Soup kitchen keeps Mams healthcare seekers warm and fed in winter queues
The organisation provides nutritious vegetable soup with bread to keep people warm and fill up their stomachs while standing in long lines and before taking their medication.
A newly formed organisation has become a beacon of hope for visitors waking up in the early morning to receive primary healthcare at a Mamelodi West clinic.
Ditlalemeso organisation has made it their mission to keep the visitors warm in the cold winter with warm soup and bread.
Director Christina Mangane said: “The soup kitchen was started because we could not bear to see people freeze in the cold with empty stomachs, especially elderly people with aching bodies.
“People wake up early to be first in line to get primary healthcare, but at the same time, there are some residents who are on chronic medication and must take their medication in the morning.”
She said the assistance provided was free.
“We are buying the products with our own pocket money and the local funders and private donors help too.”
The organisation provides warm, nutritious vegetable soup with bread to keep people warm and fill up their stomachs while standing in long lines and before taking their medication.
At the moment, the soup kitchen takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays and has five volunteers who help out with the soup kitchen.
“The fact that they wake up as early as 03:00 just to stand in a long line to get healthcare at the clinic on empty stomachs pushed us to do something for the community of Mamelodi,” Mangane said.
She said it is a community socioeconomic development organisation formed by three people looking to uplift the community of Mamelodi with skills development for the unemployed. They also aim to keep children busy and away from the streets by introducing them to different activities including sports.
“Mamelodi has five clinics, and our goal is to have all these clinics have a soup kitchen for the whole of winter.”
She also said that after winter, they will continue visiting the clinics to give sandwiches to people who are taking medication in the morning to avoid them going home to eat and coming back to the clinic.
Members of the organisation also wake up early in the morning to start preparing the 60 litres of vegetable soup aimed at keeping people warm in the cold winter.
The organisation was formed over four months with the aim of assisting Mamelodians, young and old, with social issues, starting with clothes, soup kitchens, and helping children with their school work.
“We are appealing to the community to share their warmth by assisting with any form of donation to keep people seeking healthcare warm at all Mamelodi clinics,” said Mangane.
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