afrika, said longer term involvement in development projects by the corporate community will lead to sustainability and true social transformation. She lauded the Thandi-project as a shining example.
